PPR ep. 166 Satan Goes to the Mind Control Convention with Joseph Flatley
Satan Goes to the Conspiracy Convention is an investigation into the role that conspiracy theories play in American life and the current political climate. The story begins with the author crashing a convention for therapists who promote recovered memory therapy, a discredited (and dangerous) form of therapy that conjures up “memories” of past lives, extraterrestrials, and government mind control operations. From there, the reader will meet Pizzagate enthusiasts, conspiracy entrepreneurs, Satanists, flat-earthers, and people who believe that the Boston Marathon Bombing was a government “false flag” psyop. The story ends on the streets of Pittsburgh during the recent synagogue shooting and its aftermath. Ultimately, the book says, right-wing conspiracy culture is an authoritarian confidence trick that will only get more dangerous over the coming years.
PRAISE FOR SATAN GOES TO THE MIND CONTROL CONVENTION
“Joseph L. Flatley goes where few journalists dare to tread: into the heart of America’s conspiracy culture. Sociopaths, quack psychologists, targeted individuals, flat-earthers, antisemites, one world government freaks—no moldy rock is left unturned. Reading this book, first you’ll want to laugh and then you’ll want to run home and lock your doors. Because it makes one thing very clear: America’s conspiracy culture is a lot less fringe, a lot more profitable, and a hell of a lot more right-wing and scary than most of us want to admit.”
— Yasha Levine, author of Surveillance Valley: The Secret Military History of the Internet
“Joe Flatley is that rarest journalistic observer of conspiracy culture: deeply informed of its history and lineages, perfectly rational, and just sympathetic enough to know when harmless eccentricity and justified paranoia bleeds into malevolent madness. In these investigations he is at his best, deep-diving into worlds of belief where the CIA, Satan and the Occult are the only forces that matter.”
— Alexander Zaitchik, author of The Gilded Rage: A Wild Ride Through Donald Trump’s America and Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance
“Nobody gets inside the minds of conspiracy theorists and other American oddballs quite like Joe Flatley. This book is a pleasure to read—and a little frightening.”
— Matt Stroud, author of Thin Blue Lie: The Failure of High-Tech Policing
“A haunting and intimate look into the darker corners of the conspiracy movement, Satan Goes to the Mind Control Convention explores the toxic practices used by groups who exploit and control people seeking help. Joseph L. Flatley clearly demonstrates the dangers they present to an America obsessed by conspiratorial thinking.”
— Pearse Redmond, host of Porkins Policy Radio and Open Minds On Air
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