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Great Awakening 2020: the Neoliberal Wellness Journey Down the Rabbit Hole

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Great Awakening 2020: the Neoliberal Wellness Journey Down the Rabbit Hole California State University, San Bernardino CSUSB ScholarWorks Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations Office of aduateGr Studies 8-2021 GREAT AWAKENING 2020: THE NEOLIBERAL WELLNESS JOURNEY DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE Melissa Ann McLaughlin Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd Part of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation McLaughlin, Melissa Ann, "GREAT AWAKENING 2020: THE NEOLIBERAL WELLNESS JOURNEY DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE" (2021). Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations. 1277. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd/1277 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Office of aduateGr Studies at CSUSB ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of CSUSB ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. GREAT AWAKENING 2020 THE NEOLIBERAL WELLNESS JOURNEY DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of California State University, San Bernardino In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in Social Sciences and Globalization by Melissa McLaughlin August 2021 GREAT AWAKENING 2020 THE NEOLIBERAL WELLNESS JOURNEY DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of California State University, San Bernardino by Melissa McLaughlin August 2021 Approved by: Kevin Grisham, Committee Chair, Geography Hareem Khan, Anthropology © 2021 Melissa McLaughlin ABSTRACT 2020 was a good year for conspiracy theory. From COVID denialism to QAnon, the usual cast of conspiracy influencers was joined by mommy bloggers, yoga teachers, and social media opportunists to spread disinformation and sow doubt in the American psyche across the vast network of the internet. While the news media and popular entertainment often portrays the conspiracy theorist as a paranoid quack, the reality is far more conventional. We are all conspiracy theorists, in one way or another. Each of us arrive at a conspiracy theory with unique worldviews which include our political and spiritual belief systems. We are influenced, and not always in the ways we imagine, by every stimulus around us. These influences range from our upbringing, the media we consume, the education we’ve had, the people we follow on social media, the way we worship, and how we take care of our health. Perhaps most influential of all are the systemic realities we exist within, our country of birth, global capitalism, race, class, gender identity, and so much more. Not to mention that the whole of human history is littered with very real conspiracy. Individuals lie, proximity to power can corrode ethical responsibility, the media reports on novelty, and our institutional systems are rife with racial and economic injustice. People aren’t crazy to be suspicious or believe in conspiracy theory. Conspiracy theory can better be understood as occupying a wide spectrum. On the far end of the spectrum one finds grand conspiracy narratives, or all-encompassing alternate explanations for observable reality. Many iv conspiracy theories are folded into alternate histories and explanations for current events in which society is ruled by a small cohort of “they,” powerful conspirators bent on global domination. The grand conspiracy narrative, which is often conveyed as a battle between dark and light, leaves no common ground for productive, nuanced discourse. Grand conspiracists craft a new impenetrable black and white, good and bad binary. Adopters of the grand conspiracy narrative get to be forever and always firmly on the side of right, light, and love, while the rest of us are brainwashed by delusion fed to us by “the mainstream media,” science, and academia. These grand conspiracy narratives became popular during the COVID-19 global pandemic with many groups including supporters of Donald Trump as well as those within spiritual wellness communities. My central curiosity became “why wellness?” What about mainstream wellness culture could lead many within that space to adopt and widely disseminate grand conspiracy narratives during the COVID-19 global pandemic? It is my hypothesis that the emphasis on individual responsibility to one’s health and spiritual wellbeing embedded in the neoliberal wellness project creates the conditions for conspiracist ideation within the wellness space. Wellness entrepreneurs are encouraged to “heal the self,” “speak their truth,” and manifest their reality. All of these erode collective bonds including shared reality and personal responsibility to systemic struggles. Conspiracy wellness influencers occupy the extreme both of wellness and conspiracist ideation. A grand conspiracy narrative serves as reinforcement to the health and spiritual v orthodoxy created by a wellness entrepreneur and social media influencer. The conspiracy theories expressed on their platform become a marketing tool, attracting those suspicious of institutions in an age of decaying trust in establishment authority. In another ironic twist, when the conspiracy influencer is criticized for their wellness protocols or extreme politics, the conspiracy theories themselves act as a shield from wrongdoing and ultimately allow the influencer to position themselves as the marginalized one for simply “speaking their truth,” regardless of their position within society. The branded messaging of self- responsibility for personal health and spiritual freedom that the grand conspiracy narrative buttresses perpetuate the neoliberal social project in real time. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Deep gratitude to all my teachers, especially Dr. Kevin Grisham and Dr. Hareem Khan. Thank you, Dr. Grisham for welcoming me back into this program, showing me the way into conspiracy theory scholarship, and trusting my intellectual vision for this project. This project would be a mess without the skillful mentorship of Dr. Hareem Khan. I’m so grateful the pandemic allowed us to cross paths and share community in this wild, wild year. I am indebted to you for the structure and insight you brought to my work. To all my friends who were down to talk about conspiracy theory for the last year and a half, you kept me sane. I owe you several beers. Last by not least, Patrick, I love you. Thanks for always having my back vii DEDICATION For my beloved yoga and wellness community, I believe in us. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ..........................................................................................................iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................... vii CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................ 1 Introduction ................................................................................................ 1 Defining the Rabbit Hole .......................................................................... 13 Truth, Belief, and Identity: the Psychology of Conspiracy Theory ............ 33 On the Media: New Platforms, Old Problems .......................................... 50 Speak Your Truth, Own Yourself: The Neoliberal Wellness Project and the Journey to the Optimal Self ................................................................ 78 In Defense of Love and Light: Grand Conspiracy Narratives, Improvisational Styles, and Spiritual Exceptionalism ............................. 115 CHAPTER TWO: METHODS ........................................................................... 146 CHAPTER THREE: CONTENT ANALYSIS...................................................... 157 Case One: The Holistic Psychiatrist ....................................................... 157 Summary of Findings: ................................................................. 173 Case Two: the Aspiring Wellness Influencer .......................................... 178 Summary of Findings: ................................................................. 198 Case Three: the Lightworker .................................................................. 201 Summary of Findings: ................................................................. 221 CHAPTER FOUR: DISCUSSION ..................................................................... 226 REFERENCES ................................................................................................. 237 v CHAPTER ONE LITERATURE REVIEW Introduction 2020 was a good year for conspiracy theory. From COVID denialism to QAnon, the usual cast of conspiracy influencers was joined by mommy bloggers, yoga teachers, and social media opportunists to spread disinformation and sow doubt in the American psyche across the vast network of the internet. This project on conspiracist ideation in the wellness online space is also a byproduct of the pandemic. My interest in the field of conspiracy theory and its intersection with popular wellness culture, at this particular moment in history, happened completely by accident. In March of 2020, I was working as a full-time yoga teacher and personal trainer in the San Francisco Bay Area. When COVID first entered my awareness as a tangible reality, my industry, like many others, tried in earnest to adjust while begin completely and totally confused as to what was going on. How dangerous could COVID be, really? None of us knew then, what we know now, that the course of our lives would tangibly shift over the next year and a half. The large yoga studio chain where I worked furloughed much of its staff and filed for bankruptcy six months later.
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