Spiritual media psychosis

This page is Lorenzo and Alessia's

Here is the pad we are using: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/obsessive_catalogue_of_madness

Intro (general introduction, social context + why we are writing about it)

x let's write it together on the pad x

witchcraft, shamanism, influencers, cults, spiritual colonialism

Romanticisation and Cosplaying the poor, Marie Antoinette and the tradwife movement

In ancient Greece urban people fantasised about the magic of nature and the simplicity of living among animals in the fields. This yearning for an idyllic rustic life persisted throughout history, manifesting in various forms. For example, kings, queens, and aristocrats across Europe created ornamental farms and villages within their own gardens.

One of the most famous ornamental farms is Hameau de la Reine, the queen’s cottage, built for Marie Antoinette at Versailles as now one of the most famous escapist vacation amusement parks. It was a fake village, with fake villagers, to pretend to be a peasant whenever the queen felt like it. Marie Antoinette would dress up and roleplay as the mother of France, milking goats, eating strawberries. This wasn’t really new, while the pastoral movement was going on at the time, nobles were infatuated with the idea of the simple life, they weren’t really interested about the real aspects of peasants' lives, just the aesthetic, just the cosplaying part.
Marie Antoinette overall did some good with all the products coming out of Hameau de la Reine, giving them to the poor, she was still in a golden cage. Many other aristocrats built much more intricate fake peasant amusement parks. This doesn’t change the fact that, thanks to the pastoral movement that found its prime between the sixteenth and seventeenth century, the aristocracy found a new romantic desire to find shelter from boringness in a polished fakeness made of humble styling and environments, and that, I believe, it’s a recurrence in our society to these days.
One clear example are the safari-experiences, or the plenty of resorts built around the world.

• Hameau de la Reine, Château de Versailles built for Marie Antoinette in 1783
• Soho Farmhouse, Oxfordshire, UK, a country escape for the elite
• add safari or resort

I am not really rich, it’s not like I know about rich people’s problems. I know it might be horrible to stop being able to function as a normal human being, going around, without having the freedom to go anonymously to any place, without being bothered or known.
We are, generally, all humans, even rich people are human, when I think about Marie Antoinette I think right away about Michael Jackson and his profound desire of going grocery shopping. A bittersweet story, about loneliness and isolation. This supermarket story right away doesn’t give me any space for compassion, when my mind goes straight to the Fedez and Chiara’s Ferragni supermarket poverty buffet, in 2022.
These two Italian celebrities rented out a supermarket, for one of their birthdays and filmed themself making a mess, playing around, treating the rented place as an amusement park. This act was not about trying to experience something they couldn’t normally do because of their fame. Instead, it was more of a playful or staged performance for content. The reaction to their performance was much negative, with people criticising them for wasting and disrespecting a public space, in a time when food waste and economic hardship are highly sensitive matters. This was even made worse by the fact Carrefour Italia, the supermarket in question, has an infamous 24/7 work schedule, the company would never stop if not for a millionaire's birthday (not even Jesus' birthday! wow).

• Michael Jackson renting a super market to walk around and pretend to shop so that he could have the experience of being a normal person and shopping
• Chiara Ferragni and Fedez during the supermarket incident
• A story from their social media “Party at the supermarket, we can take what we want”

Cottagecore is one of those aesthetical trends that share intriguing overlaps with Marie Antoinette, and the wealthy cosplay.

The term “cottagecore” was first used on Tumblr around 2010, to tag this growing aesthetic that romanticised the rural life aesthetic.
During the pandemic the interest in cottagecore increased. Everyone was making bread from sourdough, cultivating gardens, and embracing a slower pace of life.
People started thinking more about the toxicity of overconsumption, waste, globalisation, toxic working schedule, and climate change. Cottagecore is a fragment of a new narrative that tries to challenge the mainstream one, the prevailing one that calls all progress as good. Cottagecore is cosy, comforting, and welcoming.

Yes, cool, nice, where’s the dark side tho?
The paradox of cottagecore lies in its success as a nostalgic, anti modern aesthetic thriving in modern spaces. One of the main aspects of cottage core aesthetic lifestyle is loneliness, yet cottagecore content is blooming on social media and online communities. Things change a bit when this aesthetic is not applied just to floral wallpapers and nice linen dresses, but to lifestyle choices and social media interactions as well.

One common criticism of cottagecore is its exclusivity. Much of its content is inspired by literature about wealthy white people being rich and melancholic.
While this could be true, that cottagecore often appeals to a specific community demographic, it’s not correct to say it for me.
I believe capitalism, amongst all, it’s extremely flattening as a system with communities, no one cares about communities, the strawberry dress must be sold to everyone!
And, indeed, fantasising about aesthetics, that could take inspiration from the past but are still performative in the present, can be an extremely useful tool for marginalised communities to empower themself and their identity in spaces that were always white cis coded.

• The strawberry dress from Lirika Matoshi
• The famous dress made in Animal Crossing, the quintessential cottagecore game
• Werner herzog sad beige clothes for sad children, trend initiated by Hayley DeRoche on her meme instagram account @sadbeige, to mock particular fashion websites offering extreme expensive children clothing, with that humble and peasant vibe to it
• Ballerina farm, one of the wealthiest cottagecore influencer out there, used by the tradwife movement as an example

Another critique is the poverty play.
Anything involved in the cottage core movement products’ production has been typically aimed to upper class people (meme di vestiti per bambini ricchi) that never got involved in the country lifestyle, and this is happening again, playing with a nostalgic feeling for those that never experienced that kind of living, that live usually in urban areas. Let's call it anemoia as it should be.
Usually in fashion we see this poverty play… at play.

Fashion was always a manner of trying to understand from which class a person you were talking to were from. Pastoral fashion, for instance, was never about disguising wealth, but rather about cosplaying as the rural poor in a way that made it clear you were wealthy. This artificiality is still present in modern cottagecore, as it is in many trends, such as hip hop and rap fashion. The "shabbiness" typical of real life in nature is fabricated in cottagecore. Another critique, is that concerning the use of the cottagecore aesthetic for the trad wife movement. In the tradwife movement is not about aesthetic and style anymore, is when the aesthetic becomes moralistic and politicised.

Clearly cottagecore is often associated with anti-capitalism and anti-globalisation, and with a profound desire for independence. So to me it’s weird how people associate cottagecore, that seems like a profound liberating aesthetic mostly for women, to the trad wife life, even if I can see some strings there. While they share interests like sustainability, organic cooking, and gardening, cottagecore values loneliness, not family values, and stands apart in its political stance.
To fix sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastoral
https://internationaltimes.it/the-millionaires-birthday/
https://www.vogue.com/article/strawberry-dress-lirika-matoshi-popular
https://mom.com/news/mom-calls-out-sad-beige-parenting-trend-instagram

Modern Messiah(s) - [in progress by Lorenzo]

Wim Hof

Method

His breathing method and training in ice cold temperatures are something that people really find interesting. He joined forces with the Radboud University to release in what EenVandaag calls a "scientific breakthrough" since he manages to control his autonomous nerve system and his immune responses. This method has been praised and worshiped for the last decade by (famous) people (Oprah Winfrey, Jim Carrey,  Gwyneth Paltrow), (alternative) health platforms(Gaia, GOOP) and media(TEDx, Vice, etc) which resulted in becoming the institute of Wim Hof.

Website

On the website  https://www.wimhofmethod.com/ It is possible to sign up for events in your area, but if you want to experiment alone there are ways to do so but also anywhere or even let yourself be guided by him (for only €1499,00) in a weekend with Wim.

Allegations

There have been allegations of the Wim Hof Method being related to the death of people. 
Wiki Article of Wim Hof Deaths sources

- https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/exploration-survival/wim-hof-california-lawsuit/
- https://eenvandaag.avrotros.nl/item/iceman-onder-vuur/ 
- https://www.parool.nl/nieuws/iceman-oefening-eist-opnieuw-leven~bd0a4600/
- https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/wim-hof-breathing-method-coroner-man-drown-2436121
- https://www.yahoo.com/news/woman-tragically-dies-cold-water-111600703.html
- https://www.dutchnews.nl/2024/07/iceman-wim-hof-cleared-of-causing-death-of-american-teenager/utm_source=ground.news&utm_medium=referral
- https://eenvandaag.avrotros.nl/wimhof/ 

Commentary

The discussion about this topic is often countered as

"They're not doing it right"

"they just want to get money out of it"  

"How would someone think this method could kill people, it needs to be done with caution"

"They should carefully have listened and this is just a Darwin Award winner because how can you be so stupid"

Dilemma

And these responses are part of the dilemma. In my personal experience I have first seen the aforementioned EenVandaag article and how Wim Hof as a (semi-self-proclaimed)'super being' has worked together with medical science and tried to motivate people to use their bodies in the same way and to grow the idea of YOU ARE STRONGER THAN YOU THINK YOU ARE.

People are of course in charge of their own life choices and in participating in these kind of self-help like events.

Appearance(s)

Wim Hof is praised as being this sweet radical hippie person that has found some miraculous superhuman way to control his body through his mind. He gets praised and paid a lot. And that is where it gets interesting. The appearances he makes are at first in talk shows as a medical phenomenon and extreme athlete. In a way it make sense for him to share his 'wisdom' and 'experience' and earn money from that.  

He has multiple specials and features on Gaia.com: "Gaia is a global conscious community that offers over 8,000 titles to members online through the Gaia app and internet-connected devices — featuring original series, instructional videos, and documentaries on yoga, meditation, spiritual growth, personal transformation, alternative history, and the unexplained."

He has connections to Flavo Pasquini's alternative 'news' network called BLCBX, where he is guest on the show and live meetups

Selling books on the website of that's the spirit. A 'spiritual' platform that brings 'spirituality' in one space with conspiracy, alt-right and other thinkers.

Giel Beelen's Kukuru podcast. Former Radio DJ interviews people he finds interesting.

Pseudo

But if the recent majority is on alternative health channels and podcasts, is that still fair? There is a certain need for alternatives to our status quo, the need is based on the lack of justice, systemic change but is then *helped* by influencers that speak in a 'soft' way with 'soft' languages in 'soft' designed studios or on 'soft' websites. These aesthetics appeal to vulnerable people (maybe this is a harsh way of phrasing it).

Most recent allegation

As mentioned in the beginning of this text, there was a recent article in de Volkskrant about Wim Hof 

About a week ago(28-09-24) de Volkskrant released an article about Wim Hof.  Wim Hof is known as someone with a peculiar body and 'method'. He is considered as some sort of guru to his following.

This article was in response to the upcoming movie glorifying the iceman. The newspaper asked for response and Hof replied to most of the questions. But to reply in a later manner was not the case. He replied to POWNED {a 'rebellious / right wing'} in a YouTube video and Shownieuws, an entertainment/showbizz programme.

Former allegation(s) and conflicts

In this article, the idea of Wim Hof being demolished once again is something that makes me feel a bit bittersweet. Because of the alternative (alt-right leaning) connections that Wim Hof has, I don't trust him. I have new discussions with friends every time something happens. I try to remain neutral and to just think this person takes all the jobs he can, regardless of political color.  

The previous cases of deaths are unethical what so ever. I feel that it the dual emotions are a bit too simplified. If a person gets health issues based on the idea of wanting to become better and resulting them to die in such a way, it seems a bit.. cruel to say that it's their own fault.  

What is then the best option, only being allowed to engage in such extreme temperatures with a specialist?

How can you become a specialist in something that isn't really proven but shown?

The judge in the most reason death case has ruled that Wim Hof isn't liable even though there

My bias in this dilemma is that Wim Hof is a charlatan that profits from gullibility and people in certain situations and mindsets and reveals his true colours when he speaks on alternative stages.  

To counterpoint my argument,

in 2023, Scott Carney made a 'documentary' against Wim Hof. Scott Carney is a journlist that in 2011 traveled to Poland from US to meet him and 'expose' him.  Carney was then completely convinced of Hof's technique and changed 180 degrees and he wrote a book in support of WHM.

The counter-dilemma is that Scott Carney now has focussed his practice on exposing Wim Hof rather than supporting him and making his business around anti-ganda (instead of propaganda?).

The 'documentary' lacks proper journalism and is only beneficial for my 'A-HA! WE GOT EM' irrational underbelly. I'd rather just see justice in general.

https://kloptdatwel.nl/2023/07/16/wim-hof-en-zijn-bedrijf-hebben-een-claim-van-67-miljoen-dollar-aan-de-broek/

https://youtu.be/14iDVubY3us

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu5CkkaHB1A

https://skepsis.nl/wim-hof-methode/