Conspirituality Podcast

Bonus Sample: What My Late Mom Would Have Thought About Jordan Peterson

Host: Matthew Remski
Date: January 5, 2026

Episode Overview

This bonus episode features Matthew Remski reflecting on the intersection of personal loss, public health, and cultural critique. He revisits his mother’s passing during peak Covid and discusses how that experience illuminated issues around institutional trust and care—themes frequently analyzed on Conspirituality. Remski then shares a preview from his forthcoming book on anti-fascism and parenting, considering what his late mother might have thought about the popularity and affect of figures like Jordan Peterson.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Hospice as Healing the Split Between Worlds

Personal context: Remski’s mother died at home in late 2020, a privilege enabled by Canada’s public health system, their family’s proximity to hospice care, and the ability to leave work.
- Quote (Matthew Remski, 01:14):
  
  “Being able to nurse my mom at home was a privilege that was enabled by Canada’s public health system… I could see this hospice sort of situation as this rare meeting place between worlds that are often treated as irreconcilable. The institutional, medical and the intimate. The clinical and the relational.”
Contrast with conspirituality: The hospice provided a “meeting place” where clinical expertise and family intimacy were in harmony, versus the binary thinking and alienation often found in conspirituality communities.
- Quote (Matthew Remski, 02:35):
  
  “The hospice experience was the opposite of that. Care workers brought hospital knowledge into our home without erasing our domestic textures and rituals and history.”

How Conspirituality Exploits Real Wounds

Pitfalls in spiritual conspiracism: Remski underscores how conspirituality—as a fusion of conspiracy thinking and New Age promise—feeds on the “split” between a longing for order and a longing for care.
- Quote (Matthew Remski, 03:10):
  
  “So the whole thing helped me see how conspirituality exploits a real wound, the split between our need for order and our need for care… that split just went away [with hospice care].”

Personal Reflection and Preview of Forthcoming Book

Evolving perspective: Years after his mother’s passing, Remski has a new, more personal reflection that resonates with current conspirituality themes, particularly regarding Jordan Peterson’s influence.
Writing as revelation: While working on his upcoming book about anti-fascism and parenting (to be published by North Atlantic in April), he unexpectedly found himself writing about his mother and Peterson’s appeal.
- Quote (Matthew Remski, 04:10):
  
  “It's been a while in coming and it was also provoked by writing the book that I have coming out with North Atlantic in April about anti-fascism and parenting… I found myself doing it anyway because it seemed really important.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On institutional trust and family care:

“At our dining room table, syringes and medications were laid out alongside photo albums, sewing scissors and folded napkins and half used teacups. Care unfolded slowly through touch and conversation and shared responsibility.”
(Matthew Remski, 02:50)
On the disappearance of division during hospice:

“…in the quiet presence of hospice workers and especially a woman named Rosa who stood with us as my mother died. That split just went away.”
(Matthew Remski, 03:20)
On the challenge of interpreting Jordan Peterson’s appeal:

“Why are so many people attracted to this guy? But it’s also more personal…”
(Matthew Remski, 04:00)

Timestamps for Important Segments

00:03 – 01:28: Introduction and context; recalling his mother’s death and first reflections.
01:29 – 03:20: Hospice care experience as a bridge between clinical and relational realms, juxtaposed with themes in conspirituality.
03:21 – 04:28: Deeper personal reflections, recent writing about his mother and Jordan Peterson; preview of thoughts from his upcoming book.

Summary & Takeaway

Matthew Remski uses the deeply personal story of his late mother’s hospice care to illuminate a profound social wound: the perceived antagonism between institutional care and personal meaning. Contrasting the fear-fueled fusions found in conspirituality circles with the slow, intimate, and competent care of hospice, he suggests that real healing dissolves binary thinking. The episode closes with a teaser for his forthcoming book, hinting at a continued exploration of what draws so many to figures like Jordan Peterson—through the lens of both personal and political reflection.

Transcript

A (0:03)

Hey everyone. This is Conspirituality, where we investigate the roots and intersections of conspiracy theories and spiritual influence to uncover cults, pseudoscience and authoritarian extremism. I'm Matthew Remsky. You can follow myself, Derek and Julian on Bluesky. The podcast is on Instagram and threads conspiritualitypod and you can also find me on YouTube and TikTok. NTIFascistDad. Today I've got a short episode for you in the bonus category called what My Late Mom Would have Thought About Jordan Peterson. First of all, it's shocking to me that it's been five years since my mom died. December 28, 2020. Still at peak Covid time, on January 7, 2021, we published an episode together called Manipulating the Hero's Journey. This was our 33rd episode. We're about at 290 now, and onto the end of it I tacked a reflection on my mother dying at home in hospice the previous week. Now, a lot of our listeners back then wrote very kind notes to me about it, and part of what I want to do today is follow up for those folks if they're still out there. And if you didn't catch the original, I'll post that in the notes. Now, needless to say, this was an emotional time and I wanted to mark the occasion. But of course I was processing a lot of things, so I did the avoidant thing and I settled on something germane to the podcast beat, which was how this experience of home hospice reshaped my understanding of conspirituality care and institutional trust. Because being able to nurse my mom at home was a privilege that was enabled by Canada's public health system. You know, our proximity to a very good hospice care center and the fact that my father and I could step away from work, we had the time to do that. And I could see this hospice sort of situation as this rare meeting place between worlds that are often treated as irreconcilable. The institutional, medical and the intimate. The clinical and the relational. We've described conspirituality as a volatile fusion of conspiracy thinking and New Age promise. A kind of fear and hope bound together by deep digital acceleration. But the hospice experience was the opposite of that. Care workers brought hospital knowledge into our home without erasing our domestic textures and rituals and history. At our dining room table, syringes and medications were laid out alongside photo albums, sewing scissors and folded napkins and half used teacups. Care unfolded slowly through touch and conversation and shared responsibility. So the whole thing helped me see how conspirituality exploits a real wound, the split between our need for order and our need for care in the quiet presence of hospice workers and especially a woman named Rosa who stood with us as my mother died. That split just went away. So that's what I talked about. Those were my intellectual thoughts at the time. But now it's many years later and I'm able to say something else about my mom. It still relates to our beat because it's about Jordan Peterson and some of the attitudes and affects that we've struggled to understand. As in like, why are so many people attracted to this guy? But it's also more personal and it's been a while in coming and it was also provoked by writing the book that I have coming out with North Atlantic in April about anti fascism and parenting. And I didn't expect to write it all out for that book, but I found myself doing it anyway because it seemed really important. And so what I want to do now is just preview that section with you here with some additional notes that are aren't in the text.