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.