The Cult of the CIA
Sounds Like A Cult
Studio71
4 • 3.8K Ratings
🗓️ 23 January 2024
⏱️ 65 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A clandestine society aimed at indoctrinating a fleet of nationalist spies with an extensive entrance process, aliases, secretive language, isolation from the outside world, and no clear exit strategy... sounds like a cult, but it’s actually America’s most prized federal agency, the CIA. This week, former CIA intelligence analyst Christina Hillsberg joins the pod, fulfilling all our Carrie Mathison fantasies with a tell-all interview about how the CIA is high-key just like a fringey religious sect!!! We hope you delight in this dishy, hilarious (and sometime deeply uncomfortable) convo as much as we did.
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To preorder Amanda's new book, The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality, click here :) For book BTS, news about her forthcoming Magical Overthinkers podcast, and more, consider subscribing to her newsletter!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | If you love super beautiful aesthetically pleasing but also plotty iPhone games, you have got to check out this game called June's Journey. |
| 0:09.2 | I cannot stop playing this thing. Basically, June's journey is a hidden object |
| 0:14.0 | mystery game. If you like detective stories, mystery stories, thrillers, you're |
| 0:19.0 | going to be obsessed. It focuses on this protagonist named June, who travels to her sister's fancy estate to try and figure out who murdered her and her husband. |
| 0:29.7 | It takes place in the 1920s, so the aesthetic of the game is like gorgeous and glamorous. |
| 0:35.0 | Sometimes I open up the app just to look at some pretty colors. |
| 0:38.0 | Every scene in the game focuses on a different plot point in the mystery mystery and along the way you get to like |
| 0:44.1 | decorate the family's beautiful island estate that's the part that I keep |
| 0:48.0 | getting distracted by because I love to decorate an island whenever my social |
| 0:52.0 | battery is draining and I need to like step out on It's truly so great for that. I love it. |
| 1:02.5 | June needs your help, Detective. |
| 1:04.4 | Download June's journey for free today on iOS and Android. |
| 1:09.5 | Hey occulties, host Amanda here |
| 1:11.2 | to tell you about my new book The Age of Magical Overthinking |
| 1:14.8 | Notes on Modern Irrationality. It unpacks the zeitgeisty topics we can't stop |
| 1:20.0 | overthinking about. From celebrity worship to Instagram manifestation |
| 1:24.8 | gurus to why we cling to astrology or nostalgia during times of crisis all |
| 1:29.7 | through the lens of cognitive biases. If you ever find yourself asking why human behavior |
| 1:34.6 | seems to make so little sense these days and enjoy books that feel like |
| 1:38.0 | talking to a friend, I hope you'll consider pre-ordering. The Age of Magical |
| 1:42.0 | Overthinking comes out in Hardback, e-book |
| 1:44.8 | April 9th wherever you buy books. Pre-order link in our show notes and for a |
... |
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