Spiritual Sexual Shamanic Podcast · International School of Temple Arts

Community, Cults & Cancel Culture: Jen Howk

·1 hr 3 min·5 clips

Simon Marvell frames the conversation as one he has been looking forward to for a long time. Dr. Jen Hawk joins as an author, researcher, and interdisciplinary social scientist with a background in political science and social science, and Simon is clearly moved by how much her work has meant to him. From there, the discussion settles into the mechanics of cancel culture, personality, and group dynamics. Jen points to neuroticism as a driver of impulsiveness, then ties that to the need to pause before firing off something reactive. She also notes that disagreeableness can matter, and that lower openness may make it harder to sit with people who disagree or see the world differently. A recurring idea is that the urge to cancel is not something only other people do. Jen insists that the capacity exists in everyone, especially when someone feels on the wrong side of an issue or sees an outgroup as a real threat. Simon keeps drawing the thread toward the spiritual implications of that point, and Jen echoes the 12 Step idea: you spot it, you got it. The conversation then moves toward status and coalition pressure, with Simon asking whether those forces help explain why people align with a group they do not fully agree with. Jen begins to answer, and the conversation moves on before she finishes. Even so, the direction is clear: the episode is less interested in winning an argument than in noticing how reactive, punitive impulses show up in ordinary people. It treats self-awareness as a spiritual discipline and pausing before responding as a practical habit. The closing stretch returns to truth, reality, and the effort to see clearly rather than through the haze of reaction. Simon thanks Jen warmly, Jen says she would love to come back, and the episode ends with the sense that the conversation has opened several loops it could keep exploring later.

As heard by us

A reflective look at cancel culture that keeps returning to impulse, status, and belonging.

The episode treats cancel culture as more than a slogan, tying it to status, personality, coalition-building, and the basic need to belong. Dr.

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Want a grounded take on why groups turn on people?

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