News and social media provide a steady diet of things to fear: Covid. Covid vaccinations. Immigrants. Child kidnapping rings. Satanists. QAnon. Mass shootings. Suicidal airplane pilots. Baby formulas. Killer cops. Violent video games. Mysterious sonic weapons. Critical Race Theory. Stranger danger. Social decay. And on, and on (and on).
In many cases there is some truth to the fears; in most cases the threat is exaggerated; and in a few cases the threat is entirely manufactured, usually for political benefit. Part of the problem is media-driven binary oversimplification: people want clear heroes and villains in their narratives, overlooking important complexities.
In a world of limited resources—and limited political attention spans—it is vital that we adopt a scientific approach to addressing these problems, parsing out the real dangers from the red herrings, the threats from the Boogeymen. In many cases well-intentioned activism does more harm than good. In his new book and talk, Radford examines political polarization, racism, sexism, economic inequality, and other social issues through media literacy, folklore, journalism, psychology, neuroscience, and critical thinking approaches.
This talk took place on June 23, 2022, at 7:00 pm EDT.