National panics—about crime, immigrants, police, social decay, and many others—have become pervasive in the United States. Many of these concerns begin as mere phantom fears, but are systematically amplified by social media, news media, bad actors and even well-intentioned activists. While many challenges face the U.S., Americans must sort through which fears are legitimate threats and which are amplified exaggerations. This talk, by Benjamin Radford based on his award-winning book of the same name, examines the role of fear in national panics. Political polarization, racism, sexism, economic inequality, and other social issues are examined using an interdisciplinary approach. Combining media literacy, folklore, investigative journalism, psychology, neuroscience, and critical thinking approaches, Radford reveals the powerful—and often unrecognized—role that fear plays in clouding perceptions about (and thwarting progress in) the United States and around the world.

Bio: Benjamin Radford is deputy editor of Skeptical Inquirer science magazine and a Research Fellow with the non-profit educational organization the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry; his colleagues there include Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson. He has written thousands of articles on a wide variety of topics, including urban legends, mysterious phenomena, critical thinking, and media literacy. He is the author, co-author or contributor to over 20 books and has won awards for his books, films, and podcasts. Radford also wrote and directed three short films and co-founded an award-winning podcast, MonsterTalk, and is co-founder and co-host of Squaring the Strange. Radford has two Master's degrees (MPH from Dartmouth and M.Ed from the University at Buffalo) and a BA in psychology from the University of New Mexico.