The Poisoning of the American Mind

by Lawrence M. Eppard (Editor), Jacob L. Mackey (Editor), Lee Jussim (Editor)

Overview

What would you have to believe in order to dress up as a shaman, paint your face, and storm the U.S. Capitol? What could possibly lead somebody to claim that it upholds white supremacy to encourage hard work, self-reliance, rational thinking, punctuality, and politeness?
 
Such behaviors would have been unimaginable only a few years ago. And yet here we are, witnessing millions of people across the political spectrum displaying these clear indications of an epistemically poisoned mind. Both red America and blue America are retreating into their own information bubbles, seceding from a common reality. Both consume far too much misinformation and disinformation, developing worldviews that can sometimes be unintelligible to others. 
 
This book explores these disturbing developments and what they mean for our society and implores us all to recover a shared sense of what is true.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781942695424
Publisher:	George Mason University
Publication date:	07/31/2024
Pages:	442
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Lawrence M. Eppard is Associate Professor of Sociology at Shippensburg University. He is author of Rugged Individualism and the Misunderstanding of American Inequality.Jacob L. Mackey is Associate Professor of Comparative Studies in Literature and Culture at Occidental College and author of Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion. Lee Jussim is Professor of Social Psychology at Rutgers University and author of Social Perception and Social Reality: Why Accuracy Dominates Bias and Self-Fulfilling Prophecy.

Table of Contents

OVERVIEW
Chapter 1: Golden Age of Information 
Chapter 2: Epistemic Crisis 
Chapter 3: Ideological Silos & Epistemic Secession 

PART I: DEFENDING TRUTH
Chapter 4: The Constitution of Knowledge 
Chapter 5: Why Should We Trust Science? 
Chapter 6: Understanding Science 
Chapter 7: How Science Works 
Chapter 8: A Skeptical Manifesto 
Chapter 9: Common Tactics of Science Denialism 
Chapter 10: There is Plenty of Trustworthy Journalism 
Chapter 11: Identifying Reliable News Sources 
Chapter 12: How NewsGuard Works 
Chapter 13: How the Media Bias Chart is Created 
Chapter 14: The Harper’s Letter 

PART II: PROBLEMS IN RIGHT-WING SILOS
Chapter 15: Deceit and the Danger to Democracy 
Chapter 16: A Fire Hose of Dishonesty 
Chapter 17: Fox’s Pander-for-Profit Business Model 
Chapter 18: Please Lie to Me, Tucker Carlson 
Chapter 19: How We Know Recent Elections Were Not Stolen 
Chapter 20: Truth and Consequences 
Chapter 21: The “Great Replacement” and the “Big Lie” 
Chapter 22: The “Ground Zero Mosque” Presaged Today’s GOP 
Chapter 23: Anti-Immigrant Lies 
Chapter 24: QAnon and the Satanic Panics of Yesteryear 
Chapter 25: How Industry Undermines Public Health 
Chapter 26: I Was an Exxon-funded Climate Scientist 
Chapter 27: The Alt-Right and Moral Righteousness 

PART III: PROBLEMS IN LEFT-WING SILOS
Chapter 28: Virtuous Lies 
Chapter 29: Universities Must Choose One Telos 
Chapter 30: Defining “Wokeness” 
Chapter 31: Ideology and the Social Sciences 
Chapter 32: Attacks on Reality from the Left 
Chapter 33: Bad Behavioral Science Exposed 
Chapter 34: The Questionable Science of Microaggressions 
Chapter 35: Problems with the IAT 
Chapter 36: The Gender Identity Debate 
Chapter 37: The Alt-Left and Moral Righteousness 

PART IV: I DON’T KNOW—THEREFORE, ALIENS
Chapter 38: Common Traits of Conspiracy Thinkers 
Chapter 39: Flat Earthers and Disinformation 
Chapter 40: QAnon, Descartes, and Brains in Vats 
Chapter 41: Anatomy of a Viral Conspiracy Theory 
Chapter 42: Fighting Conspiracy Theories with Evidence 

PART V: PARTING THOUGHTS
Chapter 43: In Defense of Merit in Science 
Chapter 44: The Importance of Facts and Expertise 
Chapter 45: What Caused the Alt-Left and Alt-Right? 
Chapter 46: Disinformation, Democracy, and the Rule of Law 
Chapter 47: Strengthening Information Ecosystems 
Chapter 48: We Need a Shared Reality 
Chapter 49: The Epistemological Conditions of a Liberal Democratic Republic 
Chapter 50: Searching for Answers