Christopher J. Ferguson: How Madness Shaped History
KEY MOMENTS
0:00 – Intro: Christopher J. Ferguson on madness in history
0:52 – A book launch at the start of the pandemic
1:54 – Toilet paper hoarding and pandemic panic
5:11 – How mobs form and the pull of conformity
8:01 – A grade school conformity experiment
9:46 – Social media and judging who you retweet
11:34 – What social media actually does to us
13:33 – The pull of online fights
15:58 – Twitter amplifies extreme voices
16:53 – Abigail Shrier's book and Target
18:27 – Looking back on 2020
21:17 – George Floyd, unrest, and rising homicides
24:12 – The lab leak theory and nuance
25:26 – Lessons from 9/11 and the Patriot Act
28:00 – Therapy, projection, and renovation stress
31:19 – Powerlessness and the search for simple answers
33:24 – Video games, Sandy Hook, and moral panics
35:07 – Why serial killers seemed to peak in the 1970s
38:38 – The availability heuristic and mass homicides
40:40 – The sexual revolution and porn panics
43:24 – Gangster rap and 13 Reasons Why
44:52 – Teen suicide during the pandemic
47:25 – Confirmation bias and anecdotes
50:26 – Taking credit for success and blaming others
52:04 – Evolved fears: snakes versus cars
53:46 – Does a psychologist analyze everyone?
55:24 – Wrap-up
ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Stetson University professor Christopher J. Ferguson, author of How Madness Shaped History, joins Lou to talk about how mobs form, the pull of conformity, what social media actually does to us, and moral panics.
We also get into launching a book at the start of the pandemic, toilet paper hoarding, a grade school conformity experiment, why Twitter amplifies extreme voices, Abigail Shrier's book and Target, looking back on 2020, the lab leak theory, 9/11 and the Patriot Act, video games and Sandy Hook, why serial killers seemed to peak in the 1970s, porn panics, gangster rap and 13 Reasons Why, confirmation bias, and why we fear snakes more than cars.