Robert E. Bartholomew
Autore di The Martians Have Landed!: A History of Media-Driven Panics and Hoaxes
Sull'Autore
Robert E. Bartholomew is a native New Yorker who teaches history at Botany College in Auckland, New Zealand. His many books include The Martians Have Landed! A History of Media-Driven Panics and Hoaxes (with Benjamin Radford) and Outbreak! The Encyclopedia of Extraordinary Social Behavior (with mostra altro Hilary Evans). mostra meno
Fonte dell'immagine: Photo: Jamilah Bartholomew
Opere di Robert E. Bartholomew
Little Green Men, Meowing Nuns and Head-Hunting Panics: A Study of Mass Psychogenic Illness and Social Delusion (2001) 21 copie
American hauntings : the true stories behind Hollywood's scariest movies-from The exorcist to The conjuring (2015) 9 copie
The Untold Story of Champ: A Social History of America's Loch Ness Monster (Excelsior Editions) (2012) 8 copie
No Māori allowed : New Zealand's forgotten history of racial segregation : how a generation of Māori children… (2020) 5 copie
Opere correlate
Fortean Times 73 — Collaboratore — 2 copie
Etichette
Informazioni generali
- Nome legale
- Bartholomew, Robert Emerson
- Data di nascita
- 1958
- Sesso
- male
- Nazionalità
- USA
- Nazione (per mappa)
- USA
- Istruzione
- State University of New York, Plattsburgh (BA)
State University of New York (MA)
Flinders University (MA)
James Cook University (PhD) - Premi e riconoscimenti
- Fellow, Committee for Skeptical Inquiry
- Breve biografia
- Robert Bartholomew is an American born medical sociologist, writer, journalist, human rights advocate and certified high school social studies instructor currently teaching history at Botany Downs Secondary College in South Auckland, New Zealand. He is credited with coining the term 'exotic deviance' in the field of social psychiatry to describe the inappropriate placement medical labels by Eurocentric scientists, onto unfamiliar behaviors and conduct codes in NonWestern countries.
He holds a doctorate in sociology from James Cook University in Queensland Australia, a Masters in American sociology from the State University of New York at Albany, a Masters in Australian sociology from The Flinders University of South Australia, a BA degree in Communications from The State University of New York at Plattsburgh, and a Certificate in Radio Broadcasting from the State University of New York - Adirondack campus. He has written on an array of topics ranging from human social and cultural diversity, to mass psychogenic illness (aka “mass hysteria”), social delusions, moral panics, fads, collective behavior, the history of tabloid journalism, history of the paranormal, popular myths and folklore.
He has published over a dozen books and over sixty articles in peer-reviewed journals.
http://robertebartholomew.com/index.p...
Utenti
Recensioni
Michigan and the Great Mass Hysteria Episode of 1897 di Robert E Bartholomew
A report of "flying saucer"-type hyisteria, mostly in Southwest Michigan, in April and May of 1879. It seems folks believed they were seeing balloons. The author points out that likely they were reacting to 1) other, similar, reports, and 2) lots of mid-1890s news articles about the potential development of flying things.
Since I already have a fascination with Nessie, when I saw this book I had to read it. It is an interesting and pretty thorough look at the Lake Champlain monster phenomenon. The author is pretty much an open-minded skeptic, as am I. Fun to read about though.
Questa recensione è stata scritta per Recensori in anteprima di LibraryThing.The Martians Have Landed offers a broad collection of media- inspired panics and deceptions. Such alarms have been spread by radio, television, print media, and the internet, and include urban legends spread by word of mouth. Among them are threats of space invaders, killer clowns, organ thieves, satanic cults, Pokemon panics, email viruses, killer asteroids, and killer vaccines. Bartholomew and Radford’s book is a useful and sometimes amazing compilation of case histories of such panics and hoaxes. (I had no idea that such hoaxes were so widespread in time and place. After all, invaders from Mars we’ve all heard of, but phantom killer clowns?)
However, this book fails to answer the questions posed in its own introduction, such as how the media so often get the stories wrong, why people are so fearful and gullible, and why panics are so easily spread. As a result, what could have been an interesting sociological analysis is mainly a descriptive account. Further, not having identified causes, the authors cannot offer any solutions beyond vague suggestions that “the media” become more responsible. To this meritorious (if unrealistic) suggestion, one might also recommend that people be more skeptical and investigate the credibility of rumors. In fact, the book could have done a service by recommending websites (such as snopes.com) that subject internet rumors to careful test.
Among other problems, in attempting to claim widespread panics over a given threat, the authors often rely on dubious anecdotal information and outright exaggeration. Thus, for example, we’re told without documentation that a given panic led to widespread fear or “several reports of people having a heart attack” (sic). Being unable to estimate how many people in 1910 panicked at arrival of Halley’s Comet, the authors exclaim that even if “just one percent of the population were affected, this would translate into …900,000 people.” How ironic, for the authors to use alarmist language and undocumented assertions in their claim that people are gullible! Further, in trying to show that particular alarms were entirely unjustified, the authors downplay actual concerns. Thus, to refute the likelihood of satanic cults, they claim that victims of child abuse almost never repress memories of their molestation. Finally, the book is poorly edited. The amount of space given to particular “panics” is inconsistent and incongruent with their relative importance and interest. What’s more, the writing is uneven, with repetitive passages, unclear statements, and at least a few mangled sentences.
In sum, The Martians Have Landed is a useful compilation of media- driven hoaxes and panics. The idea for this book was a good one, although in its execution the book is less than it could have been.… (altro)
However, this book fails to answer the questions posed in its own introduction, such as how the media so often get the stories wrong, why people are so fearful and gullible, and why panics are so easily spread. As a result, what could have been an interesting sociological analysis is mainly a descriptive account. Further, not having identified causes, the authors cannot offer any solutions beyond vague suggestions that “the media” become more responsible. To this meritorious (if unrealistic) suggestion, one might also recommend that people be more skeptical and investigate the credibility of rumors. In fact, the book could have done a service by recommending websites (such as snopes.com) that subject internet rumors to careful test.
Among other problems, in attempting to claim widespread panics over a given threat, the authors often rely on dubious anecdotal information and outright exaggeration. Thus, for example, we’re told without documentation that a given panic led to widespread fear or “several reports of people having a heart attack” (sic). Being unable to estimate how many people in 1910 panicked at arrival of Halley’s Comet, the authors exclaim that even if “just one percent of the population were affected, this would translate into …900,000 people.” How ironic, for the authors to use alarmist language and undocumented assertions in their claim that people are gullible! Further, in trying to show that particular alarms were entirely unjustified, the authors downplay actual concerns. Thus, to refute the likelihood of satanic cults, they claim that victims of child abuse almost never repress memories of their molestation. Finally, the book is poorly edited. The amount of space given to particular “panics” is inconsistent and incongruent with their relative importance and interest. What’s more, the writing is uneven, with repetitive passages, unclear statements, and at least a few mangled sentences.
In sum, The Martians Have Landed is a useful compilation of media- driven hoaxes and panics. The idea for this book was a good one, although in its execution the book is less than it could have been.… (altro)
3 
danielx | 10 altre recensioni | Dec 26, 2012 |
danielx | 10 altre recensioni | Dec 26, 2012 | Questa recensione è stata scritta per Recensori in anteprima di LibraryThing.I've been a skeptic for many years. This book only backs up my beliefs that media no longer has journalists. The media is driven by quick news cycles that don't permit fact checking. Unfortunately people tend to believe what is reported. Interesting and fact based stories from around the world about how gullible people are.
Liste
Potrebbero anche piacerti
Autori correlati
Statistiche
- Opere
- 17
- Opere correlate
- 1
- Utenti
- 215
- Popolarità
- #103,625
- Voto
- 3.4
- Recensioni
- 14
- ISBN
- 25
- Lingue
- 1
