by Admin | Jun 22, 2020 | Benjamin Radford, Films, Magic and witchcraft, Media Appearances, Research, Reviews, Satire, Skepticism
Extra Ordinary, a gloriously amusing Irish romantic comedy about the supernatural, begins with the obligatory, winking tagline “Based on a true story.” The ghost hunting genre is both ripe for satire and difficult to satirize effectively because it’s so self-evidently...
by Admin | Jun 20, 2020 | Archives, Benjamin Radford, Media Literacy, News, Psychology, Research
We’ve all seen it on social media, especially Facebook. Some friend, or “friend,” or friend of a “friend,” posts a news story. Because it’s social media, the story is often selected (by human nature and algorithms) for its outrage factor. Amid the kitten videos and...
by Admin | Jun 16, 2020 | Benjamin Radford, Conspiracy theories, Health and Medicine, Media Literacy, News, Research, Science, Skepticism
The twin plagues of COVID-19 and racism have come to the fore globally over the past few months, and as with any such afflictions there’s a social desire to scapegoat, finding someone (or some group) to blame. Parallels between the pandemic and racism are not hard to...
by Admin | Jun 14, 2020 | Benjamin Radford, Conspiracy theories, Films, Folklore, Investigation, Media Literacy, Skepticism, Squaring the Strange, Urban legends
In the new episode of Squaring the Strange, we are joined by filmmaker and encyclopedia of weird film knowledge Erik Kristopher Myers. The notion of a “snuff film” is a strange convergence of conspiracy thinking, urban legend, moral panic, and actual...
by Admin | Jun 12, 2020 | Benjamin Radford, Magic and witchcraft, Media Literacy, Psychology, Skepticism, Squaring the Strange, Squaring the Strange
We talk “Murder Hornets” with invasive species expert Heidi Noora McMaster, then Noah Nez, who blogs as the Native Skeptic, brings a variety of Native American themes: crown dancers and clown / trickster figures, the noble savage trope and the myth of...
