Andy Norman on Mental Immunity

(5/21/21) Astonishingly irrational ideas are spreading. Covid denial persists in the face of overwhelming evidence. Anti-vaxxers compromise public health. Conspiracy thinking hijacks minds and incites mob violence. Toxic partisanship is cleaving nations and climate denial has pushed our planet to the brink. Meanwhile, American Nazis march openly in the streets, and Flat Earth theory is back. What the heck is going on? Why is this all happening and why now? More importantly, what can we do about it? In his new book Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think, director of the Humanism Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University Andy Norman reveals these diverse phenomena all share a root cause. Join us for a look at why we live in a time when the so-called “right to your opinion” is thought to trump our responsibilities and what we can do to overcome this phenomenon in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.