In this week's show, which is divided into two special episodes, we'll dive into fear in America and explore some of the findings from a multi-year study on fear in a new book, Fear Itself, The Causes and Consequences of Fear in America (NYU Press, 2020). In this second part of this week's show we'll dig deeper into how belief in the paranormal and conspiracies both shape, and are shaped by, the things that we fear. We'll look at conspiratorial "spirit guides" like David Wilcock and Alex Jones of InfoWars and how they have promoted a conspiratorial worldview, what the authors of Fear Itself describe as "conspiratorial Gnosticism." And we'll consider why belief in conspiracies seems to be on the rise in America today, from the political margins to the White House.

I'm producing these episodes in parallel with a course of the same name which I am teaching at California State University, Chico where I am currently teaching.  Each week I will look at a different topic related to the end of the world, from doomsday preppers and our deepest fears to the role of religion, media, and politics in thinking about the end of the world.

There are several short video segments included which you can watch by following the links below:

Clip 1: The Social Dilemma Netflix Trailer

Clip 2: David Wilcock on California Fires Conspiracies

Clip 3: Alex Jones Show Clip on Covid Conspiracies

For additional show notes and materials references in this episode be sure to visit my End of the World page:

https://www.chriscrews.com/end-of-the-world-podcast/

Thanks for listening.

Dr. Crews