The recent epidemic of conspiracy rumors is the subject of Dr. Jeffrey Victor’s article featured in the current July/August issue of Skeptical Inquirer magazine.

The magazine is an international magazine for scientists and critical thinkers. His article focuses on QAnon claims and the stolen election rumors. The retired JCC professor applied his research into satanic cult conspiracy rumors to understand how conspiracy rumors work. He offers a new way of understanding conspiracy rumors as a product of the influences of history and culture, rather than the quirks of individual thinking. He suggests that we can understand conspiracy rumors like a virus in society. His article explains how conspiracy rumors have ancient origins; mutate into different forms over time; and are extremely difficult to eradicate completely. Some forms are more harmful than others, and some people are more susceptible to them.

Victor’s article offer answers to: why some conspiracy stories persist over centuries, why many conspiracy rumors spread so fast and so far, why conspiracy believers are so resistant to change, and what can be done to control the harm done by dangerous conspiracy rumors.

Victor is a retired professor of sociology at Jamestown Community College, where he taught for 52 years. Victor received his Ph.D. in sociology from the State University at Buffalo in 1974. In 1988, he received the New York State University’s Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence. He has been an invited...

Read Full Story: https://www.post-journal.com/news/community/2022/08/dr-victor-publishes-artic...