Robert Bartholomew | |
---|---|
Born | August 17, 1958 |
Alma mater | |
Occupation(s) | Medical sociologist, writer, teacher |
Years active | 1984–present |
Employer(s) | Mission Heights Junior College, Auckland, New Zealand |
Website | rebartholomew.com |
Robert Emerson Bartholomew (born August 17, 1958) is an American medical sociologist, journalist and author living in New Zealand. He is an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. In addition to publishing more than 60 academic papers, he has written or co-written 16 popular science and skeptical non-fiction books. He writes for several newspapers and journals on sociological and fringe science topics, including Psychology Today , Skeptical Inquirer , and British magazines The Skeptic and Fortean Times .
He is an expert in fields such as mass hysteria and mass psychogenic illness [1] and is frequently consulted by media during current events of sociological phenomena such as incidences of suspected mass hysteria or panic.
Bartholomew first obtained a radio broadcasting certificate studying at SUNY Adirondack in 1977 followed in 1979 by a bachelor's degree in communications at Plattsburgh. By 1984 he had been awarded a master's degree in American sociology at State University of New York. [2] In 1992 he gained a masters in Australian sociology from Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia followed by a doctorate in sociology from James Cook University in Queensland, Australia. Finally, in 2001 he gained his teaching qualification from Upper Valley Teachers Institute in social studies. [2]
Bartholomew has also lived and worked in Malaysia and in 2009 worked in sociology at International University College of Technology. [3] In April 2010 he took up a teaching position at Botany Downs Secondary College in Auckland, New Zealand. He is currently an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. [2]
In 2012, Bartholomew published Australia's forgotten children: The corrupt state of education in the Northern Territory: A case study of educational apartheid at an aboriginal pretend school in which he uncovered human rights abuses of indigenous Australian aboriginal children who were being exposed to harmful asbestos in the Northern Territory with the knowledge of the Northern Territory Department of Education. [4]
Bartholomew's principal area of academic contribution is in the field of mass psychogenic illness, previously known as mass hysteria, both historical and present day cases, an area he has been studying for over 25 years. [5] He has written extensively about 600 notable instances including the Salem witch trials, [6] the 2011 Le Roy illness, which Bartholomew has described as "the first case of this magnitude to occur in the U.S. during the social networking era", [5] and present-day manifestations, most of which he has said have yet to be studied in-depth by sociologists.
As we enter the 21st century, epidemic hysteria will again mirror the times, likely thriving on the fear and uncertainty from terrorist threats and environmental concerns. What new forms it will take and when these changes will appear are beyond our capacity to predict. [7]
In 2016, Bartholomew investigated the 2012 case of an outbreak of hiccups in Danvers, Massachusetts (originally Old Salem village), in which 24 young people were stricken with apparently uncontrollable hiccups. After requesting and reviewing state documents from the original investigation, he concluded the most likely explanation was a psychogenic conversion disorder affecting the (predominantly) girls involved. He publicly stated the Massachusetts Department of Public Health had "knowingly issued an inaccurate, incomplete report...They have an obligation to issue accurate diagnoses, and patients have a right to know what made them sick" and filed official complaints of malpractice. [8]
Bartholomew has also drawn attention to the role of the internet in acting as an "echo chamber" for spreading moral outrage; for example on social media, pedophile allegations used as political weapons by supporters of the far right against liberal celebrities, which mirrors earlier public outrage which took the form of the Red Scare (particularly McCarthyism) and the Lavender scare against homosexuals in US government positions. [9]
Bartholomew is frequently interviewed as an expert on topics as diverse as the "Pokémon Panic" of 1997, [10] the spread of UFO conspiracy theories, [11] the 2016 clown panic (which he suggested was a moral panic fueled by social media in response to a fear of strangers and terrorism), [12] the viral spread of online fads such as Pokémon Go , [13] and Havana syndrome, the suspected energy weapon attacks against American and Canadian government personnel which began in 2016, [1] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] about which he said:
I am convinced that we are dealing with an episode of mass psychogenic illness and mass suggestion. If these same symptoms were reported among a group of factory workers in New York or London, I think you would get a very different diagnosis, and there would be no consideration to a sonic weapon hypothesis. [19] There is also another possibility to consider here: government officials trying to defend their initial diagnosis. [16]
In 2020, Bartholomew co-authored Havana Syndrome: Mass Psychogenic Illness and the Real Story Behind the Embassy Mystery and Hysteria, a book on the sonic attack controversy in Cuba, with Professor Robert W. Baloh, a neurologist at the UCLA Medical Center. The book document dozens of similar examples of disorders that have essentially the same features as "Havana Syndrome", but were given different labels, from the 18th century belief that sounds from certain musical instruments were harmful to human health, to contemporary panics involving people living near wind turbines. [20]
In March 2020, Bartholomew was invited to attend a medical conference in Havana, Cuba, on the "attacks", where he repeated the claim that stress-induced mass psychogenic illness was the most likely cause. [21]
Bartholomew has written over 60 academic papers [22] including:
In addition Bartholomew contributes to several newspapers and journals on various sociological and fringe science topics, including Psychology Today [29] , Skeptical Inquirer , and British magazines The Skeptic and Fortean Times .
Bartholomew is the author of several popular science and skeptical non-fiction books including:
William Gibson in Mother Jones described Outbreak! The Encyclopedia of Extraordinary Social Behavior as "Essential reading for the era of Trump" [46] while Véronique Campion-Vincent described it as "exceptional in its scope...an indispensable working tool for researchers". [47] Michael Bywater in The Daily Telegraph described Panic Attacks as "a revealing historical corrective to the tempting view that media manipulation is a late-20th-century invention." [48]
In 2020, Bartholomew's self-published No Māori Allowed: New Zealand's Forgotten History of Racial Segregation, which looked at the history of segregation and discrimination against Māori people in the Auckland suburb of Pukekohe. His research found that 73% (237) of all Māori deaths aged 14 years and under in Pukekohe between 1925 and 1961 were caused by preventable conditions linked to poverty and poor housing such as bronchitis, diphtheria, dysentry, gastroenteritis, malnutrition, measles, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and whooping cough. [49] On 19 June 2020, Bartholomew told Te Ao Maori News that a publisher had said his book No Māori Allowed was too pro-Maori. Bartholomew maintained that the stories of segregation needed to be told and New Zealand must '"acknowledge its racist past." [50] In 2023, Bartholomew's book was adapted into a TVNZ documentary called No Māori Allowed by Megan Jones, Reikura Kahi and Corinna Hunzike. [51] [52]
An October 2021 article published by the Office for Science and Society of McGill University, which was critical of the official claims about Havana Syndrome, referred readers to Havana Syndrome: Mass Psychogenic Illness and the Real Story Behind the Embassy Mystery and Hysteria as a "fantastic book" saying it contextualize the syndrome in a history of acoustical scares, PTSD, and unwarranted accusations of state terrorism." [53]
In 2017, Bartholomew was elected a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. [54] [55]
A moral panic is a widespread feeling of fear that some evil person or thing threatens the values, interests, or well-being of a community or society. It is "the process of arousing social concern over an issue", usually perpetuated by moral entrepreneurs and mass media coverage, and exacerbated by politicians and lawmakers. Moral panic can give rise to new laws aimed at controlling the community.
Le Roy, or more commonly LeRoy, is a town in Genesee County, New York, United States. The population was 7,641 at the time of the 2010 census. The town is named after one of the original land owners, Herman Le Roy. The town lies on the southwestern edge of Monroe County. Within the town is a village of Le Roy. The Jell-O gelatin dessert was invented and first manufactured in Le Roy.
Panic is a sudden sensation of fear, which is so strong as to dominate or prevent reason and logical thinking, replacing it with overwhelming feelings of anxiety, uncertainty and frantic agitation consistent with a fight-or-flight reaction. Panic may occur singularly in individuals or manifest suddenly in large groups as mass panic.
Pukekohe is a town in the Auckland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Located at the southern edge of the Auckland Region, between the southern shore of the Manukau Harbour and the mouth of the Waikato River. The hills of Pukekohe and nearby Bombay Hills form the natural southern limit of the Auckland region. Pukekohe is located within the political boundaries of the Auckland Council, following the abolition of the Franklin District Council on 1 November 2010.
Sonic and ultrasonic weapons (USW) are weapons of various types that use sound to injure or incapacitate an opponent. Some sonic weapons make a focused beam of sound or of ultrasound; others produce an area field of sound. As of 2023 military and police forces make some limited use of sonic weapons.
The Monkey-man of Delhi, also known as the Face Scratcher or the Black Monkey is an unknown anomaly which was reported to be roaming Delhi in mid-2001. The entire incident has been described as an example of mass hysteria in India.
The Tanganyika laughter epidemic of 1962 was an outbreak of mass hysteria—or mass psychogenic illness (MPI)—rumored to have occurred in or near the village of Kashasha on the western coast of Lake Victoria in Tanganyika near the border with Uganda.
The Mad Gasser of Mattoon was the name given to the person or people believed to be responsible for a series of apparent gas attacks that occurred in Mattoon, Illinois, during the mid-1940s. More than two dozen separate cases of gassings were reported to police over the span of two weeks, in addition to many more reported sightings of the suspected assailant. The gasser's supposed victims reported smelling strange odors in their homes which were soon followed by symptoms such as paralysis of the legs, coughing, nausea and vomiting. No one died or had serious medical consequences as a result of the gas attacks.
Dancing mania was a social phenomenon that may have had biological causes, which occurred primarily in mainland Europe between the 14th and 17th centuries. It involved groups of people dancing erratically, sometimes thousands at a time. The mania affected adults and children who danced until they collapsed from exhaustion and injuries, and sometimes died. One of the first major outbreaks was in Aachen, in the Holy Roman Empire, in 1374, and it quickly spread throughout Europe; one particularly notable outbreak occurred in Strasbourg in 1518 in Alsace, also in the Holy Roman Empire.
Societal and cultural aspects of Tourette syndrome include legal advocacy and health insurance issues, awareness of notable individuals with Tourette syndrome, and treatment of TS in the media and popular culture.
Benjamin Radford is an American writer, investigator, and skeptic. He has authored, coauthored or contributed to over twenty books and written over a thousand articles and columns on a wide variety of topics including urban legends, unexplained mysteries, the paranormal, critical thinking, mass hysteria, and media literacy. His book, Mysterious New Mexico: Miracles, Magic, and Monsters in the Land of Enchantment, was published in the summer of 2014 and is a scientific investigation of famous legends and folklore in the state of New Mexico. In 2016 Radford published Bad Clowns, a 2017 IPPY bronze award winner, and he is regarded as an expert on the bad clowns phenomenon.
Tourette syndrome is an inherited neurological disorder that begins in childhood or adolescence, characterized by the presence of multiple physical (motor) tics and at least one vocal (phonic) tic.
Mass psychogenic illness (MPI), also called mass sociogenic illness, mass psychogenic disorder, epidemic hysteria or mass hysteria, involves the spread of illness symptoms through a population where there is no infectious agent responsible for contagion. It is the rapid spread of illness signs and symptoms affecting members of a cohesive group, originating from a nervous system disturbance involving excitation, loss, or alteration of function, whereby physical complaints that are exhibited unconsciously have no corresponding organic causes that are known.
The dancing plague of 1518, or dance epidemic of 1518, was a case of dancing mania that occurred in Strasbourg, Alsace, in the Holy Roman Empire from July 1518 to September 1518. Somewhere between 50 and 400 people took to dancing for weeks. There are many theories behind the phenomenon, the most popular being stress-induced mass hysteria, suggested by John Waller. Other theories include ergot and religious explanations. There is controversy concerning the number of deaths.
Morgellons is the informal name of a self-diagnosed, scientifically unsubstantiated skin condition in which individuals have sores that they believe contain fibrous material. Morgellons is not well understood, but the general medical consensus is that it is a form of delusional parasitosis, on the psychiatric spectrum. The sores are typically the result of compulsive scratching, and the fibers, when analysed, are consistently found to have originated from cotton and other textiles.
The 1983 West Bank fainting epidemic occurred in late March and early April 1983. Researchers point to mass hysteria as the most likely explanation. Large numbers of Palestinians complained of fainting and dizziness, the vast majority of whom were teenage girls with a smaller number of female Israeli soldiers in multiple West Bank towns, leading to 943 hospitalizations.
The Embassy of the United States of America in Havana is the United States of America's diplomatic mission in Cuba. On January 3, 1961, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower severed relations following the Cuban Revolution of the 1950s. In 1977, U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Cuban leader Fidel Castro signed an Interests Sections Agreement that permitted each government to operate from its former embassy in Havana and Washington D.C., which were called Interests Sections; they were prohibited from flying their respective flags. Cuban President Raúl Castro and U.S. President Barack Obama restored full diplomatic connections on July 20, 2015.
Havana syndrome is a disputed medical condition reported primarily by U.S. diplomatic, intelligence, and military officials stationed in overseas locations. Reported symptoms range in severity from pain and ringing in the ears to cognitive dysfunction and were first reported by U.S. and Canadian embassy staff in Havana, Cuba, though earlier incidents may have occurred in Frankfurt, Germany. Starting in 2016 through to 2021, several hundred U.S. intelligence and military officials and their families reported having symptoms in overseas locations including China, India, Europe, Hanoi, as well as in Washington, D.C., USA.
The Dancing Mania, an epidemic of the Middle Ages is a historical-pathological investigative book originally written and published in German by Justus Friedrich Karl Hecker (1795-1850) in 1832 as Die Tanzwuth, eine Volkskrankheit im Mittelalter: nach den Quellen für Aerzte und gebildete Nichtärzte bearbeitet. The full translated English title is The Dancing Mania, an epidemic of the Middle Ages: from the sources of physicians and non-physicians. Hecker combines multiple sources about the dancing mania, an epidemic which occurred mainly between the 14th and 17th century of the Middle Ages. The dancing mania is described by the author as a historical case of mass hysteria, and Hecker further investigates the conditions and circumstances surrounding the dancing mania during the outbreaks. The book has also been published in combination with The Black Death in the fourteenth century (1832) and The Sweating Sickness: A medical contribution to the story of the fifteenth and sixteenth century (1834) in a book called The Epidemics of the Middle Ages by doctor August Hirsch in 1865 after Hecker's death. The Dancing Mania (1832) sparked new interest in the dancing plague and mass hysteria at the time of publication, leading to much further research on the topic.