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Strategies for Responding to Vaccine Propaganda

Renee Hobbs is delighted to present at the Rhode Island Library Association (RILA) conference on June 3rd. She will offer a program in media literacy education for adults, entitled "Strategies for Responding to Vaccine Propaganda" at the Rhode Island Library Association 2021 Virtual Conference, taking place June 3-4. Hobbs participated in the development of the American Library Association's Media Literacy Education in Libraries for Adult Audiences. 

Conspiracy theories about the coronavirus pandemic are aligning with the strategic efforts of anti-vaxxers to create fear, uncertainty and doubt in ways that have profound implications for individual and community health. Antivax media may activate strong emotion, simplify information, appeal to people's deepest hopes, fears, and dreams, and attack opponents. Fact-checking and rational analysis is generally ineffective in response to the memes, blog posts, videos and social media that circulates online. In this presentation, I show an alternative way to open lines of productive dialogue about the ways that conspiracy thinking operates in the real world.

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