Category Archives: Renewing American Democracy

Beyond Belief


The effort to destroy facts and make American ungovernable didn’t come out of nowhere.  It is the culmination of seventy years of strategic denialism, according to Lee McIntyre.  In “On Disinformation” he shows how the war on facts began, and how ordinary citizens can fight back against the scourge of disinformation that is now threatening the very fabric of our society. McIntyre explains how autocrats use propaganda to manipulate the populace and deny obvious realities, why the best way to combat disinformation is to disrupt its spread and offers ten smart steps to fight back and win the war against truth.

Lee McIntyre is a Research Fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University and an Instructor in Ethics at Harvard Extension School. His most recent book is ON DISINFORMATION: How to Fight for Truth and Protect Democracy.  He is also author of Dark Ages, Post-Truth, The Scientific Attitude and How to Talk to a Science Denier, all published by MIT Press.

Joining the conversation is Joan Donovan, assistant Professor of Journalism and Emerging Media Studies at Boston University.  Donovan leads the field in examining internet and technology studies, online extremism, disinformation and media manipulation.  She is founder of The Critical Internet Studies Institute, a non-profit that advocates for a public interest internet and co-author of MEME WARS: The Untold Story of the Online Battles Upending Democracy in America with Emily Dreyfuss and Brian Friedberg.

Donovan’s research explores how media manipulation is a means to control public conversation, derail democracy, and disrupt society.  She conducts research, develops methods, and facilitates workshops for journalists, policy makers, technologists, and civil society organizations on how to detect, document, and debunk media manipulation campaigns. 

Donovan was the former Research Director of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media Politics and Public Policy, where she directed the Technology and Social Change Research Project. Her team researched media manipulation, disinformation, and adversarial media movements and published open access textbook, the Media Manipulation Casebook. Her public scholarship has been showcased in a wide array of media mainstream outlets, including MIT Technology Review, NPR, Washington Post, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and The Atlantic.

Recorded 10/17/2023

CF Beyond Belief 1
CF Beyond Belief 2

1776

The late historian David McCullough, two-time winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award visited Cambridge Forum in 2005. He spoke in Harvard Square not far from the Common where the Continental Army set up for drill and encampment during the Revolutionary War.

McCullough underscored the tumult and uncertainty of 1776 and how the courage and perseverance of a few dedicated patriots were responsible for the success of the American revolutionary experiment. 

He read from his book 1776 that explores the context of the life-and-death military struggle that heralded the birth of the United States of America. 

In this audio recording from 2005, McCullough is Introduced by Bill Fowler, Director of the Massachusetts Historical Society.

CF – 1776, David McCullough

Exceptional America

exceptional2What divides Americans from the world and from each other?

Stanford Law professor Mugambi Jouet discusses his new book Exceptional America which tackles why Americans are far more divided than other Westerners over basic issues, including wealth inequality, health care, climate change, evolution, gender roles, abortion, gay rights, sex, gun control, mass incarceration, the death penalty, torture, human rights, and war.

Why is America so polarized? How does American exceptionalism explain these social changes?

Read chapter 1 of the book.

Mugambi Jouet teaches at Stanford Law School and is a frequent media commentator. His research focuses on U.S. criminal law, constitutional law, and policymaking from a multidisciplinary perspective encompassing history, sociology, political science, and the humanities.

Recorded May 17, 2017

Listen to EXCEPTIONAL AMERICA, 1 & 2

The Health of Democracy: Voter Suppression and Disenfranchisement

Recorded on April 29, 2015

civil disobediencePolitical scientist Erin O’Brien explores current efforts to restrict access to the ballot, through both legislative and judicial changes in states across the nation.  Journalist Phillip Martin responds with examples from the Civil Rights Movement of citizen actions, including civil disobedience, that opened ballot access to previously disenfranchised African Americans.   How can citizens respond when  the ideals of democracy come into conflict with the policies of government?

Watch “Voter Suppression” on YouTube here.

This program is funded in part by MassHumanities.

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The Health of Democracy: A Polarized People

Recorded on April 22, 2015

polarizationCan a polarized public maintain a healthy democracy?  It’s not just the Congress that is ideologically divided.  The Pew Research Center recently documented how the American people have become polarized over the past 50 years.  Michael Dimock, President of the Pew Research Center, discusses this ground-breaking study and its implications for the health of our democracy with Ted Landsmark, president emeritus of the Boston Architectural College.   What can citizens do to create and support effective community dialogues aimed at strengthening social bonds?

Watch “Polarized People” on YouTube here.

Read the Pew Research Center reports:

“Political Polarization in the American Public.”

“Beyond Red vs. Blue: The Political Typology”

“Political Polarization and Media Habits,”

Where do you fit?   Take the quiz!

This program is funded in part by MassHumanities.  

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The Health of Democracy: Economic Inequality

Recorded on March 25, 2015

shay's rebellionTaxes!  Nobody likes taxes, but they have, famously, been called the price we pay for civilization.  Since the earliest days of the Republic, taxes have played a controversial part in our democracy and the ideal of equality that underlies it.  Historian Colin Gordon explores the growth of economic inequality in late 20th and early 21st century United States and its implications for a healthy democracy.  Michael Widmer, former president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, examines how tax policy can support or lessen economic inequality.  During previous eras of great economic inequality, government programs attempted to level the playing field.  What can citizens do to spur a more equitable distribution of wealth today?

Watch “Economic Inequality” on YouTube here.

This program is funded in part by MassHumanities.

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The Health of Democracy: Privatizing Education

Recorded on March 8, 2015

privatizationThe Massachusetts School Law of 1642 laid out the rationale for public education: “For as much as the good education of children is of singular behoof and benefit to any Common-wealth.”  How do contemporary efforts to privatize public education square with the civic role that education has played in American democracy? Internationally recognized leader in education policy Julian Vasquez Heilig examines the variety of ways in which public education is being privatized in the name of “reform” and suggests ways for citizens to respond that both improve educational experience and strengthen the societal and civic role that education plays. Suzie McGlone, a Boston Public School teacher, responds and moderates.

Watch “Privatizing Education” on YouTube here.

This program is funded in part by MassHumanities.  Co-sponsored by Citizens for Public Schools.

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The Health of Democracy: Social Immobility and Civic Participation

Recorded on February 11, 2015

 

labor movementDo we still believe that any child in America could grow up to be President of the United States?  American’s have long resisted the notion that class plays a role in our society, but current research undercuts that idea.  Economist Randy Albelda examines the rise in U.S. social immobility and the role that contemporary  labor conditions have played in limiting Americans’ expectations to do better than their parents’ generation.  Union organizer Joey Mokos responds by discussing the ways that the modern union movement is responding to changes in our worklife.  What role does social mobility play in a healthy democracy?  What role does organizing play in creating social mobility?

This program is funded in part by MassHumanities.

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The Health of Democracy: The Role of the Media

Recorded on January 28, 2015

Alex Jones bookA free press and public access to information and a broad range of ideas and opinions were considered so essential for a healthy democratic republic that the Founders included protection for freedom of the press in the First Amendment to the Constitution.  Alex Jones, director of Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, and Charles Sennott, founder of Global Post and The GroundTruth Project, assess how today’s press–print and electronic–is carrying out its mission.  Where do current threats to a free press come from?  How can citizens inform themselves in today’s media environment?

This program is funded in part by  MassHumanities.

Watch “The Media and Democracy” on YouTube here.

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Uncertain Justice: The Supreme Court and the Constitution

Recorded on September 17, 2014

Tribe bookLaurence Tribe, eminent Constitutional Law scholar at Harvard Law School, discusses his new book (co-authored with Joshua Matz), Uncertain Justice: The Roberts Court and the Constitution, on the day the United States celebrates its 227th Constitution Day.

Is the Roberts Court really the “least dangerous” branch of our federal government, as Alexander Hamilton opined in Federalist Paper No. 78?

Tribe argues that this Supreme Court is shaking the foundation of the nation’s laws and reinterpreting the meaning of the Constitution.

Listen to “Uncertain Justice” here.

Co-sponsored by Mullane, MIchel & McInnes.