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Hate groups and hate-fueled incidents are spiking in America. The Southern Poverty Law Center, through aggregating media reports and gathered submissions from its website, recently catalogued 1051 acts of intimidation and hate in the first month after Trump won the presidency. What is the evidence of this rising tide, and what does it look like in our communities? What gro...
Most of us are repulsed by hateful actions and feelings, and it often seems that the easiest — and most just — way of getting rid of hate is by getting rid of the speech that promotes it. Nadine Strossen has dedicated her career to the defense of civil liberties, and as a champion of the First Amendment, she cautions us to remember that speech, painful as some of it might...
One in two girls say toxic beauty advice on social media causes low self-esteem, and seven in ten have felt better after unfollowing idealized beauty content. This research — and wider conversations surrounding social media use and its impacts on teens’ mental wellness — make this conversation more urgent than ever. Join creative and cultural expert Jess Weiner for #DetoxY...
Americans aren’t dumb—at least individually—but something changed in the last ten years that made the country-as-a-whole stupid in an unprecedented way. And yes, it was social media. What was once a place to share cute kid pics became a place to score hits on enemies and undermine institutional trust, and the viral nature of social media empowered the far political extreme...
How does social change happen? When do social movements take off? Sexual harassment was once something that women had to endure; now a movement has risen up against it. White nationalist sentiments, on the other hand, were largely kept out of mainstream discourse; now there is no shortage of media outlets for them. In this book, with the help of behavioral economics, psych...
Technology has revolutionized the way we see and share beauty. From street style rocking luxury fashion houses to the changes in how and what we purchase, social media is disrupting the world of fashion. How does having the world at our fingertips make fashion more accessible and democratic? And in the process – how are we changing the ways in which we express ourselves cr...
Being a parent is more challenging than ever. Workplace demands, the shortage of affordable daycare and paid leave policies, and the complexities of social media all put enormous strains on families. Yet parents have been left largely on their own to navigate the systems and build the structures their children need to thrive and often feel isolated and exhausted. Given the...
Audrie & Daisy is an urgent real-life drama that examines the ripple effects on families, friends, schools, and communities when two underage young women find that sexual crimes against them have been caught on camera. From acclaimed filmmakers Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk (The Island President, The Rape of Europa), Audrie & Daisy—which made its world premiere at the 2016 Sun...
COVID-19 vastly accelerated vaccine skepticism, such that even routine childhood immunizations, including shots that had largely eliminated measles, are now being questioned. Misinformation can be as contagious as disease, undermining faith in institutions, jeopardizing public health and safety, and distorting clinical decision making. Come watch a live demonstration that...
Gazing up at the stars, watching the acrobatics of Cirque de Soleil, or experiencing a moment of religious rapture connects us to something that feels larger than ourselves. Seeking out a regular dose of awe can strengthen the immune system, increase feelings of gratitude and compassion, lift up people who have experienced trauma, and change our perception of the world aro...
Trust is democracy’s most valuable asset; we simply can’t work together to solve large problems without it. Yet, trust is at an all-time low. Polling reveals that a majority of Americans do not trust government or the media, and — perhaps more concerning — they do not trust each other. The Aspen Institute’s program on Philanthropy and Social Innovation argues that when it...
As the nation’s top doctor, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy helps to advance the health and well-being of all Americans. He has described the growing youth mental health crisis in America as the “defining public health crisis of our time” and warned that social media carries a “profound risk of harm to the mental health of children and adolescents.” Murthy has also highlig...
In a recent book review, Wall Street Journal critic Bart Swain asks a penetrating question: “Isn’t the great problem of our politics precisely that so much of it can’t be conducted face to face?” Innumerable factors, ranging from the bubble culture of social media to the geographic distributions of population — north versus south, coasts versus middle America, urban versus...
Words hurt, words heal — or do they? As we’re exposed to the broad range of messages through media and social networks, and as we hear more people saying controversial (and historically taboo) things, do the words we use have the power they once did? This session will look at the power, or lack of power, of the most simple tool we have: words. We’ll look at words that peop...