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Battling the big lie : how Fox, Facebook, and the MAGA media are destroying America / by Pfeiffer, Dan,author.;
"In BATTLING THE BIG LIE, bestselling author Dan Pfeiffer returns to lay out how the Right Wing built such a robust and successful disinformation machine, how they have used it to amass power despite representing a dwindling share of the country, and how readers can fight back against disinformation with step-by-step guides on spotting fake news, becoming their own fact checker, and talking to their conspiracy theory-obsessed relatives. Over the last twenty years, the Right Wing has built a massive media apparatus that is weaponizing misinformation for political purposes. The Right Wing media ecosystem personified by Fox and fueled by Facebook is waging war on the very idea of objective truth -- and it's winning. This misinformation campaign is at the root of much that is rotten in America and around the world. Trump is a product of this eco-system as is the immense polarization and division and our inability to deal rationally with immense threats like COVID and Climate Change. Here, Pfeiffer lays bare the tactics used by the Right Wing propaganda machine and how to combat them, including: QAnon and its proponents, from Facebook groups to members of congress ; The optimization of Facebook as the ultimate carrier of Right Wing clickbait ; Educating the Left to "fight fire with fire" and nurture progressive media ; How to have hard conversations with the Fox News-watching, conspiracy theory-believing relative in your life. A functioning democracy depends on a shared understanding of reality. America is teetering on the edge because one of the two parties in our two-party system views truth, facts, and science as their opponent. As BATTLING THE BIG LIE proves, time is running out to fix this problem. There are no easy answers or quick fixes, but something must be done.
Subjects: Disinformation; Polarization (Social sciences);
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Why we're polarized / by Klein, Ezra,1984-author.;
Includes bibliographical references (pages 273-296) and index.America's political system isn't broken: it's working exactly as designed. But Klein reveals how that system is polarizing us -- and how we are polarizing it -- with disastrous results. In examining the structural and psychological forces behind America's descent into division and dysfunction, he shows that everyone engaged in American politics is engaged, at some level, in identity politics. Now our racial, religious, geographic, ideological, and cultural identities have attained a weight that is breaking much in our politics and tearing at the bonds that hold this country together.
Subjects: Polarization (Social sciences); Right and left (Political science); Identity politics; Political culture;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The revenge of power : how autocrats are reinventing politics for the 21st century / by Naím, Moisés,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Moisés Naím's The Revenge of Power is an urgent, thrilling, and original look at the future of democracy. It illuminates one of the most important battles of our time: the future of freedom and how to contain and defeat the autocrats mushrooming around the world. In his New York Times bestselling book The End of Power, Moisés Naím examined power-diluting forces. In The Revenge of Power, Naím turns to the trends, conditions, and behaviors that are contributing to the concentration of power, and to the clash between those the forces that weaken power and those that strengthen it. He concentrates on the three "P"s-populism, polarization, and post-truths. All of which are as old as time, but are combined by today's autocrats to undermine democratic life in new and frightening ways. Power has not changed. But the way people go about gaining it and using it has been transformed. The Revenge of Power connects the dots between global events and political tactics that, when taken together, show a profound and often stealthy transformation in power and politics worldwide. Using the best available data and insights taken from recent research in the social sciences, Naím reveals how, on close examination, the same set of strategies to consolidate power pop up again and again in places with vastly different political, economic, and social circumstances, and offers insights about what can be done to ensure that freedom and democracy prevail. The outcomes of these battles for power will determine if our future will be more autocratic or more democratic. These outcomes will, in turn, depend on the capacity of our democracies to survive the attacks and dirty tricks of autocratic leaders bent on weakening the checks and balances that limit their power. Naím addresses the questions at the heart of the matter: What are, in practice, those attacks and tricks? Why is power concentrating in some places while in others it is fragmenting and degrading? And the big question: What is the future of freedom?"--
Subjects: Democracy.; Polarization (Social sciences); Populism.; Power (Social sciences); Truthfulness and falsehood;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The persuaders : at the front lines of the fight for hearts, minds, and democracy / by Giridharadas, Anand,author.;
"An insider account of activists, politicians, educators, and everyday citizens working to change minds, bridge divisions, and save democracy"--
Subjects: Democracy; Polarization (Social sciences); Political culture; Political participation;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The undertow : scenes from a slow civil war / by Sharlet, Jeff,author.;
"One of America's finest reporters and essayists explores the powerful currents beneath the roiled waters of a nation coming apart. Across the country, men "of God" glorify materialism, a gluttony of the soul, while citing Scripture and preparing for civil war-a firestorm they long for as an absolution and exaltation. Lies, greed, and glorification of war boom through microphones at hipster megachurches that once upon a time might have preached peace and understanding. Political rallies are as aflame with need and giddy expectation as religious revivals. Framing this dangerous vision, Sharlet remembers and celebrates the courage of those who sing a different song of community, and of an America long dreamt of and yet to be fully born, dedicated to justice and freedom for all"--
Subjects: Polarization (Social sciences); Religion and politics; Right and left (Political science);
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Admissions Granted. by Wu, Hao,film director.; Wang, Miao,film director.; MSNBC Films (Firm),dst; Kanopy (Firm),dst;
Originally produced by MSNBC Films in 2023.In June 2023, the 6-3 conservative majority at the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in higher education in the landmark Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. HARVARD and SFFA v. UNC cases, dealing a crushing blow to progressives who had labored to address racism in America through race-conscious policies.The film revisits the district court trial of this case and tracks the case’s emotional, high-stakes journey to the Supreme Court. It documents how Edward Blum and activists on both sides strategize and hustle to win in court and in public opinion, and highlights the ways the case has divided the Asian American community. Woven throughout are incisive observations from The New Yorker’s Jeannie Suk Gersen, former Harvard president Neil L. Rudenstine, former Dean of Howard University (now Mount Holyoke College president) Danielle Holley, and professor Natasha Warikoo, who dig deeper into why the heated debate of affirmative action sits at the intersection of American beliefs.Combining interviews, news archive, and verité footage with dynamic animated sequences that bring the closed-door court hearings to life, ADMISSIONS GRANTED takes an honest and thoughtful look at the complexity of the affirmative action debate, the divisions within the Asian American community and our nation’s increasing polarization on matters of race, equity, and inclusion.Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Subjects: Documentary films.; Enthnology.; Social sciences.; Criminal law.; Education.; History, Modern.; Americans.; Foreign study.; Sociology.; Documentary films.; Educational films.; Ethnicity.; Current affairs.; United States--Politics and government.; History.; Political participation.; Equality.; Asian Americans.; Trials.; United States. Supreme Court.; Universities and colleges.;
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The hype machine : how social media disrupts our elections, our economy, and our health - and how we must adapt / by Aral, Sinan,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Social media connected the world--and gave rise to fake news and increasing polarization. Now a leading researcher at MIT draws on 20 years of research to show how these trends threaten our political, economic, and emotional health in this eye-opening exploration of the dark side of technological progress. Today we have the ability, unprecedented in human history, to amplify our interactions with each other through social media. It is paramount, MIT social media expert Sinan Aral says, that we recognize the outsized impact social media has on our culture, our democracy, and our lives in order to steer today's social technology toward good, while avoiding the ways it can pull us apart. Otherwise, we could fall victim to what Aral calls "The Hype Machine." As a senior researcher of the longest-running study of fake news ever conducted, Aral found that lies spread online farther and faster than the truth--a harrowing conclusion that was featured on the cover of Science magazine. Among the questions Aral explores following twenty years of field research: Did Russian interference change the 2016 election? And how is it affecting the vote in 2020? Why does fake news travel faster than the truth online? How do social ratings and automated sharing determine which products succeed and fail? How does social media affect our kids? First, Aral links alarming data and statistics to three accelerating social media shifts: hyper-socialization, personalized mass persuasion, and the tyranny of trends. Next, he grapples with the consequences of the Hype Machine for elections, businesses, dating, and health. Finally, he maps out strategies for navigating the Hype Machine, offering his singular guidance for managing social media to fulfill its promise going forward. Rarely has a book so directly wrestled with the secret forces that drive the news cycle every day"--
Subjects: Information society.; Common fallacies.; Propaganda.; Social interaction.; Social media;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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On Book Banning Or, How the New Censorship Consensus Trivializes Art and Undermines Democracy [electronic resource] : by Wells, Ira.aut; CloudLibrary;
The freedom to read is under attack. From the destruction of libraries in ancient Rome to today’s state-sponsored efforts to suppress LGBTQ+ literature, book bans arise from the impulse toward social control. In a survey of legal cases, literary controversies, and philosophical arguments, Ira Wells illustrates the historical opposition to the freedom to read and argues that today’s conservatives and progressives alike are warping our children’s relationship with literature and teaching them that the solution to opposing viewpoints is outright expurgation. At a moment in which our democratic institutions are buckling under the stress of polarization, On Book Banning is both rallying cry and guide to resistance for those who will always insist upon reading for themselves.
Subjects: Electronic books.; Books & Reading; Censorship; Civilization; Essays;
© 2025., Biblioasis,
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