Democracy Forum 3/19/21: Is that for real? Conspiracy Theories in American Politics

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine

Participatory Democracy: Is that for real? Conspiracy Theories in American Politics

We’ll talk about the political and social conditions that give rise to conspiracy movements.
Why are people drawn to these ideas?
What are the conditions in civil society that are feeding into these trends?
How have these moments come up in our history?
How have we gotten past it before?
Can democracy function when these beliefs are widespread?

Guests:

Jamie McKown, James Russell Wiggins Chair in Government and Polity at College of the Atlantic
Joanne Miller, Associate Professor, Political Science & International Relations, Director of Graduate Studies, University of Delaware

To learn more about this topic:
Speaking of Psychology: Why people believe in conspiracy theories, with Karen Douglas, PhD, podcast of the American Psychological Association
Gender Differences in COVID-19 Conspiracy Theory Beliefs, Erin C. Cassese, Christina E. Farhart, and Joanne M. Miller. 2020
A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy, Nancy L. Rosenblum and Russell Muirhead, 2019

The mostly volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes: Martha Dickinson, Michael Fisher, Starr Gilmartin, Maggie Harling, Ann Luther, Judith Lyles, Wendilee O’Brien, Maryann Ogonowski, Pam Person, Leah Taylor, Linda Washburn

About the host:
Ann currently serves as Treasurer of the League of Women Voters of Maine and leads the LWVME Advocacy Team. She served as President of LWVME from 2003 to 2007 and as co-president from 2007-2009. In her work for the League, Ann has worked for greater public understanding of public policy issues and for the League’s priority issues in Clean Elections & Campaign Finance Reform, Voting Rights, Ethics in Government, Ranked Choice Voting, and Repeal of Term Limits. Representing LWVME at Maine Citizens for Clean Elections, she served that coalition as co-president from 2006 to 2011. She remains on the board of MCCE and serves as Treasurer. She is active in the LWV-Downeast and hosts their monthly radio show, The Democracy Forum, on WERU FM Community Radio -which started out in 2004 as an recurring special, and became a regular monthly program in 2012. She was the 2013 recipient of the Baldwin Award from the ACLU of Maine for her work on voting rights and elections. She joined the League in 1998 when she retired as Senior Vice President at SEI Investments. Ann was a founder of the MDI Restorative Justice Program, 1999 – 2000, and served on its Executive Board.

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Dawnland Signals 3/18/21: Return to the Teachings 2, Wabanaki traditions

Producers/Hosts: Maria Girouard, Esther Anne
Engineer: Jeffrey Hotchkiss

Critical conversations of truth, healing, and change in the Dawnland: Return to the Teachings 2, Wabanaki traditions

-Memories of Passamaquoddy ceremonies and rituals
-The importance of language reclamation and revitalization
-Stories of my Grandmother – a new bi-lingual book

Guest: Wayne Newell, PhD, Passamaquoddy elder, activist, and scholar from Indian Township

About the hosts:

Esther Anne, is a Passamaquoddy from Sipayik who lives on Indian Island and serves on the Wabanaki REACH Board of Directors.

Maria Girouard, Penobscot from Indian Island, is Executive Director of Maine-Wabanaki REACH, a statewide organization working toward truth, healing, and change in the Dawnland. Maria is a tribal historian with a Master’s Degree in History from the University of Maine and a special interest in the Maine Indian Land Claims. Maria has devoted years to community organizing, environmental stewardship and activism, and growing food in tribal communities.

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 3/18/21: Recent Privacy Initiatives

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Privacy and control of our personal information on the web is a hot topic these days, and recent initiatives hold out the hope of returning more control over our personal information to users. Who is leading the charge on this topic now? The federal government? Not a chance. State governments? A few. Internet giants like Apple and Google? You got it! In this first of a short series on the subject, we’ll look at how Apple is requiring users to affirmatively choose to be tracked across the web. If users say no, that’s it. Not surprisingly, some companies (can you say “Facebook”) are not too happy about this change. Here’s what’s happening.

By the way, as mentioned in today¹s show, if you would like to change your Domain Name Server (DNS) to one that does not track you, here’s how

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