Financial Fraud, Black Friday, Fake News, Human Library

Falling for Financial Fraud  Guest: Amy Oliver, Trial Attorney at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Salt Lake Regional Office All the festive gatherings that reconnect us with family and friends can also open the door to you or a loved one being taken for a ride. The savviest of fraudsters trade in affinity – they tap into you through someone you know and trust.  For more information on the SEC Financial Fraud Whistleblower program, click here.  Empathy Across Cultures Guest: William Chopik, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Michigan State University The election has many people wondering if we, as Americans, can understand and relate to people who believe different things or have different life experiences. Have we lost the ability to walk a bit in another’s shoes? New research aims to compare empathy levels between citizens of different countries. Black Friday Economics Guest: Jay Walker, PhD, Assistant Professor of Economics, Niagara University Last year 35 million Americans ventured out on Thanksgiving Day to shop for deals. Black Friday sales are no longer just on Friday, though there’s been some public backlash to the way Christmas is creeping up on Thanksgiving. Stores are responding.  This time of year is great for retailers. But is it great for shoppers?   Facebook, Fake News and Democracy  Guest: Kelly Garrett, PhD, Associate Professor in the School of Communication, Ohio State University Almost half of Americans get their news from Facebook on a regular basis. But on Facebook, as numerous investigative reports have made clear in recent days, not all news is actual news. Opportunists took unprecedented advantage of social media during the election creating bogus stories that went viral and earned their creators boatloads of cash off all the clicks. A BuzzFeed News analysis found the fake news and conspiracy theories from one particular hyper partisan right-wing site got more shares, reactions and comments on Facebook than stories from the Washington Post or the New York Times.  Fake news may not have won Donald Trump the election, but people profiting off fake news definitely won the election. So now the question is, should Facebook fix the problem? Can it?  Voter ID Laws Can Affect Election Outcomes Guest: Mary Gray, PhD, Math and Statistics Professor, American University In the recent election, voters in 32 states were required to show some form of ID before voting. These laws have become increasingly common in recent years – backed primarily by Republicans concerned about the possibility of people voting fraudulently. Voting rights activists say the laws are more likely to disenfranchise poor and minority voters – and the courts have agreed in some states, striking down the laws.  The big question now is whether or not these laws actually did affect the 2016 election outcome. In Milwaukee, the city’s election chief says the ID law caused problems at the polls that likely led to lower voter turnout. Liberal news outlets have concluded the same effect was in play across the country and helped Donald Trump win. But studies that say so, definitively, have not been done.  Check Out a Book in the Human Library Guest: Sarah Christensen, Visual Resources and Outreach Specialist, Co-Organizer of the Human Library, University of Illinois Library; Nisha Mody, Graduate Assistant, Co-Organizer of the Human Library, University of Illinois Library The axiom is that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover - and you shouldn’t judge a person that way either. An organization called The Human Library takes that analogy literally. Around the world, they stage events in which people volunteer to be “books” with titles like “Homeless,” “Muslim,” “Refugee,” “Bipolar.” Readers “check-out” one of these human books by sitting down to have a one-on-one chat there in the human library. The project is about helping people get beyond the labels that so often define us in public and see the humanity in others.