Native American Voting Rights, Russia & American Democracy, Media Literacy and Conspiracies

Native American Voting Rights Guest: Michalyn Steele, JD, Professor, Reuben J. Clark Law School, Brigham Young University Across the country, there’s been a wave of legal challenges to state voter laws and district boundaries brought by Native American tribes. Alaska, Arizona, Montana, Nevada, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming have all had - or currently have - court challenges related to Native American voting rights. What’s driving these challenges? Russia and Threats to American Democracy  Guest: Lucan Way, PhD, Professor, Political Science, University of Toronto President Trump’s most ardent critics talk about American democracy being in decline and use words like “autocracy” and “authoritarian.” Are they being overly dramatic? Probably. But University of Toronto political scientist Lucan Way says democracy isn’t as clear cut as you might think: there are shades of gray, and the 2016 presidential election showed a lot of gray. Special Collections: Toilet Seat Art Museum Guests: Barney Smith, Owner, Artist, Toilet Seat Art Museum; Mark Burns, Host, Special Collections, BYUradio Most artists work on paper, wood, or canvas, but 96-year old Barney Smith has been making art for 50 years using quite a different medium, toilet seat covers. He was inspired by the hunting mounts that his family used for trophies when he was a child. They’re shaped like shields and he thought they’d make a great canvas. Now he has an entire garage filled with toilet-seat-cover art. Approaching 100 years old, he’s decided to sell his collection, but he took time out to talk with our colleague Mark Burns. Check out these toilet seats here.  Stories with The Apple Seed Guest: Sam Payne, Host, The Apple Seed, BYUradio News Media Literacy and Conspiracy Guest: Stephanie Craft, PhD, Professor of Journalism, University of Illinois Today President Trump had said he’d hold his “Fake News Awards” to single out “the most corrupt & biased of the Mainstream Media.” It’s unclear if that event will actually happen, but Trump has made no secret of his dislike for outlets ranging from CNN to the New York Times. What Trump calls “fake news” are generally well-sourced and responsibly reported stories that he simply disagrees with. If the story is too critical of him, it’s “fake news.” But that’s confusing, because there’s a form of “fake news” that really is fake - conspiracy theories and made-up stories - and we know there’s a problem with that kind of thing duping Americans. President Trump has actually promoted some of those conspiracy theories – like the one about Barack Obama not being born in America.  With the President muddying the waters about the nature of truth, how can we expect casual consumers of the news to tell the difference between fact and fiction online? M.C. Escher: Finding Balance in Chaos Guest: Kenneth Hartvigsen, Curator, Museum of Art, Brigham Young University If the name M.C. Escher doesn’t bring an image immediately to mind, think of a mind-bending black and white sketch you may have seen on a poster or a T-shirt or a mug. There’s a famous one with staircases that appear to be going up and down and even upside down all at the same time. Or there’s the image of two hands with pens that appear to be sketching themselves off the paper and into three-dimensional reality. And there’s a whole series of famous Escher prints that start as one geometrical design and morph across the page into something completely different. They’re the kind of eye-teasing images that, once they’ve drawn you in, you don’t want to look away.   See some of Escher’s work here.