Americans are stunned to find that studying authoritarian tactics is no longer limited to history lessons from far away countries. It has become part of our daily lives. Controlling the media is a classic authoritarian tactic, but media also provides critical tools for resistance. Engaged citizens who value democracy must learn to responsibly understand, interact with, create, and amplify media. Mis- and disinformation, propaganda, and nefarious actors abound. Artificial intelligence advances at astounding speeds. Truth and fact are sacrificed daily for the sake of spectacle. How can we make sense of it all? In this class we will discuss how to be better digital citizens by developing our media fluency skills. We will learn how to identify inaccurate information, judge the validity of sources from social media to scholarly research, and expand the vocabulary we use to talk about what we have learned. We will learn about how tyrants try to steal our stories, and how we can use digital media to become creators ourselves and confidently enter the digital dialogue that is reshaping our ailing democracy.

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