Everyday Americans Doing Their Part To Save What They Can & How You Can Too
Musings of the Month
If everyone does something, no one has to do everything!
Political leaders are still struggling to unite around a common message and roll back the executive branch's overreach. And they so far have not taken collective action to push back and prevent further degradation of human rights and services, like Social Security and Medicaid. Individual Americans are increasingly stepping up to fill this void. For example, check out this video about how regular Americans across the country are getting the Trump Administration to back off on dismantling Social Security.
More and more people are also getting out to talk to their representatives in Congress, their member organizations like AARP, GLAAD, The Working Families Party, and The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, and take action together through organizations like Indivisible, Common Power, and the 50501 Movement.
There are many actions you can take to speak out, stand up, and fight back for your values. For instance, Andrea Ocasio-Cortez is speaking to Americans about taking action by getting more involved in community groups with people you trust, like book clubs, knitting circles, communities of faith, community-based organization activities, house parties, and/or Social Equality Meet Up groups. Staying connected with others you trust is vital to resisting authoritarianism, because sowing fear of and distrust between people is a strong-man strategy to divide and conquer. When you connect with others who are taking action, it will boost your sense of power to change the things you can change for the better.
Resource Highlight
In January 2024, we featured a simple set of skills and habits that you can develop to dramatically reduce the misinformation you spread or act upon. Dr. Michael Caulfield, The Center for an Informed Public research scientist and co-author of Verified: How to Think Straight, Get Duped Less, and Make Better Decisions about What to Believe Online has organized them into a model called SIFT: Stop, Investigate the source, Find better coverage, and Trace claims, quotes and media to the original context. Learn more.
Since then AI, the rise of authoritarianism around the world, and ever advancing technology hardware and software contribute to increasing the use of misinformation and disinformation to deceive people. This month we share more resources to help you sort facts from fakes.
In February 2025, University of Washington Center for an Informed Public faculty members, Carl Bergstrom and Jevin West, introduced Modern-Day Oracles or Bullshit Machines?, a free online humanities course about how to learn, work and thrive in a world increasingly dominated by AI. The course, with a series of 5-10 minute videos, is designed so you don’t need a technical background to teach or understand its lessons.
Another important skill to develop is how to spot misleading videos. Check out this Washington Post video with examples of manipulated videos and how to identify fakes.
Here are some specific actions you can take to be a healthy information consumer:
Recognize emotional triggers: Be cautious of content that evokes strong emotions such as anger, fear, or joy. Misinformation often exploits these feelings to encourage sharing without critical evaluation. If a post triggers an intense emotional reaction, take a moment to verify its accuracy before sharing.
Verify sources: Scrutinize the credibility of the source. Check the author's credentials, potential biases, and motivations. Be wary of partisan sources that may present skewed narratives.
Fact-checking:: Use resources like FactCheck.org or Google’s Fact Check Explorer to verify claims.
Book Spotlight
The Week
What is The Week?
If you prefer to see all sides of an issue before you form your own opinion, The Week is the magazine for you. Open-minded readers don't like being told what to think. So, The Week presents news and opinion from over 200 global sources in a concise, insightful, enjoyable and quick read.
Escape your echo chamber
In a world of polar opinions and partisan press, The Week threads together every side of the argument to give you a clear, 360° view of the news, so you get to know what the world is thinking without ever feeling trapped in a media bubble.
Whether you're looking to save time or seeking different perspectives, we invite you to read The Week as a trusted source for news from around the world.
#SelfCareCorner
Whether you are doom scrolling, scrolling for cute animal videos, or shopping online, we all can use a break from screens (especially before bedtime).
Here is a game that Veronica picked up which provides non-digital activities that can boost your mood, cultivate connections, defeat boredom, increase well-being, and practice mindfulness: ACTIVITY DICE.
The set of activity dice includes 9 color-coded dice. Here are three of the categories with some example activities:
Relaxation activities: bubble bath, puzzle, coloring
Connection activities: call someone, game or trivia night, act of kindness
Food activities: cook a new recipe or childhood recipe, try a new restaurant
What’s new @data2insight?
Pride season is upon us once again! That means it is about time to get the WA LGBTQ+ Survey findings into the hands of LGBTQIA and Two-spirit communities!
Veronica Smith, data2insight Lead Executive and Equitable Scientist, and Kory Higgs, Equitable Research Intern, will be getting out to Pride and other LGBTQIA+ and Two-spirit community events starting in June to share what we have learned from the Washington LGBTQ+ Survey!
Washington State University (WSU) researchers are finalizing the data analysis from nearly 7,000 community members across the state. WSU will share the survey findings at the end of June with state legislators and release the findings to the public.
Data2insight looks forward to thanking everyone who completed the survey and having conversations with LGBTQIA+ and Two-spirit people, and organizations who serve our communities in western Washington. These conversations and information sharing are vital to increasing the quality of life for everyone in Washington state.
Please let us know if you would like Veronica to schedule a time with you and/or your group to share the findings. We are creating a calendar with availability starting in August 2025. Check out our website for updates.
