New Hampshire Humanities announces June 2022 Ideas on Tap

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PRESS RELEASE - June 3, 2022

New Hampshire Humanities (NHH) announces its June Ideas on Tap, our popular series of “bite-sized conversations about big ideas.” Join your neighbors, friends, and fellow citizens for drinks, appetizers, and a lively community conversation in a casual pub setting. Tickets are $15 per person and include appetizers and one beverage (beer, wine, or a non-alcoholic beverage).

 

Trust Me! Civil Discussion and Information in a Polarized Age
Monday, June 13, 5:30 pm, Modestman Brewing, 100 Main Street, Keene  RSVP
OR Tuesday, June 21, 5:30 pm, Portsmouth Gas Light Co., 64 Market Street, Portsmouth  RSVP

The First Amendment affords citizens enormous liberties. But what about ideas that seek to undermine our democracy? Justice Louis Brandeis argued that even "noxious doctrines" deserve constitutional protection. We believe that the cure for anti-democratic ideas is a robust public debate. Nowadays, a fragmented media landscape makes it harder to find a public big enough to dilute dangerous ideas. Fewer schools teach debate, which leaves the next generation of citizens unprepared to challenge toxic dogma. We'll hear from Gen Z students and media professionals about how we can make space for bad faith ideas without losing faith in our democracy.

Tell Me Lies: The First Amendment and the Right to (Mis)inform
Monday, June 27, 5:30 pm, Feathered Friend Brewing, 231 S. Main Street, Concord  RSVP

Why should misinformation be protected under the Constitution? Don't we need laws to ensure that citizens receive truthful information? If you are living in an authoritarian country, the answer is easy: the state determines what is true and what is false. But in our democracy, the burden for filtering out truth from falsehood falls on each of us. This conversation will focus on how digital media challenges our established laws and legal precedents for free speech in public forums. Rather than endorsing one side of the argument, can we work together to create animated yet productive public debates?

For questions and details, visit www.nhhumanities.org/ideas or email programs@nhhumanities.org.