Countering Truth Decay

The Human Relations Council Santa Monica Bay Area (HRC) invites the community to “Countering Truth Decay: A Community Conversation,” a free event on Monday, October 30 from 5:30-7:30pm, at Santa Monica College’s Student Services Center, Orientation Hall. The event will convene members of the community and specialists across the sectors of education, media, academia and research.

The speakers and panelists are as follows:

• Michael D. Rich is president emeritus at the RAND Corporation. Rich is the coauthor of Truth Decay, which examines how the diminishing role of facts and analysis in public life has caused an erosion of civil discourse and political dysfunction, among other problems.

• Ray Block Jr. is the inaugural Distinguished Chair for Countering Truth Decay, and a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation. Block studies racial, ethnic, and gender group politics, voting behavior and public opinion in the United States.

• Julia Storm is the founder of ReConnect, a whole child and whole family approach to preparing kids for life in the Digital Age. Julia has become a go-to source for parents, schools, community organizations, corporate and non-profit companies who want to help their children understand, navigate and thrive in the digital world.

• Arnie Seipel is the chief content officer at KCRW, overseeing the station’s signature mix of music, news and culture. He serves as executive producer of Left, Right & Center, KCRW’s long-running weekly political forum that seeks to foster honest conversations across America’s deep political divisions.
• Norbert Schwarz is Provost Professor in the Dornsife Department of Psychology and the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California where he co-directs the Mind & Society Center. He investigates the context sensitivity of human judgment and its implications for public opinion and decision-making.

The panel will be moderated by Karen Gunn, Santa Monica-based community and consulting psychologist, speaker, professor and trainer with over 35 years experience in organizational, management and leadership development.

Community, local elected officials and media are invited to attend this free event. To attend, please RSVP by October 27.