Episode 472 - Moments of Truth
Living Myth
Michael Meade
4.8 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 28 January 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This episode begins with the recent shooting in Minneapolis in which an intensive care nurse named Alex Pretti was shot ten times by ICE and border patrol agents. There are fateful occasions when a tragic event becomes a moment of truth for both individual life and the collective meaning and core values of a culture. Michael Meade suggests that: "We are now, and may be for some time, in a collective tragedy that involves a battle for truth and meaning, but also the need for a transformation of culture that is aimed not only at the need for political change, but also at a transformation of the quality of human life at this time."
Meade turns back to Plato's Republic, one of the foundational works of Western philosophy, that explores the meaning of justice and the struggle between "lies of the soul" and the need to "live in truth." Because the current administration is captive to its own lies, it must falsify everything. It must falsify the past by trying to rewrite history. It must falsify the present by telling people not to believe their own eyes and it must seek to falsify the future by blatantly denying the truth and avoiding accountability.
In the end, it comes down to the people, as "living the lie" must be confronted with living in truth. The point becomes not only the exposure of all the false poses and hollow pretenses that living in lies requires; but also the ancient and immediate revelation that it is not only possible, but truly essential that people who seek freedom and human dignity find ways to live within truth when faced with an administration of lies.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Living Myth podcast with Michael Mead, where this shifting, changing world is looked at from a mythic perspective. |
| 0:18.0 | This episode begins with a recent shooting in Minneapolis |
| 0:22.5 | in which an intensive care nurse named Alex Preti |
| 0:26.2 | was shot ten times by ICE and Border Patrol agents. |
| 0:31.0 | There are fateful occasions when a tragic event |
| 0:33.6 | becomes a moment of truth for both individual life |
| 0:37.3 | and the collective meaning and core values of a culture. |
| 0:41.3 | Mead suggests that we are now and may be for some time in a collective tragedy that involves a battle for truth and meaning, |
| 0:51.3 | but also the need for a transformation of culture that is aimed not only at |
| 0:56.4 | the need for political change, but also at a transformation of truth might occur whether it's in the life of an individual |
| 1:23.4 | or in the history of a country. |
| 1:27.1 | And yet, there are certain defining moments |
| 1:30.9 | that involve both the fate of an individual life |
| 1:36.0 | and the possible future of collective life. |
| 1:40.5 | And yet, the recent shooting in Minneapolis |
| 1:43.9 | of an intensive care nurse named Alex Preti |
| 1:48.0 | by ICE and Border Patrol agents is one of those fateful occasions in which a tragic event |
| 1:57.4 | becomes a moment of truth for both individual life and the collective meaning and core |
| 2:05.7 | values of a culture. I call it a moment of truth partially because the tragedy was captured |
| 2:14.5 | on many people's personal cell phones so that it can be seen from many revealing |
| 2:22.0 | angles. And that becomes important in terms of the struggle between truth and lies, because many |
| 2:32.3 | people in positions of power in the current administration |
... |
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