society

What Is 21st-Century Truth?

Propaganda Has Trapped Us in Plato’s Cave—the Shadows Aren’t Real but the Sun Is Blinding

Zócalo is celebrating its 20th birthday this year! As part of the festivities, we’re publishing reflections and responses that revisit and reimagine some of our most impactful stories and public programs. Historian of American political rhetoric Jennifer Mercieca continues to explore why political discourse is broken in the U.S.—as in her 2018 essay “Preaching Civility Won’t Save American Democracy.”

You’re a prisoner, held in a dark cave. Your hands are tied behind you and you can only look straight ahead at the cave wall. Your captors keep you …

by Jennifer Mercieca |

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Facing Our Collective Wounds With Generous Hope | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Facing Our Collective Wounds With Generous Hope

Historian William Sturkey Reflects on Confronting Our Dark Past, and Moving Forward

by William Sturkey |

I’ve felt the power of reconciliation wash over me. I felt it at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery and at the War Remnants Museum in Saigon. …

Environmental Activist and Hip-Hop Artist Xiuhtezcatl Martinez (Xochimilco) | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

On Being’s Krista Tippett

The Word ‘Civil’ Remains So Fraught

Krista Tippett is a Peabody Award-winning broadcaster, a National Humanities Medalist, and a New York Times-bestselling author. After studying theology at Yale Divinity School, she launched the weekly public radio …

Environmental Activist and Hip-Hop Artist Xiuhtezcatl Martinez (Xochimilco) | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

L.A. LGBT Center’s Phillip Picardi

I Let Passion Rule My Life

Phillip Picardi is the chief marketing and communications officer at the Los Angeles LGBT Center. His previous work in media includes digital editorial director at Teen Vogue, founder of them, …

The Foundation for a Shared Tomorrow Is Built on Hard Truths

Panelists for ‘How Does Confronting Our History Build a Better Future?’ Help Us Imagine How to Pave a Hospitable Path Forward

by Talib Jabbar |

Confronting America’s history is like fixing or maintaining an old home: acknowledging the parts that are in disrepair, and those that are rotten to the core. This is the metaphor …


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