Skip to comments.
What Does This Phrase Mean?
8/11/2010
| Self
Posted on 08/11/2010 3:54:11 PM PDT by CTOCS
"Speaking Truth To Power"
Ever since the Sherrod, Rangle, Waters issues and for most of the Obozo presidency, I've heard this phrase more and more. I know it is somehow associated with race but I have no idea what it means. To me, the phrase is nonsensical and means nothing. Any help out there to provide some clarity to this? thanks
TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: speakingtruthtopower; speaktruthtopower; truthtopower; vanity
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-40, 41 next last
1
posted on
08/11/2010 3:54:16 PM PDT
by
CTOCS
To: CTOCS
I think it means whatever the moron who’s using it at the time wants it to mean. :)
2
posted on
08/11/2010 3:55:27 PM PDT
by
MarineBrat
(Better dead than red!)
To: CTOCS
Depends on who is saying it.
3
posted on
08/11/2010 3:55:39 PM PDT
by
RobRoy
(The US Today: Revelation 18:4)
To: CTOCS
Let’s put it another way: “Do you want the truth or do you want to feel good?”
4
posted on
08/11/2010 3:55:59 PM PDT
by
Ol' Dan Tucker
(People should not be afraid of the government. Governement should be afraid of the people)
To: CTOCS
"Speaking Truth To Power" I've always interpreted it as having the courage to tell the truth to powerful people who don't want to hear it.
5
posted on
08/11/2010 3:56:50 PM PDT
by
Flag_This
(Real presidents don't bow.)
To: CTOCS
6
posted on
08/11/2010 3:57:19 PM PDT
by
exnavy
(May the Lord grant our troops protection and endurance.)
To: CTOCS
Perhaps it’s the Democrats “Talking Points Phrase that Pays!”
7
posted on
08/11/2010 3:57:20 PM PDT
by
nagdt
("None of my EX's live in Texas")
To: RobRoy
Okay, let’s suppose “you” are saying it. What’s it mean?
8
posted on
08/11/2010 3:57:35 PM PDT
by
CTOCS
(I live in my own little world. But, it's okay. They know me there....)
To: CTOCS
I swear I heard Obama say it once, after he was President. I about fell out of my chair laughing.
9
posted on
08/11/2010 3:58:54 PM PDT
by
Domandred
(Fdisk, format, and reinstall the entire .gov system.)
To: CTOCS
I don’t think it necessarily is associated with racial issues. My understanding is that it means standing up and speaking the truth in face of corrupt power. The left has used it a lot in the last several years...substitute ‘REPUBLICAN’ for power! I know Pelosi loves this phrase as did Teresa Heinz Kerry. Correct me if I am wrong on this.
10
posted on
08/11/2010 3:59:41 PM PDT
by
madameguinot
(Our Father's God to Thee, Author of Liberty)
To: CTOCS
It means effectively presenting “truth” in a way the average person could understand in a way that enables them to take action that makes sense and is within their capabilities.
And getting this truth to a large enough part of the population for that action to make an actual difference.
11
posted on
08/11/2010 4:01:08 PM PDT
by
RobRoy
(The US Today: Revelation 18:4)
To: CTOCS
It means effectively presenting “truth” in a way the average person could understand in a way that enables them to take action that makes sense and is within their capabilities.
And getting this truth to a large enough part of the population for that action to make an actual difference.
Actually add to the word “enables” the word “motivates”.
12
posted on
08/11/2010 4:01:40 PM PDT
by
RobRoy
(The US Today: Revelation 18:4)
To: CTOCS
I agree with you, it is a meaningless bunch of words from Anita Hill during the Inquisition of Clarence Thomas in the senate...I think she wrote a book with that title...stupid phrase from dumb liberals.
To: RobRoy
Bingo! I think you have it there fellow...
14
posted on
08/11/2010 4:03:10 PM PDT
by
Deagle
To: CTOCS
My recollection is that it dates from the 1960s. The 1960s Marxist-Alinsky street/campus rabble and now their ideological issue use it against
the Establishment. "Bring it all down, man."
It's a Saul Alinsky's "Rules For Spoiled Brats" thing.
(Not so) Funny thing, they are arguably now the Establishment.
15
posted on
08/11/2010 4:04:53 PM PDT
by
WilliamofCarmichael
(If modern America's Man on Horseback is out there, Get on the damn horse already!)
To: CTOCS
It does sound pretty silly, doesn't it? Then again, so do a lot of other expressions I hear these days:
We have to send a message.
I can really identify with those people.
That really resonated with me.
Let me share an experience I had.
He came out against the idea.
16
posted on
08/11/2010 4:05:13 PM PDT
by
LearsFool
("Thou shouldst not have been old, till thou hadst been wise.")
To: CTOCS
It is usually (though not always) used by extreme left-wing groups during protests against a conservative government. In their eyes, saying Bush was a Nazi or capitalism was evil was speaking “truth” to “power”. I can’t recall hearing any Republicans use the term when dissing Obama or Clinton. I guess it kind of depends on what “truth” is to you. If your “truth” is anarchy or communism, then here’s your sign. (not speaking to “you” personally of course).
17
posted on
08/11/2010 4:05:35 PM PDT
by
Sender
(It's never too late to be who you could have been.)
To: CTOCS
Actually the use of that stupid non-sensical phrase began with the Clinton administration and their acolytes.
Meaningless self-styled "deep thinker" psychobabble...
18
posted on
08/11/2010 4:06:46 PM PDT
by
Publius6961
("In 1964 the War on Poverty Began --- Poverty won.")
To: CTOCS
It means don’t lie to the electric company. ;)
19
posted on
08/11/2010 4:08:39 PM PDT
by
sayuncledave
(A cruce salus)
To: CTOCS
The phrase "speaking truth to power" goes back to 1955, when the American Friends Service Committee published Speak Truth to Power, a pamphlet ii at proposed a new approach to the Cold War. Its title, which came to Friend Milton Mayer toward the end of the week in summer 1954 when the composing committee finished work on the document, has become almost a cliche; it has become common far beyond Quaker circles, often used by people who have no idea of its origins. (One current example: Anita Hill entitled her memoir of her sensational charges of sexual harassment against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, Speaking Truth to Power.)To speak truth to power sounds so much like an integral part of Quakerism that some modem Friends have simply assumed the phrase goes back to the seventeenth century rather than arriving late in the middle of ours. It reflects what many contemporary Friends would like to believe is the characteristic Quaker stance toward political authority, hallowed in practice if not the exact words. Yet in its origins it was a political statement, entitling an explicitly political document. -- Source
It's not that hard to google. It doesn't cost anything either.
20
posted on
08/11/2010 4:10:27 PM PDT
by
x
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-40, 41 next last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson