Flippant Remarks about “Speak Truth to Power”
I hear from Google that this imperative, “speak truth to power,” comes from Quakers and/or religious activists from 1950s England. It should then be problematic for me to critique or reprioritize the use of this phrase because for any mentally healthy student of American history should know that Quakers were instrumental in the anti-slavery (abolitionist) movements of the 19th century (and earlier I guess).
But I assert that the people who invoke this phrase are just as ignorant as I am about its origins. I flippantly assert that many of these people quipping are not as religious as the lofty homestead of this phrase. The phrase that has top priority for me is:
Speak truth to those that assume they are powerless.
Just because someone has the ability and capability to murder me and my whole family does not mean they have “power.” In fact, such “power” people already know the truth. Just because someone has the capability and ability to deceive my children into thinking they are foundationally flawed in some way such that my descendants must pay an existence tax to a third party not working for my child’s long-term interests does not mean they have “power.” I assert that the very invocation of the phrase “speak truth to power” is a magical spell that removes the power from the speaker and grants it to the supposed listener.
The “climate change” of the planet is operating with powers far beyond those of mortal men. When this Voice speaks no flesh man can stand in its way. It can only make up a new set of bedtime stories to tell future generations of impoverished children, who may be convinced that it “always” snowed in Hawaii in June.