23-11-2023, 08:50 PM
Where does speak truth to power come from?
We can find similar formulations for speak truth to power in the early 1900s. In a 1919 eulogy for Senator William Joel Stone, one of his colleagues stated, for instance: “I honored him because he was among the few men who dare to speak truth to the people in the presence of the king, and dare to speak truth to the king in the presence of the people.”
The specific phrase speak truth to power is credited to Bayard Rustin in 1942. Rustin was a Black Quaker and a leader in the Civil Rights Movement, advocating nonviolent methods in his fight for social justice. In a letter written that year, Rustin stated that “the primary social function of a religious society is to ‘speak the truth to power.’ The truth is that war is wrong.”
What does speak truth to power mean? Stand up for what's right and tell people in charge what's what. That's the idea behind the phrase speak truth to power, an expression for courageously confronting an authority, calling out injustices on their watch, and demanding change.
Speaking truth to power is a non-violent political tactic, employed by dissidents against the received wisdom or propaganda of governments they regard as oppressive, authoritarian or an ideocracy.
We can find similar formulations for speak truth to power in the early 1900s. In a 1919 eulogy for Senator William Joel Stone, one of his colleagues stated, for instance: “I honored him because he was among the few men who dare to speak truth to the people in the presence of the king, and dare to speak truth to the king in the presence of the people.”
The specific phrase speak truth to power is credited to Bayard Rustin in 1942. Rustin was a Black Quaker and a leader in the Civil Rights Movement, advocating nonviolent methods in his fight for social justice. In a letter written that year, Rustin stated that “the primary social function of a religious society is to ‘speak the truth to power.’ The truth is that war is wrong.”
What does speak truth to power mean? Stand up for what's right and tell people in charge what's what. That's the idea behind the phrase speak truth to power, an expression for courageously confronting an authority, calling out injustices on their watch, and demanding change.
Speaking truth to power is a non-violent political tactic, employed by dissidents against the received wisdom or propaganda of governments they regard as oppressive, authoritarian or an ideocracy.
It's not the least charm of a theory that it is refutable. The hundred-times-refuted theory of "free will" owes its persistence to this charm alone; some one is always appearing who feels himself strong enough to refute it - Friedrich Nietzsche