Watching the Democratic convention this evening it occurred to me that I don’t really want to hear "speak truth to power" become the campaign slogan-primarily, because the Democrats are not speaking truth to power. I’ve heard it twice so far this evening. It was absurd coming out of John Kerry’s mouth and even more ridiculous from Joe Biden’s. Talk about diluting meaning.
It’s that amnesia thing again. "Speak truth to power" has been so removed from context and turned into a marketed catchphrase that it is meaningless. So there you have it-that’s how capitalist America deals with radicalism-by turning it into a marketable commodity. Fashionable radicalism, but not enough to get you on a watch list or infiltrated by the Feds. It reminds me of a friend’s daughter who as a nine year old declared herself an anarchist as an excuse to dress only in black.
It is almost as absurd as the crowd at PBS comparing Biden to Hubert Humphrey. I never thought I’d feel sorry for Hubert Humphrey.