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Suppose you wanted to achieve some significant political effect; say, prevent or stop an unjust war. You could organize gigantic demonstrations, with hundreds of thousands of people marching in the streets, shouting slogans and waving anti-war banners. You could write angry editorials in newspapers and on blogs denouncing the falseness of the casus belli. You could write and phone and email your elected and unelected representatives, asking them to put a stop to it, and they would respond that they will of course try, and by the way could you please make a campaign contribution? You could also seethe and steam and lose sleep and appetite over the disgusting thing your country is about to do or is already doing. Would that stop the war? Alas, no. How many people protested the war in Iraq? And what did that achieve? Precisely nothing.
Suppose you wanted to achieve some significant political effect; say, prevent or stop an unjust war. You could organize gigantic demonstrations, with hundreds of thousands of people marching in the streets, shouting slogans and waving anti-war banners. You could write angry editorials in newspapers and on blogs denouncing the falseness of the casus belli. You could write and phone and email your elected and unelected representatives, asking them to put a stop to it, and they would respond that they will of course try, and by the way could you please make a campaign contribution? You could also seethe and steam and lose sleep and appetite over the disgusting thing your country is about to do or is already doing. Would that stop the war? Alas, no. How many people protested the war in Iraq? And what did that achieve? Precisely nothing.
You see, the slogan “speak truth to
power” has certain limitations. The trouble with this slogan is
that it ignores the fact that power will not listen and the fact that
the people already know the truth and even make jokes about it. Those
in power may appear to be persuaded or dissuaded, but only if it is
to their advantage to do so. They will also sometimes choose to
co-opt, and then quietly subvert, popular movements, in order to
legitimize themselves in the eyes of those who would otherwise oppose
them. But, in general, they cannot be shifted from pursuing a course
they see as advantageous by mere rhetoric from those outside their
ranks. Some weaker regimes may be sensitive to embarrassment,
provided the criticisms are voiced by high-profile individuals in
internationally recognized positions of authority, but these same
criticisms backfire when aimed at the stronger regimes, because they
make those who voice them themselves appear ridiculous, engaged in
something futile.
