esrosedotblog

POWER PLAY

One of those clichés that run through the media barefoot from time to time: "Telling truth to power".

It pisses me off to see it used so much. Repetition leads to annoyance.

The other thing is that it is a power play. Whose truth? Oh, yours? Hmmmm.

So if you have the truth on your side then you must be powerful too.

It is everywhere. One of those academic women at Harvard hurled it at Lawrence Summers. Now it is Cindy Sheehan or the people who write about her.

I think it undermines one's case to use such self-aggrandizing statements.

It is also an awkward phrase. It rings of insincerity with a tinge of illiteracy. Even if you are a female academic.

But, I asked myself. Where did this come from? It must have started somewhere.

Ahhhhh. Answers.com comes through.

The usual suspects and the originator or populizer, Anita Hill in her book about the Clarence Thomas episode of her life.

Can anyone find an earlier reference?