When the truth becomes not "power", as the saying goes, but a burden, what do you do?

You denounce it as “fake news”.

Who says truth is power?

@Jeruba: Knowledge also. Take your pick. I put it in the topics.

Explain further. Truth is still power. I suppose in your example it’s a powerful burden. But From your question I can’t decide if you are asking “Rather than power, can truth be a weakness?”

@stanleybmanly: Yes, I think the question you rephrased is correct.

When truth becomes a weakness, that means people value lies more.

I’m not taking a pick. You said, “as the saying goes,” so I’m asking you what saying that is. You made the assertion. Can you say where that notion came from?

I’ve heard “Information is power,” which is not the same thing as knowledge (at all), and also “Knowledge is power,” and “The truth shall make you free.” And there’s the concept of “speaking truth to power.” But I don’t think I’ve ever heard “truth is power.” So I’m asking: where does that saying come from?

Knowledge does not equal truth, and information does not equal knowledge.

@seawulf575: Or maybe they ignore it altogether.

@Jeruba: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientia_potentia_est
Quote (as an example of what I mean):
‘The related phrase “sapientia est potentia” is often translated as “wisdom is power”.’

“When truth becomes a weakness, that means people value lies more.”… I don’t agree. You can recognize a truth as a weakness, without making something up that feels stronger to replace it. Some people do that, but it’s bad form.

So—you do think that knowledge and truth are the same thing?

@Jeruba: I expanded my previous answer.

And wisdom is not the same thing as knowledge either. These four words have different meanings: truth, knowledge, information, wisdom.

If you’re not willing to support your assertions, there’s not much to discuss.

Whose truth?

No such thing as ‘truth’ in an absolute sense, because all truth is shaded by the person thinking.

There are indisputable facts. Not truth.

That’s an interesting thought @elbanditoroso. And I guess the facts can make you or break you.

I have always felt that truth is indifferent to opinion so I define truth and facts the same way. The saying “the truth hurts” is often the truth as a matter of fact. People find all kinds of ways to dance around it when they are unwilling to accept it. It’s only a burden when either you can’t face or accept it or it reveals something ugly that is best kept secret.

What are you talking about??? The truth sets me free!!!

I would say that “you” use the truth/knowledge that you have (but that is not specified in the question), in conjunction with your wisdom and intuition and so on, as appropriate to the unspecified details, to determine what to do.

The Irish have a saying “The truth is bitter” but it is still the truth.

“I stand for truth, justice, and the American way.” – Superman
Now seems to be interpreted as slander, treachery, and bigotry.

Truth can be a burden in many ways. The fifth amendment is to protect people from bringing trouble for themselves by telling a truth.
If you know something about a friend or family member which leaves you in a quandary over whether to share that knowledge, the truth is a burden.
If you volunteer at a food bank, and you have to tell people you have no more food to give out, also an example of the truth being a burden.
Doctors suffer the burdens of truth nearly every day.

Truth and Justice are the same, but there is no real definition of “The American Way.” Bigots are the ones who yell about “The American Way” the loudest so of course it’s associated with bigotry.

It seems to me that truth and justice have been under assault for a long time.

The “wars on concepts” (drugs, terror) have seemed more like wars on truth and justice, to me, and quite a few other intelligent people.

Truth as presented by our news media and government have long been very low-grade, and getting worse and worse.

There are quite a few issues with “justice” too (for-profit prisons, incarceration for possession of marijuana, record numbers of people in prison, The Patriot Act, unnecessary police brutality and killings, etc).

Well, people can assault the truth all they want but it won’t change anything.
Justice is a man made concept and it is subject to change.
I think there is a pressure on reputable media to seriously mind their Ps and Qs, and to call themselves out if they mistakenly print something that isn’t true. But reputable media isn’t as fun and entertaining as slanderous, rumor mongering left and right media.

The mainstream media is highly concerned with maintaining its reputation and the credence and attention of most people, but that’s not the same thing as reporting objective truth. Much of that concern is there because the owners/investors/influencers of those media companies want to guide public conversations and opinions to confined narratives and ideas, which are mostly pro-establishment, pro-corporate, pro-conventional status-quo, and very much off the mark of actual truth.

“Justice is a man made concept and subject to change.”
So is revenge. And still a very satisfying concept at that.

I am not sure that revenge is a man made concept. I’ll have to think about that.

The same could be said about your statement about justice!

I don’t think animals get together and decide what a fair punishment is for someone who does something bad.

Revenge is an emotion that is acted on, and animals have those same emotions. The more intelligent (primates,elephants) have long memories, too.

Very few quadrupeds that provide legal services.

There’s a great article in the current Atlantic about animal consciousness. There are some troubling things to consider, particularly about eating them.

God should not have designed us so that we can eat and digest meat, huh.

I dunno. He certainly designed other animals to be a great deal more efficient at it than we, but we have long since surpassed the others. Perhaps He should not have enabled us to think about it.