More or less.
Current usage names him K'ung-fu-tzu, and he said:
When things are not called by their true name, confusion abounds in the land.
In this land, in this time, confusion abounds, and in the public sphere, almost nothing is called by it's true name. Fear is called courage, liars are called leaders, foolishness is called policy, politicians call empty symbolic gestures "action," and so on.
K'ung-fu-tzu didn't define "true name." I figure he figured anyone who cared to know what he was saying would pretty much get the drift. So, no sense in defining "true name." Anyone's best guess is probably close enough for the purpose.
But we can describe instances of false names. Given the various confusions our "leadership" suffers and inflicts, maybe just saying the true names, out where anyone can hear them, can bring some light through the fog. Can dis-spell the entrancements of modern agit/prop.
I'm going to offer an example or three of what I think is true naming. I'm hoping you will add what strikes you as the accurate way of saying things. That you will feel free to comment and rate.
Notice that the confusion-banishing powers of a true name is of two types. One is as the antidote to false naming. The other is the naming of those real things which go unnamed.
Let me try that one first:
The US is in serious decline in every single way that matters.
If Democratic candidates simply said this sentence in every public appearance for a month, any one of them, how much better would that candidate poll against any Republican? Just for saying the actual condition. How much better off would America be. Of course you'd have to back it up with a real plan to turn the trend around, and that would require a commitment to the American people above all else. Shall I hold my breath?
Here's another:
America's Christian Right mainly just drops the Lord's name a lot. It's either from vanity, or it's a con. Either way, they constantly blashpheme just to trick others into giving them respect, trust, and authority.
Money is not speech. Do not be confused by abstract equations which magically turn individuals in business with one another into an intangible, immortal being with rights and powers far beyond those of mere real people.
Money is not speech. Offer your Congresscritter 100,000 sentences, and see how many meetings you have with them. Promise them a billion syllables and they will have restraining orders placed on you.
Money is not speech. When it is given to either the successful or the failed candidates, money is either a buy-in, or a buy-out. If money is any kind of speech, then that form of speech's true name is "bribery."
Either way, America--you, me, our kids and grandkids, and our neighbors and theirs as well, all of us get robbed.
Well, now....