Gadfly (social)

"Gadfly" is a term for people who upsets the status quo by posing upsetting or novel questions, or attempts to stimulate innovation by proving an irritant. Coined by Plato to describe Socrates' relationship of uncomfortable goad to the Athenian politican scene, which he compared to a slow and dimwitted horse, the term has been used to describe many politicians and social commentators.

During his defence when on trial for his life, Plato wrote that Socrates pointed out that dissent, like the tiny (relative to the size of a horse) gadfly, was easy to swat, but the cost to society of silencing individuals who were irritating could be very high. "If you kill a man like me, you will injure yourselves more than you will injure me" because his role was that of a gadfly, "to sting people and whip them into a fury, all in the service of truth."

Modern examples

• Electronic Engineering Times, an EDA magazine, had a column, Industry Gadfly, that hosted articles of controversy.
• Michael Moore typifies a contemporary gadfly, irritating the establishment with controversial questions and accusations.
• Ralph Nader irritates both the political left and right, and made his name as an irritant of big business interests.

See also

• Deconstruction
• Internet troll