Gadfly (social)

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"Gadfly" is a term for people who upset the status quo by posing upsetting or novel questions, or attempt to stimulate innovation by proving an irritant.

The term "gadfly" was used by Plato to describe Socrates' relationship of uncomfortable goad to the Athenian political scene, which he compared to a slow and dimwitted horse. The Christian bible also references the gadfly in terms of political influence. Specifically, the book of Jeremiah, chapter 46 verse 20. The term has been used to describe many politicians and social commentators.

During his defense when on trial for his life, Socrates, according to Plato's writings, 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."

In modern and local politics, gadfly has become a term that is also used pejoratively to refer to:

A person who constantly complains about the political system "just to hear himself complain";
A person who believes that he has to talk about every issue on an agenda;
A person who consistently supports the losing candidate.

Gadfly (social)

See also