The Trouble With Wisdom

Socrates notes that "a man may be thought wise but they do not trouble with him until he begins to impart wisdom to others." This was a very revealing statement to me and it seems that this has been the case in our world throughout history. The powers that be generally leave people alone with their opinions and ideas until those ideas threaten to change the status quo. When the message gets just a little too loud and starts spreading a little too far and 'somebody' (we may never really know who exactly) who has too much invested in things going another direction figures they had better put a stop to things before they go too far. Martin Luther King Jr., John Lennon, Socrates, even Jesus! Corrupting the youth! Making people question things, teaching people to think and not take things at face value; those are dangerous things to a person in power who likes things just the way they are.

As Socrates says during the Apology, "he who will really fight for the right, if he would live even for a little while, must have a private station and not a public one." The trouble is it is very hard to make change from a private station, if change is in fact the goal, most messages of change start small and private and as they gather momentum and support they can't help but shift into the public eye, especially these days. The media, who each have their own "truths" to push, will make sure that the 'right' messages get the most attention and anybody who is promoting a different agenda will either be discredited or rarely mentioned. This is especially apparent during election time. There is more propoganda and slander going on than discussion of important issues and policy and we are only shown two candidates although there are half a dozen more that many people haven't even heard of.