Plato in the Apology likened Socrates to a gadfly, an annoying pest you swat away, but the metaphor is much more meaningful then you might think. Flies, yes annoying indeed, are creatures born out of rot. And true, Plato/Socrates may not have been a fan of Athenian Democracy, but I’m not sure any of us today would be either. Democracy can be corrupted and when it is, it rots from the inside.

Don’t get me wrong, by no way am I trying to politicize this within the context of Trumpism (not a fan). I’m just not sure that today’s social media giants would ban Socrates. Socrates was after truth, he despised the sophistry in the politics of his time, just as much, if not more, than we do today.

People in democracies need the truth in order to effectively participate within it. Politicians, then and now, benefit from ignorance.