the.com/gadfly
a professional irritant whose bite is the only thing keeping society honest.
means A person who persistently provokes, criticizes, or annoys others—especially those in power—to spur them into action or self-examination.
from Literally a fly that bites cattle and horses, driving them to distraction: "gad" here comes from an old word for a goad or spike (related to the Old Norse "gaddr," meaning a spike or sting), so a gadfly is a creature that goads. The figurative sense of a human pest-with-a-purpose owes much to Plato, who has Socrates compare himself to a gadfly sent to sting the great, sluggish horse of Athens awake—an image that has clung to provocateurs ever since.
- original
- A biting fly that torments cattle into panic
- socrates
- Called himself Athens' gadfly before they executed him
- verb form
- To gadfly is to provoke complacent authority
- horsefly cousin
- Females draw blood; males just sip nectar
socrates — ancient athenian philosopher who called himself a gadfly to the state, executed in 399 bce
ralph nader — american consumer advocate who exposed unsafe cars (unsafe at any speed, 1965) and ran for president multiple times
christopher hitchens — british-american writer and polemicist who spent decades challenging religious and political orthodoxy until his death in 2011