Author’s Note: I have to thank those that participate in the comments section for spurring me on to offer an extended commentary.

I remember reading “The Apology” for the first time in one of my political science classes in college. It was there that Socrates used the term “gadfly.” The term stuck with me and was eventually applied to others in history like Martin Luther King Jr. I can’t speak for anyone else, but the term always took on a special significance after that as it got attached to people that unapologetically spoke their mind even when they did not benefit from doing so.

What I found interesting in the comments was the problem of “bothsidesism” because there are voices on the left and right that consider themselves as gadflies. I suppose that’s true and yet all of the assorted vociferous politicians on the right never seem to actually offer anything of substance. Socrates wanted us to be better. Martin Luther King wanted us to be better. I see AOC in the same light. People like that are rarely appreciated in their own time. Their commentaries become annoying to some and inconvenient to others. Yet, they always have substance.

Those other folks remind me of a beautiful song by John Lennon when he was with the Beatles. In “Across the Universe” he offered these lines back to back: “Pools of sorrow, waves of joy are drifting through my opened mind…” and then “nothing’s going to change my world.” Lennon is often credited with brilliant irony when in fact he stumbled on it accidentally. I’m positive he probably never grasped the incredible irony of those lines being back to back.

Like Lennon, many of the “luminaries” on the right likely see themselves as gadflies when they are really just a bunch of jackasses. The fortunate difference in this case is that at least Lennon was a jackass with talent. Naturally, people around here know the difference, so belaboring the point is just indulgent. For any outsider that might stumble in, the difference is subtle. It basically comes down to the purpose behind the annoyance. One wants us to be better while the other just wants to be noticed.

It doesn’t change the fact that both can be irritating in the moment. Any challenging person can be irritating. The question is whether we ever move on from the irritation. If the motive behind the irritation is to provoke thought then we have to. If the motive behind the irritation is attention then we can’t.