We must fight against the type of dogma that does not allow itself to be challenged.
In 413BC a traveller sat down in a barber’s shop in Piraeus, theAthenian port, and readied himself for a shave. He commiserated withthe locals for the loss of their recent military expedition toSyracuse. The horror dawned; the traveller was first with the news. Thebarber flung down his tools and ran to the city, crying the news. Hisreward? The Athenians refused to believe that their navy had beendestroyed, that their sons and brothers were dead or working as slavesin Sicilian mines. As Plutarch tells us, the barber was “fastened tothe wheel and racked”.
This is how we so often treat those who tell us the truth we do notwant to hear. History is littered with examples of messengers beingshot, tortured and pilloried, literally and metaphorically.
To quote Sophocles’ Antigone: “No one loves the messenger who brings bad news.” To misquote Corporal Jones: “We don’t like it up us.”
We assume that we are different from our forefathers; more tolerantand more willing to allow uncomfortable truths to be aired. We have aliberal democracy and we congratulate ourselves on a commitment tofreedom of speech. Yet when the truth sits uncomfortably with ournotions of what is right, when it clashes with our dearly held notionsof tolerance, we are as squeamish as any of our ancestors. Few are asintolerant as the self-consciously tolerant.