“Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.”
~ Bertrand Russell
If you have ever read a history book or a biography or a news article or anything about some of the great thinkers of our time and before, you will most definitely come across some unsavory reactions to the ideas or inventions or societal mores we now accept as common, as law, or as truly revolutionary in thought. If you accept this premise, than this quotation holds only truth.
The problem I have with the idea behind this quotation is the world was a much smaller place when most of the great thinking occurred: there was no phone, no television, no internet (but I know great thoughts were thought after these inventions, but these advancements were not as prolific as they are now). People could still live relatively quiet lives after they made a statement or created a machine or suggested something negative about the way society lived, but now, now information can travel to the opposite ends of the world in mere seconds.
Where am I going with this train of thought? Basically, it is much more of a burden for people to combat civilization or go against well-practiced thoughts because the consequences are much more severe than they were, say, a hundred years ago. People lives are ruined now, and not people who are royalty or millionaires who could survive such an attack, but basic everyday people who depend on having a weekly income. The risk to change the world is so much greater nowadays, which is why I believe we have come to an impasse in our evolution as free-thinkers, and this is what scares the living peanuts out of me.
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