The Gadfly “To persuade and reproach” - Socrates, The Apology
Vol. XI, Iss. V November 3, 2009
Myth-Busting the Gadfly The Gadfly is perhaps the most misunderstood of all God's creatures. All he wants to do is bite the sleeping horse. All the sleeping horse wants to do is squash the Gadfly. No one knows what to make of the Gadfly. Some say it's too silly. Others say it's too serious. Some say it's filled with nothing but irresponsible and crazy opinions. Others say its far too philosophical or pro-establishment – to quote one reader, too “puffed up and Troublike”! So in this article, I would like to “bust” some myths one by one.
Myth Number One: “It's stupid for the Gadfly to name itself after some annoying bug.” Are you calling Socrates stupid? St. Justin Martyr called Socrates the “first Christian martyr.” Socrates' “gadfly” analogy comes from Plato's Apology, which Dr. Harold says is one of those few books every human being should read before they die. In the Apology, Socrates is on trail before the Athenians, whom he made uncomfortable by prodding them about their lukewarm and unexamined lifestyle. He called himself the “gadfly,” biting the sleep-
ing horse of the city of Athens, and said that if they killed him they would not find another to do what he had done for them. Socrates had to take the hemlock, but today, the Gadfly carries on his tradition at FUS. Myth Number Two: “The Gadfly is made up of a bunch of crazy people who do nothing but vent ridiculous and radical opinions.” False! The Gadfly staff is essentially made up of a few grad students, a couple English majors, and a pre-the. They are all very responsible people – the Continued on page 4
The Third Way Out of the tensions of the Cold War between Capitalism and Communism, the United States Vs. the U.S.S.R., was born a “Third Way.” This Third Way was a recognition of the dangers of both Capitalism and Communism and attempted to blend the two together. The Roman Catholic Church responded to the abuses of the West and the East by encouraging this in what became the Catholic Worker Movement popularized by the likes of Dorthy
Day and Peter Maurin. The answer, as the Church saw it, lied in a Third Way. This Third Way is original “Socialism,” which is not nearly half of what modern Americans claim it to be. This Socialism, rightly understood, is a middle way, a cooperative combination of both Capitalism and Communism. Third Way Socialism, through its opposition of pure Capitalism and Communism avoids the dangerous extremes of both. Early twentieth century French philosopher Emmanuel Mounier
(1905-1950) understood, Socialism as, “The abolition of the proletarian condition; the supersession of the anarchic economy of profit by an economy directed to the fulfillment of the totality of personal needs; the socialization, without state monopoly, of those sectors of industry which otherwise foster economic chaos; the development of cooperative life; the rehabilitation of labour; the promotion, in rejection of all paternalist Continued on page 6