The Court Jesters

"The power of the fool lies in his freedom with respect to the hierarchy of the social order, that is, he speaks from outside as well as inside it...Who exercises this criticism in a society of submissive courtiers? Who can afford to tell the monarchs the uncomfortable truths without endangering their own position?...As the court jesters of modern society, all intellectuals have the duty to doubt everything that is obvious, to make relative all authority, to ask all those questions that no one else dares to ask...The truth of the fool is never quite serious, for it lacks the important mooring of responsibility (and also, of course, of power). This does not lessen its value; it makes it, however, all the more unreasonable to meet it with the heavy artillery of public suspicion and aspersions. Whether a society includes intellectual court jesters who critically question its institutions, and how it tolerates them, are a measure of its maturity and inner solidity" - Ralf Dahrendorf, "The Intellectual and Society: The Social Function of the "Fool" in the Twentieth Century"

I used to think the court jesters were comedians, sometimes actors, musicians, writers or academics. But I believe now that the court jesters are bloggers. Where else but in the blogosphere do you see people who see it as their duty to "...doubt everything that is obvious, making relative all authority, asking questions that no one else dares to ask"? That is where I go for reassurance that there is still a pulse in our country. It is where I find hope.