I totally agree. Dissenters/malcontents don't have an easy life, and they have to be absolutely freaking amazing (genius, good communication skills) to have any impact at all (or they are just written off as cranky, crackpots, or worse). Much easier to just join the echo chamber and go with the flow.
Fair enough, but the ones that do have the ability to use language well (HL Mencken, David Simon, Carl Sandberg, Martin Luther King, et al) are some of the most valuable members of society, and I am certainly glad that such people exist.
Even that top 1% that manages to break through gets written off as cranks and "crackpots" by most, at least early on. It's the fact that an elite and discerning few, whose opinions are the only ones that matter to us, can recognize our talents that keeps us going.
Eh, to be fair, it is often very difficult to tell who is a crackpot or just being cranky, and who is a legit dissident/free thinker. We (ya, I include myself) can develop behind a wall of understanding and support, but eventually we want to change the world, which means...somehow appealing to the broader community.
