how to be the heretic whisperer
anyways my point is you have to listen to the heretics.
not because they might be correct [though they may well be correct; it has happened [rarely!]]. the point isn't necessarily to listen to what they say but instead to listen to what they mean.
i fear i have been unclear and you dear reader may have understood something different to what i am actually intending to say. when i say mean i do not intend to insinuate that you peek behind the curtain oz-style to uncover what malady or madness may be driving them [though this may be a great deal of fun]. instead i mean you must listen to what they represent.
this is tough. let's not pretend otherwise. there is this certain type of person who will always go against the grain. the dutch [or at least the dutch diaspora of weirdo farmers in southern ontario] have a word for this: eigenwijs. pig-headed. you know the type.
the pighead is the inverse of the false prophet. where the false prophet always rubberstamps the pighead always opposes. you might model this on a spectrum of pighead to false prophet and somewhere inbetween is the heretic. and also [coincidence?] the prophet. they are the same but not the same.
the prophet/heretic is often telling you stuff you don't want to hear but they're dragged into it. or they're telling you stuff they don't want to say but their arm is being twisted. jeremiah. jonah.
you need a heretic. because they represent the opinion that's hard to have. the usual tactic is to burn them but usual tactics have gotten us... gestures broadly. maybe they see something you don't. maybe they're also the unibomber which can be unfortunate. but maybe they see something you don't. maybe they're a child and you're the emperor and your clothes are made of nothing at all and they're pointing and laughing.
you need a prophet. one who is compelled to speak when it would be best to just shut up. again these folks get killed a lot. because they're super annoying. they poke holes in stuff. they point out that hey maybe being a supercreep with binoculars the top of your palace so you can see hot local wives bathing in their gardens and then having them hustled over to your rooms in the back of an suv so you can pressure them into sex and getting them pregnant and killing their husbands to cover the whole thing up isn't going to turn out great for the continuity and stability of your bloodline and is also just bad guy stuff.
if you don't listen the the heretic-prophet all you're ever going to hear are the yesmen going "yes man!" as you attach rockets to the back of your longboard.