"To be heard over the chattering din of social complaint, those wanting to complain in a bid to improve things must work hard and speak loudly.  They must break the cultural norms of polite social complaint and raise their voice in a way that will seem rude, illegitimate and out of bounds. We have a name for people who are willing to take this risk: leaders. We have other names for them too, though: cranks, loudmouths, loose cannons and troublemakers.

"Recognising that many complaints are information-free and that many others are plain wrong, there is no general rule for separating signal from noise in complaint, except this one: the complaints we need to hear most are going to be the ones we want to hear least. They are going to seem rude and illegitimate and maybe even dangerous. They are going be packaged for our easy and immediate ad hominem dismissal. Will we be wise enough to forbear?"

John Weeks

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In a universe with few obvious signposts, he set standards which reason and experience suggested to him. It wasn't enough that he lived by them, he assessed others in terms of how well they succeeded -- or failed -- to measure up, calling things by their true names, acting on their real nature, rather than anybody's wishes and fears [..] This always angers and frightens those for whom an excuse is as good as a deed accomplished, for whom a well-chosen euphemism can affect the ethical quality of a deed.

L. Neil Smith on Robert Heinlein