I think famous outspoken thinkers (Chomsky and Harris.. RMS comes to mind, Hitchens, Buckley, etc) can sometimes harbor off-putting personalities as a side effect of the situation they find themselves in: being a symbolic figurehead of a particular ideology. Or sometimes perhaps it&#x27;s part of the reason they got to that place.<p>There is a certain level of social decorum most people keep that prevents no-holds-barred exploration of ideas. On the tails of the bell curve faith-based orthodoxy and intellectual orthodoxy.. rude but incredibly sharp instruments of exploring thought.<p>I&#x27;m not advocating for being an asshole... but rather for a select few we should try to see through the incivility to the ideas they&#x27;re contributing.