About The Gadfly

gadfly (n.) an insect that bites livestock. Also: a person who irritates, criticises, or provokes politicians and authority figures to spur change, accountability, or critical thought.

Socrates was known as “the gadfly of Athens” because he made a career of needling those in power with his questions, eventually earning the death sentence.

My name is Frederick Alexander, writer and professional irritant. While I have no intention of arriving at a similar fate to Socrates, I do intend to say what’s actually going on – rather than what we’re all supposed to pretend is going on.

That usually means pointing out things the powerful would rather we didn’t notice: that Islamism is an ideology, not a religion deserving special protection; that biological sex is real, not a lifestyle choice; that celebrity activists are airheads, not moral authorities; and that antisemitism has found respectable new homes on both left and right.

I write about the progressive delusions that have captured our institutions and the corruption of language that allows all of it to proceed politely.

The useful idiots enabling all of this are less interested in the people they claim to champion than in the status that comes with it. The left has a genius for this. The right has its own version — and it’s getting worse.

If you’re conservative by disposition, liberal by principle, fond of irony and allergic to sanctimony, you might find my notes and essays appealing. If you’re none of those things, you should definitely subscribe — because I want to change your mind.