Is Cornell West a Social Gadfly?

A social gadfly is a person who irritates the society that he lives in, pointing out the flaws
in the world around him. Although he bothers the world, he is a necessity; without the gadfly we
would never drive ourselves to change. The social gadfly is the impetus to pull ourselves out of
our justice malaise and start making the world better. Cornell West is an example of a social
gadfly due to his repeated public criticisms of government and societys treatment of the less
fortunate.
One of Wests most prominent targets is President Barack Obama. West describes him as
the black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs and claims he repeatedly cave[s] in again.
(Samuels) After Obama was elected in 2008 with help from Wests campaigning, West was
incredibly hopeful to see the changes he desired made. However, once he saw that things werent
going the way he had hoped, he began campaigning against Obamas policies in the poorest
cities in the country in order to convince the president to wake up and care for the least
among us. (Samuels) Wests holding Obama to his campaign claims bothered the president and
his supporters, with many claiming he would hurt the presidents chances for reelection.
Although he was thoroughly bothering his peers with his campaign, his response was, if
African-Americans choose to not [vote], it would be most regrettable but that cant stop my
message. (Samuels)
Another one of Wests targets is America itself. Many citizens of the USA are blissfully
ignorant of the nations filthy past. When West speaks about the making of the United States, he
never skips over the dirty parts. West describes Jamestown as a corporation before it became a
colony. The corporation ran off of slave labor, so the white supremacy of the nation has been
intertwined with the capitalism of the nation since the beginning. Since we live in a capitalist

democracy, West believes that white supremacy and hate is the very foundation the United States
were founded on. (Horowitz, 105-106)
This type of powerful rhetoric and discourse makes people uncomfortable because it
forces them to think (which is already bad enough) about topics that are painful to think about.
However, institutionalized racism is very real, and it needs to be discussed. Without West
irritating the good consciences of the people in America, we may never start a dialogue about
real issues faced by minority groups in the nation. Whether you agree with his conclusions or
not, his assumptions are sound, and they deserve consideration, no matter how strong your
cognitive dissonance may be.
Another strong example of Wests gadfly nature is his powerful anti-imperialism beliefs.
He disagrees with much of the USAs global entanglements and is especially upset with the
killing of innocents by the nations military. He has critiqued the president and the entire country
for their imperialistic policies of invading foreign sovereign nations and believing themselves to
be better than other nations. (West, BBC) This is in stark contrast to the publics perception and
consensus about the United States military pursuits worldwide. Whereas there is currently an
ongoing conversation about race and racism in our society thats being led by West and his peers,
there is nearly no dialogue about the US global imperialist policies being held among the
average US citizen today. The huge gap between his views and the publics views further
cements his place as a modern social gadfly.
His most passionate work over the course of his career is his support for the plight of the
poor worker in todays society. The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto is a book he
wrote in 2012 about poverty in the greatest nation in the world and what can be done to get rid
of it. (Smiley, West, 2012) Many people would rather drop a few coins in the Salvation Armys

coffers and pay their taxes and believe that poverty will solve itself, however he refuses to let
anyone who will listen to him to remain complacent to the real problems facing the lower class
in America today. Taking his beliefs a step further, he acted on them by endorsing Bernie Sanders
for president. Although it may be easy to disagree with the specific course of action being taken
by West, the fact that he is not only pointing out the problems with the status quo of society, he is
also making suggestions to fix them, giving him more credibility as an agent for social change.
Due to his critique of the most powerful in the nation, West is similar to Socrates. They
both seem to hold their leaders to a high standard and speak out when they fail the standard.
However, they each direct their gazes to a larger picture also. Socrates critiqued the political
system of the nation he lived in, much like West is currently doing with the political and
economic systems we live in today in the United States of America with his attacks on a
corporate oligarchy that he thinks runs the country. Socrates differs from West here, however. His
critique about the political system of his day was against the idea that a majority of people would
select the right person to lead them. He believed an educated oligarchy of sorts would be most
beneficial, whereas West seems to believe that Democracy Matters. From his perspective, the
majority can choose the right way, but many are blinded by certain biases that threaten
democracy, however he believes that ditching democracy due to these flaws would be throwing
the baby out with the bathwater. (West, 2004)
Cornel West has been leading a crusade against the darker aspects of the United States,
much to the chagrin of its citizens and leader, much like Socrates did in his day. They both are
seen as annoyances by those in power and those who were being led by those in power, however,
they differ a bit on the positions that they hold. Nevertheless, Dr. West satisfies all of the
requirements to be a modern day social gadfly.

Works Cited

Aleem, Zeeshan. "We Asked Cornel West Why He's Voting Bernie Sanders - His Response Was
Genius ." Mic. Policy.mic, 26 Aug. 2015. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.
Dr Cornel West Calls President Obama a War Crimes Offender over Bombings of Innocents. Perf.
Cornel West. YouTube. BBC, 9 May 2013. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgRyEuRdXio>.
Horowitz, David. Radicals: Portraits of a Destructive Passion. Washington, D.C.: Regnery Pub., 2012.
Print.
Samuels, Allison. "Cornel West and the Black War Over Obama." Newsweek. Newsweek, 15 Aug.
2011. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.
Smiley, Tavis, and Cornel West. The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto. N.p.: Third World,
2012. Print.
West, Cornel. Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight against Imperialism. New York: Penguin, 2004.
Print.