Two thoughts that seem to fit together:
It’s easy to be against something … that you’re afraid of. And it’s easy to be afraid of something that you don’t understand. [via Seth Godin]
and
Good ideas do not need lots of lies told about them in order to gain public acceptance. [Daniel Davies via Paul Krugman via Daring Fireball]
Instead of acting on a Good Idea, I find there is often opposition, prejudices and misunderstandings.
Occasionally an idea will be acted on, but only after a protracted waiting period – where the misunderstandings are cleared up, the prejudices are corrected. This can be days, months, and regularly – years. So, like a balanced free market:
The greatest friend of truth is time -Charles Caleb Colton
But is waiting the only way to get a idea confirmed as good? How do you make the time go faster? Revving up a marketing machine with brochures, power points, and celebrity endorsements doesn’t seem right. How do you accelerate the time between having a good idea and having it recognized and acted on?
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Thanks for the citation! NB that I’ve actually rowed back on this view a little bit in response to comments – it’s been pointed out to me that Social Security in the USA was definitely a Good Idea, but did in fact need “lots of lies” told about it to make it politically possible, which have caused huge amounts of confusion and trouble ever since.