Provocation

Sting, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

When, in 'The Apology', Socrates said,

"I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think," he was referring to the process not the content. 

I am that gadfly which God has attached to the state, and all day long and in all places am always fastening upon you, arousing and persuading and reproaching you. You will not easily find another like me, and therefore I would advise you to spare me."

He warns that there may be pain and discomfort before there is the pleasure of insight. Sometimes we need to be provoked into self examination and reflection. But Athens didn't like the challenge, the uncomfortable questions, the instability and sense of insecurity they cause. The Athenians did kill Socrates and soon after Athenian democracy did enter a period of decline and turmoil.