In the dialogue Crito, Socrates' friend Crito says that one of the reasons Socrates should escape is because the general public would think very poorly of Crito and other friends of Socrates. Socrates did not seemed fazed by this at all however in fact his point of view was that only the opinion of the important people should be considered, this is a position that I think more people need to hold as their own.
Their was a lecture this evening given by Dr. Douglas who is from the university of Samford, his lecture was on rumors, now in this case they were political rumors, but rumors all the same. One of the things he discussed was the destructive effect of false rumors, this I thought was very important, but I believe we can at times take these rumors to be more than they actually are. I think that sometimes people are to quickly offended by false rumors and are to worried about public opinion, It is my stance that we should all try to take on the attitude of Socrates and not pay attention to the general public's opinion, but the opinion of the people that are most important to us.
PS: I commented on Jamie's post (Morality, Justice, and Grace)
I agree with what you are saying. It can be difficult to always stay on the path of truth, and to not care about what those who are not concerned with truth may think. It is important to remember that Socrates says that the people who really matter will know the truth and will not think badly about Crito and his other friends. This is true in our world today also. The problem is that it always seems like the people who are not concerned with truth are the ones who need to be convinced; just like in Socrates trial in Apology. However, Socrates chose not to stoop to that level and said what the truth was and left it at that
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