When mockery is the easy option

There is a long tradition in this country that has come at an incredible cost. It is one in which people who are deemed "disagreeable" are taunted and mocked when they dare to express a heretical view on a matter of significance. 

This has happened in the past with academics like John Spraos, former ministers Stefanos Manos and Tassos Yiannitsis and many others. 

If the views of all these people had been heeded, then Greece could have probably avoided bankruptcy.

When the late Constantinos Mitsotakis, as a former premier, intervened in the public debate to raise the alarm about the danger of the country's fiscal derailment, he too found himself on the receiving end of sarcasm and mockery.

"Here he goes again..." was the usual monotonous rebuttal by some critics. But Mitsotakis did not relent because he believed that, as a former premier, he had the...