As things turned out, the long years of the King’s willful dispensing of ignorant lies throughout the kingdom had turned the great sea slightly acid, enough to melt metal, but not quite enough to eat away wood with any speed. The King had long past refitted his fleet with wooden boats. Somehow this fact was never passed on to the citizens of the beautiful island. The longshoreman said it was because the King feared the free thinkers from the island and wished to isolate them from the mainland.

The neighbor told the great truth to the longshoreman and over a draft of beer together they planned a meeting of all the longshoremen and stevedores from the harbor. “Everyone must hear this great truth” declared the workers, after they had heard the neighbor speak. Soon, the common people of the kingdom had spread the truth far and wide and a mighty call went out to force the King to accept the truth, or face a coup d’etat. Thankfully, the King, knowing the truth and its power all along, capitulated, handing the government over to a council of tradesmen.

The neighbor thanked the longshoreman, and vilified, boarded the sleek hardwood boat given to him by the council and set off for his beloved island to the boisterous fanfare of the people. “The smart man will be happy”, he thought. His great truth did change the world after all.

The moral of this story is simple. When attempting to change the world by spreading the truth, the residue of constant falsehood will prevent you from succeeding, if you use only the methods of conventional wisdom. All you need are the simplest of tools, and courage, to get the message across the sea of ignorant lies.