Comment by haswell

It is both a thought terminating cliche and a reminder to think more deeply. Clearly the original intent was the latter.

But many people who invoke Chesterson’s fence do so with the intent to lobby against changing something. It’s raised not as a caution, but as a barrier. The concept gets the most airtime in political circles, and I think this has led many people to misunderstand the original point.

This is not a straw man as far as I’m concerned, and while I agree that the original intent was about careful reflection, this is often not how people engage with it.