Comment by smsm42

How it's thought terminating cliche? If anything, it's thought initiating cliche. It compels you to consider the actual trade-off between keeping the barrier and removing it, instead of just dismissing the status quo as "stupid old shit that makes no sense so we don't have to assign any value". Yes, it's inertia - inertia is good. At least reasonable amount of it. It allows for permanence, planning, prediction, order. Of course, overdoing it is bad - that's true for any principle.

> and by the time you have investigated it, they are building walls around your original position

Who are "they"? It seems that you are trying to blame a general principle on some kind of fight you personally are having and not winning. But that's not the point of the principle.