@philosophyminis: About 100 years ago, the writer G. K. Chesterton gave us one simple rule: do not knock down random fences. Imagine you’re on a walk in the countryside, and you come across a low and rickety fence. You think it serves no other purpose than to obstruct your walk, and so you decide to knock it down. You think that the walkers and the ramblers of the world will thank you for your act of gracious charity. But what you didn’t know was that fence served the purpose for the farmer up the road. Perhaps it kept the cows from the sheep or kept the animals from eating some poisonous vegetation. The idea behind Chesterton’s fence is that, unless you know exactly what something does, leave it alone. Chesterton thought that there is a certain kind of reformer, a certain kind of busybody, or do-gooder, who will wade in to bulldoze something down without doing their proper research. Instead, the intelligent reformer will look at something from all angles before they decide to sweep it away. Who created it? Why did they created? And who still benefits? The idea behind Chesterton’s fence is to say that, unless you know what something is, or what something does, do not get rid of it.

Jonny Thomson

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Region: GB

Sunday 02 August 2026 14:43:04 GMT