Quote: Denying Commonsense

Albert O. Hirschman in The Rhetoric of Reaction on 1991-03-01:

Yet each time the futility argument amounted to a denial or downplaying of change in the face of seemingly enormous, epochal movements such as the French Revolution, the trend toward universal suffrage and democratic institutions during the latter part of the nineteenth century, and the subsequent emergence and expansion of the Welfare State. The appeal of the arguments rests largely on the remarkable feat of contradicting, often with obvious relish, the commonsense understanding of these events as replete with upheaval, change, or real reform.

Societal change is pretty commonplace, and a cursory stroll through recorded history demonstrates it handily. I'm reminded of the fundamentalist Christian position on the theory of evolution, a dogmatic insistence that the commonsense understanding of the fossil record — that of consistent evolution, is false. Their rejection of evolution and reactionaries arguing using the futility thesis are making purely structural arguments, which fall apart when you look at available evidence.