"Events are called inevitable only after they have occurred"
About this Quote
Cooley’s line is a pinprick to our fondest delusion: that history arrives with the inevitability of weather. By insisting inevitability is a label applied only after the fact, he exposes it as a retrospective comfort, not a property of events. The sentence works because it flips a solemn word into a confession of bias. “Inevitable” sounds like wisdom; Cooley treats it as a tell.
The intent is disciplinary. He’s warning readers against the lazy determinism that turns complicated chains of choices, accidents, incentives, and misreadings into a single, smooth narrative. Once the outcome is known, we rummage backward for causes that point neatly to it, sanding off all the moments where other futures were plausible. That’s not just hindsight bias; it’s moral bookkeeping. Calling an event inevitable distributes responsibility away from decision-makers and toward fate. It makes catastrophes feel less indictable and victories feel less contingent.
Subtextually, Cooley is also describing how power protects itself. Institutions love inevitability because it naturalizes their wins: the market “had to” consolidate, the war “couldn’t” be avoided, the movement “was destined” to triumph. The losers get a different inevitability: they’re told their failure was baked in.
Context matters: Cooley, an aphorist in a late-20th-century American culture steeped in postwar “end of history” storylines and media-ready narratives, writes in the compressed, skeptical mode of someone watching storytelling masquerade as analysis. His sentence is a small tool for intellectual self-defense: when you hear “inevitable,” look for the choices someone is trying to disappear.
The intent is disciplinary. He’s warning readers against the lazy determinism that turns complicated chains of choices, accidents, incentives, and misreadings into a single, smooth narrative. Once the outcome is known, we rummage backward for causes that point neatly to it, sanding off all the moments where other futures were plausible. That’s not just hindsight bias; it’s moral bookkeeping. Calling an event inevitable distributes responsibility away from decision-makers and toward fate. It makes catastrophes feel less indictable and victories feel less contingent.
Subtextually, Cooley is also describing how power protects itself. Institutions love inevitability because it naturalizes their wins: the market “had to” consolidate, the war “couldn’t” be avoided, the movement “was destined” to triumph. The losers get a different inevitability: they’re told their failure was baked in.
Context matters: Cooley, an aphorist in a late-20th-century American culture steeped in postwar “end of history” storylines and media-ready narratives, writes in the compressed, skeptical mode of someone watching storytelling masquerade as analysis. His sentence is a small tool for intellectual self-defense: when you hear “inevitable,” look for the choices someone is trying to disappear.
Quote Details
| Topic | Free Will & Fate |
|---|
More Quotes by Mason
Add to List
