Reach for an Aphorism?

What causes you to start digging into the nuts and bolts of an issue instead of just relying on an aphorism to form an opinion about it?

Hindsight is 20/20 explains most bad decisions people make under pressure.

Yet even if you believe this aphorism, you may feel compelled to look more deeply into bad decisions people made under pressure.

Why?

A pattern of similar bad decisions in the past by the person would be one reason.

The person who made the bad deicsion gained something from it is another reason.

You yourself stand to gain something if you can show the person who made the bad decsion was actually acting in bad faith.