That's so cliched

Two questions about cliches: Why are people so eager to dismiss the subject of a cliche as being false or insignificant; and why is a particular cliche (the phrase itself) derided, especially when it is accurate? That's not the proper use of the word.

I prefer to view many cliches as truisms, especially when they're powerful or poignant.
Some great examples are:

Freedom isn't free.

If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Commonly mistaken for cliches are some stupid phrases that are actually the opposite of cliches, like:

It takes one to know one...

Don't knock it til you've tried it.

The late-19th century introduction of the figurative use of the word ( a past participle of clicher,"stereotype") gets to the essence of the what is implied about the subject to which "cliche" is attached: it's repetitiousness.

And of particular irritation to me is the phrase "The end justifies the means", always used sarcastically or with derision to criticize and condemn an action or policy one disagrees with, or which is promoted by someone with whom one disagrees.

The end does, of course, justify the means in MANY cases: Surgeons remove tissue or organs to halt the spread of cancer (amputate limbs to save a life); police and CIA/DEA/FBI use deception (go undercover) to catch criminals; the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan in WWII to avoid hundreds of thousands of lives that would be lost in a ground invasion, and to end a war; firefighters will burn and destroy some trees to save more; a parent will discipline a child to change behaviors that could harm them worse. In other words, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Brad