The law of unintended consequences, often cited but rarely defined, is that actions of people—and especially of government—always have effects that are unanticipated or "unintended."
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The law of unintended consequences provides the basis for many criticisms of government programs. As the critics see it, unintended consequences can add so much to the costs of some programs that they make the programs unwise even if they achieve their stated goals. For instance, the United States has imposed quotas on imports of steel in order to protect steel companies and steelworkers from lower-priced competition. The quotas do help steel companies. But they also make less of the cheap steel available to U.S. automakers. As a result the automakers have to pay more for steel than their foreign competitors do. So policy that protects one industry from foreign competition makes it harder for another industry to compete with imports.
In the case of the newest Chinese Toy recall, a fairly obvious (at least to me) unintended consequence occurs when two things are mentioned.
1) The news reports almost always mention the phrase "Date rape drug" when mentioning why a toy is recalled.
2) The news gives the name of the product being recalled.
Why do they mention the phrase "date rape drug" in the first place? It might have to do with just how popular that drug, GHB (gamma hydroxybutyric acid) is to media. It is nearly impossible to watch some sort of TV drama for more that a few episodes before finding GHB being used in the plot line. As such, many people know of its effects and how it can be used for criminal purposes.
Still, it can't just be the popularity of GHB in television dramas that cause so many news outlets to mention the toy containing the "date rape drug." So why do they use that particular phrase so often?
This brings us to the next point. I know that during a recall it is important to mention the name of the toy, especially in a case where there are potentially deadly consequences to young children. Mentioning the name of the product is essential, in a case like this. The trouble that I foresee comes about with the combination of the two.
Isn't it possible that by telling the nation that a child's toy contains a "date rape drug" that you might also be mentioning this to people who might abuse the knowledge?
I hold a belief that humans are generally benevolent. If we were all sociopaths, we would never have come as far as we have. However, that doesn't mean that we don't have some truly sick people out there. With the release of this story, we are pointing some of those sick people at a product that makes people incapable of resisting and might even cause them to have memory problem. A fact that is widely known to all the millions of people that watch those dramas on TV.
Wouldn't it have been better just to call the product poisonous?
If I didn't also adhere to the belief of "Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by ignorance or stupidity" I would suspect that the news media would love to cover some sort of sensationalistic story about some poor woman being raped because someone used this toy containing GHB.
2 comments:
Occam rocks :)
It's funny, I was talking about a similar news thing with some friends yesterday, the case of the high school student suspended for hugging a friend (in violation of a rule which no doubt was intended to counter the 4.83% or so of teenage boys and girls who won't take "stop hugging me, you creep!! Ewww! Back off!!" for an answer).
Intended consequence: no more sexual harassment. Actual consequence: girl with overly dramatic mom does detention, mom calls press conference, newspapers seize on the "OMG kids these days!! Big brother is watching!! The world is going to hell!! Craiglist is killing our circulation and we are resorting to emotional kneejerking to boost sales!!" type journalistic angle.
Such as putting "date rape" and "toys" in the same sentence. "OMG are your children being date raped by their toys?????? Film at 11."
GHB can be lethal though. A friend of mine nearly died after an obsessed crush slipped some in his drink, it doesn't go well with alcohol. If it's being sold in toys for tots they need to do a recall pronto, and get the word out. I guess they could call it a sedative, an anesthetic, a tranquilier, or a central nervous system depressant like many other drugs that make people pass out which could theoretically be used by rapists. But "date rape drug!!" has that tabloidy sex 'n crime angle to it.
Hey maybe the writer's strike will prune some of those useless unoriginal writers who can't do a lousy crime drama episode without resorting to media cliches.
Yeah, I mentioned GHB's potential lethality in the blog. I agree that they needed to get the word out, but they didn't need to put in the whole date rape drug angle.
All they had to do was mention that the toy contains a potentially lethal toxin that develops when ingested. No mention of rape and parents would act just as strongly to remove access to it from their children.
Of course, even in this instance, it would be possible for abuse from the more murderous types. At least it wouldn't encourage kids from going out and buying some cheap and legal liquid ecstasy before they were pulled from the shelves (or from clerks pulling them from the shelves and selling to their friends).
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