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Apr 15, 2010
The Law of Unintended Consequences
The Law of Unintended Consequences says, according to Wikipedia:
The ultr-Haredi support for the ability to have a public service provided according to "our beliefs" and in a way that does not harm "our lifestyle" might boomerang.
Ynet has an editorial suggesting that if they succeed in getting the mehadrin bus approved, and they already have the support of the Minister of Transportation, that will open up the possibility of other interest groups requesting, or demanding, that the Transportation Ministry operate bus lines according to their needs, beliefs and lifestyles - and that might include the demand to operate bus lines on shabbos, as groups from the lower socio-economic sector will say we need bus lines on Shabbos because we don't have cars, teenagers will say we don't have licenses and require transportation, etc.
This demand for mehadrin bus lines might open up a whole new can of worms. The perfect example of The Law of Unintended Consequences.
The Law of Unintended Consequences is an adage or idiom that can be stated as follows: 'Any intervention in a complex system may or may not have the intended result, but will inevitably create unanticipated and often undesirable outcomes'.[1][2][3][4][5] In common usage, it is a wry or humorous expression warning against the hubristic belief that humans can fully control the world around them. It is used in variety of different contexts in different fields of study, including Philosophy, Economics, History, and Social Sciences.This very accurately describes how the "ultra-haredi" (new phrase coined by me just now, I think, as I do not think it is fair to put in the most extreme elements lumped together with the more moderate elements just because they both wear a hat and jacket) fight for legalized mehadrin bus lines is turning out.
The ultr-Haredi support for the ability to have a public service provided according to "our beliefs" and in a way that does not harm "our lifestyle" might boomerang.
Ynet has an editorial suggesting that if they succeed in getting the mehadrin bus approved, and they already have the support of the Minister of Transportation, that will open up the possibility of other interest groups requesting, or demanding, that the Transportation Ministry operate bus lines according to their needs, beliefs and lifestyles - and that might include the demand to operate bus lines on shabbos, as groups from the lower socio-economic sector will say we need bus lines on Shabbos because we don't have cars, teenagers will say we don't have licenses and require transportation, etc.
This demand for mehadrin bus lines might open up a whole new can of worms. The perfect example of The Law of Unintended Consequences.
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As long as the buses aren't running through the increasingly segregated charedi enclaves, perhaps the charedim are willing to accept it.
ReplyDeleteThe main prolem will be amongst the competing askanim, one group advocating for purity (ie mehadrin buses) and others advocating for Shabbos. Each has to keep their own names in the headlines.