Kontextmaschine

24th January 2021

Post reblogged from argumate with 154 notes

cop-disliker69:
argumate:
in Melbourne we got stuck in a cycle of policy changes for police chases because hot pursuits would invariably result in the fleeing car crashing into a tree and killing everyone on board or worse crashing into another car and killing a whole family, so the public outcry led to a review of police procedures which of course made it common knowledge that police would now disengage if a fleeing car accelerated wildly and drove on the wrong side of the road, leading to an increase in dangerous driving and crashes which led to public outcry and a review of police procedures etc. etc.
this is a bit of a special case as there is a feedback loop, but in general it’s really difficult to stand up after a disaster and say actually we’re not going to make any changes to policy because we’re already at an optimal point, we cannot reduce casualties to zero, and any changes would just be window dressing in a vain attempt to believe that we can control an inherently uncontrollable situation.
now of course most policies aren’t optimal and can be improved, but eventually in the absence of feedback loops you’re going to end up with something that’s as good as you can currently make it… and yet still not perfect, and you need a way to deal with that.
I think this is why politicians say “we’re appointing a commission to study the problem”.
That means “we’re not going to do anything about it because we believe our current policy is already optimal, and this will take long enough for most of you to calm down and forget about it, and the only people who still care are small enough in numbers to be easily ignored”.
yes, and sometimes that’s reasonable! “we have reviewed our policies and decided not to make any changes at this time” can be an ass covering move but it can also be the correct move in some situations.

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