Unintended Consequences

The jury of the government sponsored Paris Salon decided which artworks were to be displayed in the annual exhibition. In 1863, two thirds of submissions were rejected. Emperor Napoleon III, sensitive to public opinion, arranged another venue, Salon des Refuses (display of the rejected), to let the public judge the legitimacy of these rejections. So was born one of the most famous art movements, Impressionism. The terms Impressionism and Cubism were both coined as derogatory words by art critics, yet have become respected words that defined these revolutionary art practices. 

We are witnessing another kind of Salon des Refuse in Pakistani election politics, where the rejected only gain in popularity. History is filled with examples of unintended consequences, some positive and some disastrous.

Abraham Lincoln wrote “This is a world of compensations; and he who would be no slave, must consent to have no slave. Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves.” This well-intentioned stance led to a bloody four-year civil war that left 750,000 soldiers dead.

Uranium, radiation and atomic fission were initially explored to destroy bacteria in food, for x rays, and to generate alternative energy sources. However, it led to the creation of the world’s first atomic bomb, dropped in Japan destroying whole cities in an instant.

War also had positive outcomes, generating No Man’s Lands on borders of warring countries, which unexpectedly became havens for wildlife. Sunken warships created artificial coral reefs. Buddhism was spread across India and beyond its borders by Ashoka after his regret at waging war on the Kalinga, brutally killing over 100,000.

Under pressure from women who felt men spent too much money in bars at the cost of home expenses, the prohibition of alcohol was implemented in USA in 1920. In fact, it led to the illegal production of alcohol, organized crime and corruption, and the creation of mafia rule that gripped America for decades.

The ‘blowback’ of covert CIA operations to fund religious groups to counter the USSR invasion of Afghanistan led to the genesis of Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Around the same time, in Pakistan General Zia ul Haq, to elicit support from Saudi Arabia, arabised a society that had farsi cultural roots, introducing a new lexicon, clothing and customs, and creating cultural divisions that have persisted three decades on.

 When Samsung first added a camera to a cell phone in 2000, would they have anticipated it would record police brutality against George Floyd and generate protests across the world or provide evidence in Pakistani elections of ballot tampering? When the import of gold was legalized in Pakistan in 1994, it affected the trade of old school smugglers like Kassim Bhatti and Seth Abid, and brought in new violent gangs smuggling guns and heroin from Afghanistan.

Small, apparently insignificant changes can have far-reaching effects. The legendary Pandora innocently opened a box given by the gods of Olympus, releasing miseries into the world. In the real world, a discarded cigarette stub can cause massive forest fires. Rat fleas spread devastating plagues, agricultural pesticides are destroying the bee population so essential in cross pollination for food production, rabbits introduced for food for new settlers in Australia disturbed the whole ecology of a continent, Europeans introduced diseases in their colonies that natives had no resistance to.

Journalism, simply to increase readership, invents emotive terms that fan intolerance, racism and political polarization with devastating effects. The immediate cause of the fatal car crash of Princess Diana was avoiding intrusive paparazzi. The editorial policy of ‘good news is no news’, is a factor in encouraging millions of despairing young people to leave Pakistan.

Hollywood films depicting violence such as A Clockwork Orange and The Collector, created copycat killers. The Nike ‘Black and Tan’ sneakers offended the Irish. The term described the uniform of the British paramilitary force that ruthlessly suppressed the Irish Independence movement.

While unintended consequences can never be fully anticipated, such as a word spoken thoughtlessly by a parent or a teacher, in policy making it is important to take the long view rather than act for immediate gains. The impact of political, legal, economic and administrative policies, of school curricula, of medical innovations, city planning, and use of earth’s resources will be felt for generations to come.

 

Durriya Kazi

February 25, 2024

Karachi

durriyakazi@gmail.com