Big Brother, Mother and Father
By Steve GillmanBig brother? Yes, and big mother and father too. There is an obvious and increasing tendency to assume that we mere humans are not able to take care of ourselves or make decisions about our own lives, and that government should therefore be there to “guide” us. This argument very obviously forgets or purposely ignores the fact that government is made of fallible humans as well.
The example that reminded me of this is a recent government-ordered recall of over five million window blinds or shades. They happen to have the two strings that are use to pull them open connected as one. The resulting loop at the bottom has been responsible for several deaths of children by strangulation.
Given the number of these string loops out there on blinds and shades this is a rare event, but nonetheless serious. It seems reasonable to do something about it. Here’s a solution: Cut the loop at the bottom so there are two strings, just like the two strings on my own blinds and most others (they work just fine that way).
I guess it is assumed that citizen consumers are not quite capable of doing something that simple, or that some of them won’t go to the trouble to buy scissors or a knife. Otherwise the Consumer Product Safety Commission could just notify all buyers of the danger and what to do about it. Instead, they force the recall of millions of perfectly good blinds that have one easily corrected problem.
Now I know that some who read this will think, “but not all parents will do it, and we need to protect the kids.” They are right that we need to protect the kids. On the other hand, does it seem a safe assumption that if they are not willing to take a minute to cut a few string loops they will probably not be the type of parent to pay attention to recall notices and spend hours uninstalling their blinds to send them back to the manufacturer? I think you get the point.
The government agency (the CPSC) could have notified all buyers to cut the cords to make them safe. They could have simultaneously ordered companies to no longer have loops that can strangle kids. There was no real need to impose millions in costs on the companies to take all those otherwise functional blinds back and refund or replace them. Those costs, by the way, are passed on to all of us who buy things such as these.
As a society we like to go through the motions of enforcing rules that are supposed to protect us, even if they are without much real value. We have come to the point where most people want a government that acts like a parent, on the assumption that we are all children. But actions like this that costs millions of dollars and probably save no lives show that we who want protection are the same people we think can protect us.
Big brother, mother and father will inevitably be all the same kids you went to school with. Do you really want them deciding so many things for you?
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Tags: big brother, father, mother