The Cobra Effect & Unintended Consequences
I don’t like snakes. I’m sure most would agree that snakes are not warm and friendly companions to cuddle up with on a cold night. It seems the British rulers of colonial India felt the same way.
Many years ago, there was a cobra infestation in the city of Delhi. To control the wild population of cobras, the government decided to offer a bounty for cobra skins. Everything was going along fine and the cobra population seemed to diminish a bit. However, once the wild cobra population began to shrink and feral cobras became scarce, some enterprising Indians decided to start raising cobras to keep cashing in on the reward. The British eventually caught on and ended the bounty payments. As a result, the cobra farmers, who now could make no money raising the cobras, let them free resulting in thousands of more cobras than before the bounty program was started!
This is commonly called the “Cobra Effect” which is also known as the law of unintended consequences. At first, it sounded great, right? I mean, other than a few snake lovers who I know I’m offending, who can disagree with getting rid of poisonous snakes? A great well-meaning intention fell victim to unintended consequences by causing a greater problem than the one they set out to solve. Maybe the long-term solution would have been to raise more mongooses?? Who knows!
We see plenty of examples of this in our society today, especially in the polarized world of politics and its incestuous partner, the media. I’m sure those of you who lean liberal are agreeing with me that those Nazi Republicans are exactly to blame, and if you lean right, you are cheering on this statement as an indictment of those socialist commie liberal Democrats, right? However, like most truths in life, it applies to both sides equally.
A prime example of this is what happened during the Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown. I watched as Ted Cruz grilled Judge Brown regarding her opinions on a book called The Antiracist Baby, obviously picked by Cruz because he knew the name alone would drive anti-CRT conservatives crazy. He was holding the book high over his head as he pointed out that it is available to students who attend a private school in Washington D.C. on whose board of trustees Judge Brown sits. I don’t remember her answer but I do remember reading a story the next day about the book and its skyrocketing sales on Amazon. I was amazed to read that the day before the hearing the book was ranked in the thousands on the Amazon sales list for children’s books. It was certainly not flying out of Amazon trucks or being slung by drones onto millions of porches across America. Until that point, it was an obscure little illustrated book that wasn’t on many bookshelves or in school libraries. However, within a day of the hearing, the book shot up to #1 on the children’s book list.
The question is, did Cruz accomplish his mission or not? It depends on your perspective and political inclination of course, but the results are obvious.
Cruz succeeded in his short-term mission by firing up his tribal base over the “existential threat of critical race theory” and making headlines on Fox News but at what cost? The price is that his long-term goal of diminishing such ideas in common culture failed. Moreover, he actually increased the discussion and dissemination of these ideas, but does he care? After all, he received the bounty in the form of earned media and thousands of likes on social media which helps to solidify himself as a soldier in the cultural war against the “libs”. However, in the pursuit of his selfish and immediate political gain, he created more of what he set out to oppose in the first place.
Another example has been the heated debate surrounding transgender issues ranging from bathrooms to sports competitions. This issue was catapulted into the arena by President Biden when he issued as his first executive order which included an extension of discrimination regulations to include sexual orientation and gender identification. The fact is that the Supreme Court had already ruled the year before that the Constitution already provides for protection under Title VII of the 1964 civil rights act.
So why did Biden feel the need to make this a top priority right out the gate? The answer is, like Cruz, he wanted to motivate his base and get the reward he desired which is the support and adulation of the left-wing of his party. However, in doing so, he needlessly energized the other side into hypersensitivity over an issue that is not an issue at all. Take the transgender issue for instance. The population of those who identify as transgender makes up only .004% of the population which means that 99.996% of Americans will not be affected by this at all. However, according to the headlines in right-wing media, transgenders make up a large portion of our society and as such pose a major threat to the very existence of the moral code which built our nation.
What were the results of this? Were his actions successful in advancing his cause? Once again, it depends on which side of the issue you are on. However, in the short run, he did gain politically. However, the long-term harm can be seen in the backlash across the country in the form of laws being enacted that oppose his ultimate goal of providing equality for the same groups he set out to protect.
The bottom line is that the current system is set up to reward politicians and the media to give us what we want. If they can’t find what we want, they will manufacture it to get their rewards which are our votes and selling advertising.
What long-term damage does this cause? This incessant weaponization of divisiveness by presenting solutions for non-existent problems ultimately creates more of what is not desired. More alarmingly, the dehumanization and name-calling of opponents in support and opposition to these issues are splitting the country apart.
If many of these issues are simply social and cultural in nature and only affect a small minority of people, then why are so much media and political attention placed on them? The answer is twofold.
First, these are emotional and social issues that elicit passionate and visceral reactions on both sides. Like snakes, which 99.9% of us will never come across in our daily lives, they elicit irrational fears about something that we don’t understand and will never have to deal with. Because they drive such strong emotions, mostly fear, they are easily weaponized by politicians to stir up support among their base.
Second, they are distractions that take attention away from more important and real existential issues facing our nation. While our politicians and the media waste time fighting over these inconsequential social issues, the real issues are not getting addressed. Every minute talking about a transgender swimmer for instance is a minute we are not talking about education (reading, math, critical thinking), the economy, crime, and real existential threats to our nation.
For the record, I agree with the conservative position along with most of the nation on these issues but that’s not the point. I’m not saying that discussing them is wrong. There is a time and place for a healthy debate among all sides. However, I just don’t agree that many of these issues are the existential threats they are made out to be by the press and politicians, both left and right. I think we are needlessly creating more snakes in our well-meaning attempts at fighting for our issues. And of course, the only one benefitting from this is the one who has been with mankind since he first appeared as a snake in the Garden of Eden.
The Bible gives great advice on how to handle such disagreements both in our personal lives and in society. In 2 Timothy 2: 23-26, Paul tells us that we “should not have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth”.
Paul was writing this to Timothy who was experiencing great resistance and doubts in his mission of spreading the Gospel. However, I think this advice is apt for all of us today as we pursue what we know to be true. We must all remember that truth spoken in love and respect is more likely to be received than truth spoken in hatred and malice. This is what I’m praying for today for our nation and the world.
