Quote of the day—Paul Koning

It would be a good idea to stop using the term “unintended consequences”. I haven’t see a consequence in years that I could reasonably assume to be unintended. Thinking of them as unintended will only mislead you about the nature of the opposition.

Paul Koning
July 18, 2016
Comment to Govt proposed “Smart-gun” specs
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

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2 thoughts on “Quote of the day—Paul Koning

  1. When the intent is to control, any control will do, regardless of the intent.

  2. Perhaps replace it with the “unadvertised consequences”.

    These are the consequences that are foreseen, possibly even the primary desired motivation, but you can’t mention that you’ve thought of them, and must strenuously deny that they’re even possible, because nobody that you’re trying to persuade likes those consequences.

    For example, the selling point for the welfare state is “for the children”. The unadvertised consequences of the welfare state is a dependent voting base that you can rely on to keep you in power, generation after generation. Also known as the “Curley effect”, where the slaves don’t harvest cotton, but instead deliver votes.

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