I've been thinking about the common legal phrase "Hard cases make bad law". It basically means that there is a strong temptation to help out the underdog in the interests of justice. There is an extensive forum post about it here. Trouble is, you end up making a rule that is then exploited by, ... um, I think the term would have to be the "overdog"? There are entire areas of law with horrible anomalies due to hard cases. :)
Regardless, that isn't the point of writing. I've always been bothered that discussions around social policy often get overenthusiastic about success stories. The people who turned their lives around by finding God, or going back to school, or counselling, or a job, or a new haircut... They are often trotted out by someone who is running our prisons or social welfare to prove that their new colour scheme or Mozart will fix everyone. (They often also seem to be inferring that anyone who isn't fixed by their cure deserves the crap in their life.)
I finally summed it up with "Easy cases make bad policy".
(I do actually know someone who got over reasonably long term depression with a new haircut. There may have been some other factors, but my memory indicates that popular vote wen to the haircut. It was damn cute).
Posted by carla at August 5, 2003 02:29 PM