How to get off the road to hell
It's paved with good intentions, but as the saga of the Chibok girls demonstrates, a noble campaign can cause unforeseen harm
If you’ve been following the saga of DA Western Cape leader Bonginkosi Madikizela, who has admitted to lying about his qualifications on his CV, you’ve probably had occasion to ponder the law of unintended consequences.There are three types of unintended consequences, but the one that should interest us here is called the perverse result, which Wikipedia tells us has a "perverse effect contrary to what was originally intended … when an intended solution makes a problem worse".Interestingly, the man who popularised the concept, sociologist Robert K Merton, also came up with the terms "self-fulfilling prophecy" and "role model", both of which could be applicable to the saga of the falsified CV.Actually, Madikizela has not in fact admitted to lying on his CV, but in a breathtaking display of applied euphemism, to "not correct[ing] the information on his bio". According to Eyewitness News, Madikizela said in mitigation for claiming a fake degree (a BCom in human resource management) tha...
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