The road to hell

There are two things you know about the road to hell.
1) we're on it
2) it's paved with good intentions

The second of these two things is not accidental and is not cheeky folk wisdom. It's the necessary result of a phenomenon called Moral Hazard.

This is a concept you'd better get familiar with because exploiting moral hazard is the core strategy employed by the apologists for terror and jihad.

Let's start with a simple example.

If insurance companies didn't investigate arson, there would be more fires.

This example explains both the concept and its source, as Moral Hazard is primarily an insurance and financial risk management concept. This fact is important, because it points to an underlying truth about western culture, namely, that we engage in and reward risk taking behavior. In a culture that rewards risk taking, sometimes to extreme extents, the practice of risk management also reaches high levels of refinement. You've experienced this first hand if you've ever actually read the find print on a contract.

Islamic cultures, in contrast, do not encourage risk taking (or individualism, which is just cultural risk taking). But cultures that discourage risk taking behavior also have fewer safeguards to prevent the exploitation of moral hazards. Besides being a moral hazard in itself, this fact helps to explain the heavy reliance on deception in the practice of jihad. They're used to getting away with it.

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Examples of moral hazard are everywhere. The abuse of trust in a religious setting is a stark example, as is the abuse of post colonial guilt in Europe.

Good intentions, for example the desire to make amends for the exploitation of the colonial period, lead to acts of good faith (good faith gestures) which are inherently risky acts. For example, during the Oslo period, Palestinians were constantly asking for good faith gestures on Israel's part in order that she demonstrate her desire for peace. These could be prisoner releases, softening of checkpoints or other measures. The idea was to use moral pressure to compel Israel to take unnecessary risks and especially unreciprocated steps, and the idea often worked.

Good intentions lead to risk taking without the benefit of risk management, in other words to moral hazard, which is certain to be exploited. The results of Oslo are a demonstration.

To wrap this post up, I'll bet you didn't know there's actually a moral hazard factory. There really is. It's in New York. It's right on the road to hell.