Why Stooping to Conquer sucks

I recently read a post on one of my favorite. columns Yanga on TNC. Read here.

 

I commented on that post but I think it's worthy of a rejoinder or reply.

Stooping to conquer is one of the oldest tricks in the book. At least the book of housewives. It's basically doing something you wouldn't ordinarily do or agreeing with something while keeping the end goal in mind.
So a simple example in a marriage setting might be cooking really delicious meals in hopes that your husband will see why he should add more money to housekeeping money. Or even having sex in his favorite position  because you know that's a good time to sneak in a request he wouldn't normally agree to.
A work example would be joining the team for after hours drinks even though you would much rather go home and cuddle with le beau. The after hour drinks allows social networking and you do it in hopes that when promotion time comes around, you are the 1st pick.
In truth, these are tried and tested methods and shouldn't be scoffed at.
My one huge caveat though is policy change. When approaching population level problems, individual level solutions rarely work. Or maybe I should say, I am yet to see an instance where it has.

 

 

So an example would be educating the girl child. Even if I can wrap my husband around my finger to send our daughter to school that does not help Mummy Bisi next door, who despite her best efforts, her husband says their culture forbids it.

Another example, the policy that says I need a letter of permission to get a passport for our child. Following through on this policy won't bring about change. Indeed since passports are being issued the government sees no reason to change it. What is probably needed is to show the inconvenience this can be. But more to the point, what makes the father's permission more important than me the mother. It's OUR child.

Indeed the reasoning behind population level problems is quite different from the individuals. These solutions are never simple.Sometimes it requires sacrifice and seeing the long term goal. Policies must consider everyone and look for ways to appeal to everyone.  It is never easy. Both the poor, the rich, the educated and the uneducated. They must seek to encourage herd level change. This is not possible if we take the stooping approach.