Kafkaesque’s blog recently featured an extremely thoughtful
and thorough discussion about the perennial issue of increasingly stringent EU
regulations being proposed for the perfume industry. The latest version of the EU
regulations would essentially ban a large number of traditionally used natural
materials, thereby severely limiting the palettes of European perfumers and
wreaking havoc on Grasse and other regions that produce essential oils and
absolutes for the perfume industry.
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The ostensible argument for these regulations is that a very
small percentage of the population might be allergic to the materials in
question. Whether “allergic” is the right term to use is questionable, but that
was the topic of a previous post a long time ago. Even if it were correct, the
obvious approach would be to have perfume manufacturers list all of the
potential allergens (or irritants) on the label and let people make up their
own minds whether or not to use the product. This is what is currently done
with foods “that may contain peanuts” and other materials that could cause an
allergic reaction far worse than anything that could potentially result from a
little bit of dilute oakmoss or bergamot on the skin.
By the EU’s reasoning, practically all food should be
banned, and it appears that this process is already underway with the restriction of cinnamon in Danish pastries. Soon to follow will be all spices, nuts, dairy
products, wheat products, meat products, fruits and vegetables. If allergies are
a problem, then the EU should ban all pollen-producing plants, trees, and
grass. Ever heard of “hay fever”? That’s a real allergy, but as far as I know,
no one wants to get rid of forests, food crops, green lawns and pastures except
the developers who put up ugly housing projects, strip malls, and parking lots.
Given that the reasoning behind the current and proposed
regulations makes no sense at all from a logical point of view, the question of
"why?" remains unanswered. No one is going to clearly benefit
financially, and probably the regulations will harm many EU industries large
and small.
Cynic that I am, my guess about the motives underlying this
type of micromanagement by the EU is that it is mega-bureaucracy's way of
instilling a feeling of learned helplessness in their subjects. I see this
tactic used all the time by the administration of the university where I work,
by the local, state, and federal governments, by religious organizations
throughout history, and by corporations that do not want to provide any sort of
service to their customers.
Teach people not to ask why they are instructed to do or not
to do something; teach them not to question “authority”; teach them not to ask
to talk to a human being who takes responsibility for having made the rules;
teach them that if they ask questions or complain they will get no response or at
best a dismissive response; shame or penalize them if they have a reasonable reaction
to an unreasonable rule. Eventually people will realize their powerlessness in
the face of the mega-bureaucracy and obediently behave as the bureaucracy asks
them to.
A populace trained in learned helplessness will eventually
swallow any bullshit piled upon them. Too many times history has seen
oppression start with the ridiculous and end up as harm to the oppressed
themselves, or as harm inflicted by the oppressed on those who have been
designated by the authorities as inferiors or enemies. Often it begins with
arbitrary, but seemingly harmless, rules.
[Lavender, peanut butter and cinnamon roll photos from Wikimedia; last photo is from Orson Welles film of Kafka's "The Trial".]