Resistance to change seems to be a part of human nature. We start as babies, reluctantly giving up mother’s nipple for the plastic one. As toddlers and into our early childhood we resist change in a variety of ways. We cry, we throw temper tantrums, we pout. In our teen years, resistance to change and authority (interesting companions) runs a gamut of behaviors ranging from “being grounded” by our parents to suspension from school to appearance in juvenile court for actions that by an adult would result in a felony charge but for the underaged, only a misdemeanor.
Disclosure before I continue: I am writing about change from the viewpoint of someone who grew up in the 60’s and 70’s (being born in 1952), who went from Lady Bug and Papagallo outfits in high school to beads and sandals of the hippie era in college before returning to the more conservative life of a law student and then a lawyer. The resistance to change that I saw and experienced seldom resulted in horrific violence, an exception being Kent State and of course, the Civil Rights movement. But overall, while my generation mostly resisted change with protests and slogans, burning our bras and spitting on soldiers who returned from Vietnam, eventually sanity reigned. For a while.
To give you some perspective on change, after the Blackberry cell phones came out around 2002, one of my law partners said to me “Now they (meaning our clients) can get us anytime and anywhere.” At the time, neither he nor I realized what his words really meant on a Universal level. Today, not only can any of us be reached at any time with cell phones that are always with us (admit it, it’s true), we are bombarded with information 24/7 because of the internet and social media.
Which brings me to the topic of change as a malignancy.
How does a mature and responsible society deal with change? Change is inevitable, on a personal level certainly, but also on a political level, on a global level, on a Universal level. Nothing is static. Even when you die your body doesn’t stay the same whether you are embalmed, cremated or snatched by aliens. Change occurs from the molecular to infinity. Accepting that change occurs is a necessary component of mental health. And how that acceptance manifests within a person, a society or a nation reveals whether change is benign or malignant.
Benign change doesn’t mean one shouldn’t voice objections, offer alternatives, press for a different change or no change at all. Mature and responsible people and societies understand this.
Malignant change is different. When resistance to change is malignant, the result is the abandonment of principles, of the rule of law, the encouragement of the belief that “anything goes” to prevent the change that the person or persons or portions of society don’t like. Malignant change is rooted in hatred, erupts in violence and today, unfortunately, is fostered by the ever-present voices that the internet and 24/7 media have both promoted and provided.
Two things prompted me to write this essay. First was the third assassination attempt on the president. Hate him or love him, hate his policies or love them, murder is not the answer. Never. Never. Never. But if “you” are told over and over that someone is Hitler, a Fascist, a Nazi, a rapist, a pedophile, and an existential threat – then it is no stretch to see justification for violence.
The second was the disturbing rise in antisemitism in this country. I was shocked recently to discover how many intelligent (?) people believe that the Jews are behind 9/11, that the Holocaust never happened, that Hitler was only trying to help his country, and that the Jews are controlling all the banks. Are you f’ing kidding me?
If you don’t like the president, just wait three more years. He will be out of office and can’t run again. (And don’t give me that moronic shit about him being a king). If you don’t think the Holocaust happened, I encourage you to go the Holocaust Museum in Washington, or find the numerous documentaries with the real footage of the extermination camps, or actually talk to a Holocaust survivor – yes there are still some alive. But don’t tell me the Jews set up 9/11 as a false flag and that a missile hit the Pentagon, not a plane.
Malignant change is alive and well in this country. And that is terrifying.