As the New Year dawns, it is
wise to remember that major changes always take time. Despite our impatience to fix what is broken,
political efforts at reform are never fully successful. Despite the highest of hopes, we generally
blunder along much as we previously have.
When I was young, like most
young people, I intended to remake the world.
Well educated and as yet uncorrupted, I would participate in effecting what
the bitter elder generation had not. It
was just a matter of employing my intelligence and integrity to substitute the
good for the bad.
It was not until my early
twenties that it occurred to me that this task might be beyond my reach. Only then did I realize that if I could not
reform my own parents, there was not much chance of reforming everyone
else’s. They too would resist my compelling
logic and captivating enthusiasm.
By the time I was in my late
twenties, I had an even more daunting realization. Not only did older folks resist change; so
did I. As a child, I assumed that as a
grown up I would straightforwardly become the person I intended to be. It was simply a question of deciding what I
wanted and doing it.
Somehow, however, my formative
fears did not disappear. Nor did the
skills I desired magically materialize.
Worse still, I did not always know what I wanted or what would be
best. The future was not merely a blank
slate; it was shrouded in mystery.
Sociologists talk about
“cultural lag.” They have learned that
despite our quest for improvements, we tend to hold on to the familiar. Our ideas about the world generally replicate
the ones we adopted when young. Likewise
our problem-solving strategies are usually copies of old habits.
Talk about a brave new world
therefore tends to be little more than talk.
Although we may be utterly sincere, when the rubber meets the road the
best we can manage are small variations on time-honored themes.
If you are a liberal that
means you want a bigger government and more regulations. Evidence that this does not work as you
supposed is discounted. Failures are
perpetually rationalized and enemies blamed for setbacks. Moreover, the suspicion that you could be
wrong is never entertained.
If you are a conservative,
you trust that traditional religion and/or a free market can remedy any
adversity. You never question these
ancient verities or investigate their limitations. Instead, you too explain away apparent
obstacles and cling to the tried and true.
Change, when it does come, is
consequently a surprise. To wit: who
predicted the effects of the computer revolution when telephones had rotary
dials? Similarly, who, a century ago,
imagined that we would be protecting extraordinarily busy airports from
Islamist terrorists?
So what does this mean for
the next year? The economy may boom—or
perhaps not. We might reach a dramatic
flashpoint with North Korea—or maybe we won’t.
There will surely be elections in which the Democrats will win—or is that
the Republicans?
A safer prediction is that
our culture wars will remain at high dudgeon.
Liberals and conservatives will not reconcile. Nor will President Trump and the media become
friends. Although the pundits will
continue to give advice that goes unheeded, were it followed it would usually
not work.
Nor will there be many
apologies for the mistakes people make. Once
again, we will be treated to analysts spouting misleading talking points. Once more, most members of the pubic will not
pay attention. Yet again, we will live
our private lives much as we have this past year.
But that will not deter
people like me from pontificating. Nor
will it keep heads from shaking at the inanities of others or fingers from
waging at the slip-ups of our opponents.
Irrespective of calls to cease being judgmental, negative judgments will
proliferate.
What is more, even if the
economy booms, there will be pockets of unhappiness. And even if peace breaks out in the Middle
East, it will flare up elsewhere. The
fact is that we, as a species, are never completely satisfied. Nor are we, regardless of our triumphs, in full
control of our destiny.
My conclusion: there will be
some change, much of which will surprise us.
Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology
Kennesaw State University
No comments:
Post a Comment