I’m going to shift gears here and talk about a concept that arises from Bowen Family Systems Theory: Societal Regression. Check out this article from Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/the-me-in-we/201806/7-signs-societal-regression

To “regress” means to revert to primitive modes of expressing oneself and relating to others. It entails less impulse control, a diminished tolerance for anxiety and reduced capacity for rational thinking such as the ability to make sound decisions. Regression is a response to anxiety and the internal signal that there is imminent threat or danger. Groups have a tendency to regress and behave more primitively than individuals do.

Molly S. Castelloe, “7 Signs of Societal Regression: How to recognize anxiety in a large group.”

I find this tool for analysis helpful when I think about the phenomena I write about in Part One. I can’t help asking why so many people have been caught up in extreme rhetoric and action in reaction to change and uncertainty. What leads people to believe the BS generated by the hard right, erupting from the dark web, spread far and wide on social media? Why do some people decide the only way to deal with their deep-seated anxiety is to take up a weapon, like a legally-obtained gun or arsenal or a legally-rented van, and kill strangers?

Yes, we live in what W. H. Auden called “the kingdom of anxiety.” Things are falling apart. The centre can’t hold, if indeed there is a centre. (I’m still paraphrasing Auden.) There’s nothing new in that. Auden wrote those words in 1942, during the war that came after the war to end all wars. Hitler on one side and Stalin on the other both exemplified and exploited Societal Regression. Many people liken Trump to Hitler. Putin clearly sees himself as a new Stalin, of Peter the Great.

What’s specific to our time is the power of the multiverse of media to feed and accelerate Societal Regression. Social media platforms have a multiplying effect beyond anything that could have been imagined a generation ago. A simple example: Every time a so-called liberal or self-identified progressive person retweets something from “the other side,” and ridicules it or argues against it, the original author’s purpose is fulfilled. More people see the images, hear the words, read the script. Exposure is influence.

Is it too late? Was Jane Jacobs right when she said, in 2004, that there is a Dark Age Ahead? She warned of trends that have accelerated since she wrote.

More to come…