COMPLACENCY



People who are depressed are complacent. Chronic fear transforms into depression if it is not addressed. The trauma of terrorism, in my opinion, is leading to a societal depression in the developed world. This depression takes many forms.

 

Yesterday, a cashier at the supermarket greeted me with a canned "Hi, how are you?" I looked directly into her middle-aged eyes and said, "I'm fine, and you?" Her face clouded. ""I'm great," she said while processing my items over her scanner. "Well, let's hope we stay this way as the day progresses." This obviously bothered the cashier. Her face twisted into a scowl. "Doesn't matter, " she lecturer grimly, " It's all good!" From then on, I felt she couldn't get rid of me fast enough.

 

It's all good? When these words are thrown at me with a "Heil, Hitler." nuance by an obviously unhappy worker, I don't feel that is at all good. Do you?

 

Complacency is a refuge of those who convince themselves they are powerless. It often takes the form of behavioral and/or conceptual conformity. For example, the political correctness of our age in some social groups defies logic, but it is a method of those who are feeling too afraid or just too lazy (depressed) to engage their brains to skeptically analyze the opinions of non-conformists.

 

Stoned hippies were often complacent and unengaged in the activism of the sexual/political revolution of the 1960s-1970s in the U.S.. These individuals used a depressive drug to squash their discomfort with the status quo which was used by other to protest and challenge authority. "Chill out, man." That was their response to those who went to the streets to face riot police. We now see a similar force at work in U.S. society, sponsored by many state governments which are licensing marijuana dispensaries and dispensing methadone by the gallon. The current level of alcohol consumption in our society rivals that of the Soviet Era in Russia.