In physics, there's a rule known as Lenz' Law. Specifically, it applies to systems where electromagnetic fields are changing with time, and it says that physical systems will always act to oppose the change. I've long thought that there was a societal version of that, where any time something changes, especially in a way where people who previously didn't have legal rights/access/power now have even a little more, society (read: white men, primarily) will react by trying to reverse the change. Of course, physical systems don't have a choice, they act the way they do because of laws of nature, and social systems *do*, given that people can choose differently, but we all know they don't. That doesn't mean change can't happen, it often means that the change needs to be even larger to offset the response.
Of course, it sucks that for entirely too many white people, their response was "Okay, it was bad that George Floyd got murdered. Now let's stop talking about it and go back to the way things were."
In physics, there's a rule known as Lenz' Law. Specifically, it applies to systems where electromagnetic fields are changing with time, and it says that physical systems will always act to oppose the change. I've long thought that there was a societal version of that, where any time something changes, especially in a way where people who previously didn't have legal rights/access/power now have even a little more, society (read: white men, primarily) will react by trying to reverse the change. Of course, physical systems don't have a choice, they act the way they do because of laws of nature, and social systems *do*, given that people can choose differently, but we all know they don't. That doesn't mean change can't happen, it often means that the change needs to be even larger to offset the response.
Of course, it sucks that for entirely too many white people, their response was "Okay, it was bad that George Floyd got murdered. Now let's stop talking about it and go back to the way things were."