Extinction Burst Revisited

A Creative Reimagining of the Hellish State of U.S. Politics

About a year ago, I started yapping about a phenomenon in behavioral psychology called extinction burst. It got a lot of attention, and people asked me to follow up. I meant to. I really did. But life got in the way. So here we are, finally continuing the conversation.

Let’s start with a quick refresher.

To sum it up, extinction bursts occur when a maladaptive behavior suddenly increases in frequency or intensity just before it begins to fade or change. Think of it as the behavior’s final flare-up before something new takes hold.

I used toddlers as an example. If you’ve ever been around a toddler, you know the drill. They often cry, they scream, they throw themselves on the floor. It’s all very dramatic.

During that important stage, they’re learning how to express themselves. Crying was once their default way to communicate a need, when they were infants. If you’re a parent or caregiver trying to help them learn better ways to get their needs met, you might stop responding to the crying in the same ways, with immediate solutions.

When you change your response, things tend to get worse before they get better. The crying increases. The tantrums become more intense. You find yourself in the middle of an earth shattering meltdown at the grocery store.

But that escalation is part of the process. It’s the extinction burst. And if you can stay consistent and patient, the behavior starts to shift. The child learns they can get their needs met in new ways. They grow.

The Collective Extinction Burst: Fascism

Right now in the U.S., we’re experiencing a dangerous increase in authoritarian laws, behavior, and violence. None of this is random. It’s the result of deeply rooted systems of oppression that have been failing us for a long time — white supremacy, misogyny, ableism and capitalism. If the United States were a toddler (which it very well might be since it isn’t an ancient country by any means) it would be grappling with wanting to change, but being clawed back into maladaptive behavior patterns.

And let’s be real. The consequences are severe. People are losing their lives. Communities are being terrorized, locked in cages. The fear is real, and the harm is undeniable.

But here’s what I believe. This level of intensity might be a sign that good things are on the way too. We are pushing against systems that have existed for centuries, and just like a kid throwing a last, loud tantrum, those systems are fighting to stay intrenched. We can’t give in now, or ever.

(Again, I’m not comparing toddlers to fascists. That would be disrespectful to toddlers.)

Remember when organizers said things like:

• No human being is illegal — and the reaction was that the phrase was “woke”?

• Abolish the police — and people recoiled, thinking it was too radical?

• Defund the police — how did even this phrase cause outrage?

Now we’re seeing the consequences of playing it safe. The Big Disaster Bill that just got passed, the one that funnels even more money into policing and immigration enforcement, shows that the government always had the ability to work for and by the people—it just doesn’t want to.

Those in power chose violence. They chose control. But that also means the people were even more readily choose something different. We could fund care. We could invest in housing, healthcare, education, mental health support, and programs that actually keep people safe. The new world struggles to be born, and yet, change is inevitable.

Is There Hope?

Yes. More people are waking up. More people are questioning the system. They are realizing that business as usual is not good enough anymore. It never was.

Angela Davis once said that radicals grasp things at the root. That is what we have to do. We need to dig up the roots of all the structures causing harm. Only then can something better grow in their place.

So if everything feels like it is getting worse right now, think of it as an extinction burst. That intensity might be the sign that the old system is cracking.

Change is possible, but only if we don’t give up.

Photo by Unseen Histories on Unsplash

Writing Prompt: If you choose to accept it.

“Radical simply means grasping at the root.” - Angela Davis

Write about the metaphorical roots you must grasp onto and pull up, so they don’t poison the soil of life?

Examples: limiting beliefs, anti-Blackness, internalized misogyny, etc.

What will you do now that you’ve gotten ahold of the truth? How will it change you?