DEAR EDITOR:

I am troubled by cascading events that are incorrectly deemed as expressions of needed social change and protected liberties. I cite three hot-button issues: the removal of national monuments; the changing of sports team names; and the refusal to wear a mask. These exercises in community or individual protest are belligerent markers of dismay with conventional priorities regarding civil monuments; of disagreement with the proposition that groups select team names as tributes, not insults; and unconcern with the health of neighbor and community. These actions or positions are not examples of genuine or necessary civil resistance; instead, they are examples of anarchy.

Anarchy by definition is the absence of leadership, organization or control in a group, all the way up to the state. Mob action, which we clearly see with the destruction of monuments, resolutely meets the definition of anarchy. The rational decision to change a team’s name may not appear anarchic, but the wide battle cry of sympathy to make such changes without respect to fans deems it such. Finally, an individual’s decision not to wear protection is a clear example of individual anarchy and refusal to comply with a logical ordinance.

Anarchy is not a choice. Anarchy is the refusal to make necessary or productive choices regarding self, neighbor and community. Our present demanding behavior is not corrective effort to dismantle and adjust social concerns and problems; instead, it is a desperate volley against symbols. A monument is a symbol, everyone agrees. A team name is a symbol, the party cited representing strength, presence and history. Not wearing a mask too is symbolic, establishing one’s control over what is seen as overexercise in authority.

We must change policies, my friends, not trample symbols or evoke contrary symbols. Symbols are permanent; they will never go away. Bad policies can go away with concerted effort.

JIM VILLANI,