The true enemy: human tribalism

National Post ^ | 18 Dec 2007 | Jonathan Kay

[The_Victor]

The west still has it’s practitioners of tribal behavior, they’re called “gangs.”

[Carbonado]

Excellent article.

Who makes breaking us all into ever smaller tribes but Libs/Socialists/Communists?

Breaking humanity into ever smaller tribes (groups) is their number one tactic and it is the one upon which their fundamental philosophy is based - envy and jealousy as sacraments.

[Jibaholic]

The issue is not tribalism versus individualism. Tribalism an clanishness flourish in low-trust societies that lack social capital. Individualism can flouish in societies with a high degree of trust and social capital. Why? Because you can’t go it alone in societies where strangers cannot be trusted. You have to stick with your clan/extended family/tribe.

So where do trust and social capital come from? Religion, particularly protestant Christianity. By fostering the attitudes of trust, reciprocity, and fairness the Calvinist/Protestant world made it safe for large groups of strangers to coordinate their actions and do things like form corporations and democratic institutions.

[Rick.Donaldson]

Democracy requires consensus-building and shared values. But in tribal societies, politics is viewed as a battle of all-against-all, in which the strongest tribe openly appropriates the state apparatus to enrich itself at everyone else's expense.

WHAT? A TRIBE is a socio-political organization of families, clans or groups of people sharing a common ancestry. Tribal societies don't necessarily go all-against-all, and in fact many of the South American Indian tribes that still exist, CO-EXIST peacefully as long as one does not raid the other, or commit some "sin" against the other. Then the tribes call for action and generally both the offending tribe and the one the offense was committed against AGREE on the method of punishment......

[ModelBreaker]

The west still has it’s practitioners of tribal behavior, they’re called “gangs.”

And multicultural victim groups.

[Jeff Head]

But it does come back to our view of God and what He wants for us.

In our society, in our form of government, the underlying principle is that God has created us all equal and endowed us with unalienable rights that give us precisely the freedom you talk about. In Chrstendom, the principle is one of free will.

The radical Islamics believe in no such thing. They believe that God hjas instructed them to use force and compulsion. Adhere, conform, or die (or be enslaved).

These diverging fundamental, foundational principles to the two societies and how God is viewed being behind those principles is what leads to the plural, free society we have, and what maintains the tribal, tyranical, leader-oriented societies that they try to maintain.

But that is just my opinion.

[Lurker]

They believe that God hjas instructed them to use force and compulsion. Adhere, conform, or die (or be enslaved).

Which is precisely why we should treat islam in the same manner we treated Nazism, Italian fascism, and Japanese Imperial militarism. Namely by destroying it utterly.

But that's just my opinion.

L

[Hoffer Rand]

Bingo. Read Ayn Rand’s “The Return of the Primitive.” She had this trend nailed 30 years ago.

[Paladin2]

The ‘rats are a tribe.

[ModelBreaker]

Was that a book? I thought I had read every book she wrote by the time I was 18.

[SlowBoat407]

I have been preaching this for a long time. Tribalism is the ultimate bigotry, claiming a superior position for a small band of people who must constantly oppress, bully, and posture to maintain that position.

[BGHater]

I concur, here[Slightly off Topic, okay alot] is an example from Ancient Peru.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/HealthScience/The_mother_of_all_civilisations/articleshow/2625053.cms

[G8 Diplomat]

An intractably tribal outlook also makes Western-style democracy impossible

Yeah, so quit nagging Pakistan to adopt democracy overnight, all you State Dept hags. And don't dump an Iranian monarch because his nation isn't democratic, Jimmy Carter. Shoving democracy on some countries can be disastrous.

Arabs often have "tribal names", i.e. al-somethingrather after their first and middle name. A common tribal name in the former Iraqi regime was al-Tikriti. That was Saddam's tribal name, but many mistake his last name to be Hussein, because in the early 90s the Iraqi gov't declared that officials weren't to use their tribal names. Either that or they use bin xxx, like bin Laden; bin = son of in Arabic. They don't have true last names, rather names that indicate which tribe or clan they come from.

[Hoffer Rand]

Yes, cowritten with Peter Schwartz, published in 1999 by Schwartz, but the majority of the writing is hers from the 1970s. It’s excellent and nails the problems with multiculturalism dead to rights.

[wardaddy]

you’ve been reading....interesting insights

but don’t forget.....all cultures are relative and just as smart too...dadburnit

[BGHater]

‘The issue is not tribalism versus individualism. Tribalism an clanishness flourish in low-trust societies that lack social capital. Individualism can flouish in societies with a high degree of trust and social capital. Why? Because you can’t go it alone in societies where strangers cannot be trusted. You have to stick with your clan/extended family/tribe.’

You perfectly described Prison.

A great example of why the individuals breakdown into different ‘tribes’ to survive.

[tx_eggman]

If you instead see a woman primarily as a low-status breeding agent of her patriarch's clan, everything changes.

... and, CAIR would have us believe, for the better.

What a steaming pile of crap ..

[668 - Neighbor of the Beast]

Ping for tribalism, must read.

[ZeitgeistSurfer]

I highly recommend Lee Harris book The Suicide of Reason. He makes a convincing case why tribalism, which encompases fanaticism and a willingness to die for the tribe and its beliefs, may have a long term survival advantage compared to the individualistic societies of the West.