Tribalism

I am a member of a face book group which was started by a classmate of my  younger brother.  The group's aim, as stated by Don, is to keep people in our age group, who grew up together in the small town, in touch with each other.  It was meant to be a space for friends to connect and share their lives with each other, and negativity was not allowed. 

There was little meaningful work in the small town, and high school seniors rapidly scattered in search of higher education and broader employment opportunities.  Don has done a wonderful job creating his vision and even though we live in all parts of the country, a couple of hundred of us are now able to communicate with each other.   The group has become large enough to display a problem we also face as a species. 

Our nation celebrated Memorial Day last week, and there was a general outpouring of support for Fathers, Sons, and Comrades in Arms on the site during this time.  Even though I personally believe there has not been a reason for this country to engage in ANY of the wars that have been fought since and including Vietnam, I happen to be in favor of these feelings of thanks and remembrances.  I am the proud son of a life long Military Man.

I do believe we were correct to fight the folks who bombed the Twin Towers, but we reacted to that punch with exactly the skill of a skunk that stinks up every animal and plant within half a mile of the villain who upsets it.  There has to have been a better way.  But, back to Don's page. 

A couple of people in the group objected to all the patriotism and asked to be removed.  Don publicly granted their wishes, and another score of folks applauded him for ridding us of the "not us" dissenters.  There was only one, a female classmate of mine, and one whom I much admire, who stood up to defend their right to say what they felt, and she correctly pointed out the place to say it was on their own page, not Don's: he had already stated the purpose of HIS page, and one of the rules was political arguments were to be left at the door.

The fracture we experienced on this page, a page of friends and acquaintances, is the same one we are experiencing in this country and more broadly, as a species.  Tribalism.  Us against Them.

While the species was in it's infancy, Tribalism was a good thing.  Thousands of years ago, while we were staying warm next to the fire in a cave, tribal loyalty was the glue that held the group together. Later, it fostered the trust that made sociable behavior and division of labor possible. Because of Tribalism, some hunted, others gathered, and still others reared the young.  The group and the species prospered.

On the other hand, as we have come to dominate our planet, distrust of those outside "Our" tribe by Tribalism has led to one after another war so that "Our" Tribe could grow larger and stronger.  Soon we had nations and  "spheres of influence".  As we have prospered, we've managed to smooth some of the behavior, and now Tribalism mostly causes us problems with things like nationalism (yes, sadly that means patriotism), race and religion.  We still find ourselves forming two groups, Us and Them.  After that, we come to hate and fear them, and from there, they must be eliminated.

The only answer is tolerance. Without tolerance mankind is doomed.  All of us need to learn to listen to what we consider "wrongheaded" views, and agree that it's OK for people to have these views.  That means we need not force others to share our beliefs, and we allow them the keep theirs.  Likewise, others must allow our viewpoint.  I have no clue how we attain this enlightened stage, and therein lies my fear for the human race.  If we allow differences and others do not, they will gain strength and we will be vanquished.

If a group of friends, who shared the same town and schools while growing up can not tolerate each others view, just what are the odds we can overcome the curse as a species?