Tribalism

Biased Roots.*

George W. Bush once said when fighting his war against terrorism, “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.”

And that's the underlying theme behind tribalism, where we are never given a choice of any of the fifty shades of grey. Things are only black or white.

Fogy belongs to a tribe of 1. If you are not on Fogy's side, then it doesn't matter. Why? Because Fogy understands even more than the twenty different words the Inuits have for snow—oops, sorry, the fifty different shades of grey. Getting a little confused here!

So, are you a tribalist, understand only one side of any argument, and are willing to fight for that until you die?

So many human animals seem to be bent on self-destruction. Fighting for seemingly senseless causes without a modicum of understanding what they really are.

And this is the problem.

Again, under George W., the whole world was made to believe that the Iraqis had weapons of mass destruction and had to be stopped. Lo and behold, less than a decade later, the truth came out. The tribalistic rhetoric suddenly caved under the revelation that much of the intelligence had been deeply flawed or misrepresented—driven, many argue, by the personal ambitions of an oil-greedy state.

So why is it imperative that we fight to the death to support our futebol team, our basketball team, our right to stupidity?

Young Palestinians and Israelis alike are goaded into harbouring deep mistrust, each for the other, perpetuating and prolonging a dispute that cannot and should not be resolved through war.

Yet past battles have proven to work—albeit in situations and combatant zones totally removed from the one that created this territorial dispute in the Middle East.

Tribes are supposed to unite, and in my concept, for the good of all. Basic human instinct supports the need to form tribes. Ancient civilisations have shown great survival and evolutionary results through working together, to the point where modern tribes serve as positive examples of a future made much richer without the trappings of modern-day technology and greed.

If you need a tribe, why not make it a positive step towards a better breed of community?

If you want a violent arena to express your inability to exercise rational thought, then go cockfighting in deep pits where your masculinity (usually) can be thrown in the faces of all like you.

Above all, get out of our faces and make the world a safer place for everyone.

Wow, an angry rant from Fogy—possibly undeserved, but poignant nonetheless.

Cheers

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This is what is meant by segregation.