Tribalism

[sprunkner]

It's been a while since we had one of these discussions... actually just since Yaya left...

but given that we've discussed religion as a social force unto itself versus a personal urge co-opted by tribalism, this article about tribalism is good.

[Best First]

Hmm. I quite liked where it was going but then it seemed to get a bit wishy washy at the end - meaking very broad statements without really discussing them.

Also thought it was interesting that it insisted in definining the US as "a success" - in what terms?

Basically quite a few assumptions behind the article not made explicit.

Thought the most interesting aspect was the notion of the dominant white culture and what this means but i don't think it was as explored as it could be.

My view on Tribalism - good in sport, less ideal everywhere else.

[KingMob]

Yaya left

He did? I'ma gonna have togo see who caused that in a sec...

Majority culture being the defining culture and totally invisible to its own behaviour is actually something I'm interested, particularly in the ways the ethnic/national group I belong to is looked at in British media/politics and the religious faction I belong to is in Celtic culture. I'm usually scared of talking about it though, as I feel I'm both a 'perpetrator' and a 'victim' of such a state of affairs and get terribly frustrated by it.

Some things def seem wishy-washied over in the artilce - a seeming advocation for positive tribalism using potentially inflammatory concepts (white church, white school etc) - only seems inserted to fully appease the widest possible objection which in itself seems to be a validation that tribalism must be appealed to in order for the objector to be taken seriously? That's the kind of limp rhetoric that does more harm than good.

[Shanti418]

Yaya left

He did? I'ma gonna have togo see who caused that in a sec...

I did. And it was totally my bad too.

I too think the article raised interesting points but got a bit shaky when he started to extend it into economics.

I'm a bit dubious of liking champions to be something exclusively the property of American white culture. Even more so that a clinical impetus like winning a competition is what really makes some people in America react so visceraly to comments like that.


To wit on the same issue, the latest flare up with the Rev. Jesse Jackson will probably do some good towards assuring those same Americans that Obama isn't one of "those" black people.



Thinking about tribalism apart from ethnicity, what about this:

Studies have proven that human beings perform most effectively in groups of 150 or less. This level allows people to retain memory and form relationships with everyone. A lot of native tribes have been observed splitting in two when their numbers approach this, and some buisnesses have actually modeled their building staffs after this approach. The nation state is not a healthy social construct for human beings to live in.

I read this in a book by Malcolm Gladwell, and I thought it was quite interesting.

[Best First]

That is quite intereresting.

I have often(ish) mused that one of the problems with humanity is that we tend to create idealised systems that we are not ourselves complex enough to manage or prefect enough to operate in - that kind of fits with that idea.

Maybe.

[sprunkner]

That would mean that the 198 need to get rid of about 48...

[Best First]

Yaya left

He did? I'ma gonna have togo see who caused that in a sec...

I did. And it was totally my bad too.

Get him back then!

I miss the idiot.

[Yaya]

Hey guys.

Sprunk got in touch with me at the IDW boards.

Just want you all to know I harbor no hard feelings or illwill towards any of you. You too, Shanti.

I'm just going through some tough personal issues right now.

For this board, sometimes you have to have a thick shell, and right now given my circumstances, my shell is pretty thin. Last thing I want to do is lose my cool, and say something about someone I don't mean.

So I'll be back someday to annoy you all. Life throws its curveballs at everyone, and so we must try to catch them.

Again, no hard feelings here.

[Best First]

Hope things work themselves out chief. Take care.

[Shanti418]

As do I. Sorry once again for my previous overstepping of bounds.