On tribalism, democracy and altrusim

By Letter to the Editor on January 31, 2018.

Re: “Tribalism is ingrained,” Dec. 27

Tribalism is an “us vs. them” mentality. It has two primary manifestations: Ideological purity, so that any deviation from orthodoxy is considered heretical; and hypocrisy, because people will accept/condemn behaviour they otherwise would not if the behaviour had been done by a person from the other team. (Alex Berezow. The Perfect American Storm: Incivility, Anti-Intellectualism, Tribalism. American Council on Science and Health. Feb. 7, 2017)

The project of American democracy — to live beyond such tribal identities, to construct a society based on the individual, to see ourselves as citizens of a people’s republic, to place religion off-limits, and even in recent years to embrace a multiracial and post-religious society — was always an extremely precarious endeavour. It rested, from the beginning, on an 18th-century hope that deep divides can be bridged by a culture of compromise, and that emotion can be defeated by reason. It failed once, spectacularly, in the most brutal civil war any Western democracy has experienced in modern times. And here we are, in an equally tribal era, with a deeply divisive president who is suddenly scrambling Washington’s political alignments, about to find out if we can prevent it from failing again. (Andrew Sullivan. “America Wasn’t Built for Humans”. New York Magazine. Sept. 19, 2017.)

With the exception of a few white supremacists, most Americans think that tribalism is a bad idea, which is why the word is so often preceded by “ugly” or “toxic.” Where we disagree is in actually identifying the tribes. To a lot of people, “political tribalism” suggests those red and blue family members glowering at each other over the holiday dinner table, impatient to hurry back to their bubbles. They’re people whose partisan identity has become so central that it determines whom they’re willing to date and what brands of pizza and coffee makers they buy, not to mention which news stories they’re willing to believe. (Geoff Nunberg. “As Fissures Between Political Camps Grow, ‘Tribalism’ Emerges As The Word Of 2017.” National Public Radio. Dec. 6, 2017.)

“Let us try to teach generosity and altruism, because we are born selfish. Let us understand what our own selfish genes are up to, because we may then at least have the chance to upset their designs, something that no other species has ever aspired to do.” (Richard Dawkins. “The Selfish Gene.” Oxford University Press. 1976.)

Fred Lewis

Medicine Hat

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