Tribalism

[The Sunset Limited]

10 years ago, I had never even heard of the term tribalism. Now I think it's one of the most fascinating and destructive symptoms of modern society that I don't think get talked about nearly enough.

My question for you is what's your stance on the idea? Do you think it exists? How much? Does it effect everybody? Does it effect you?

Here's a few videos that breifly touch on the subject...





(Skip ahead to the 1:15 mark. The first 75 seconds are garbage)

 

[rankandfile]

You mean like " ...there are very fine people on both sides" ? That kind of tribalism? Thanks Obama!

 

[The Sunset Limited]

You mean like " ...there are very fine people on both sides" ? That kind of tribalism? Thanks Obama!

Yes. I take it you fall under the 4th option in the poll?

 

[rankandfile]

Id go with door # 3

 

[Videodrome]

I think Tribalism is a normal default human behavior back in the days of Oral culture that was disrupted by the Gutenberg Printing Press and the sudden surge of Mass Literacy. This sparked an unusual amount of Individuality and Contempletive thought.

As a 'media experience' reading is a solitary and private experience between yourself and the content, reading at your pace, one line at a time, considering what is being said.

Compare this to say receiving a Facebook instant message or Phone Text. It's reading, but it pulls you into a group activity, and it involves you in the technology experience.

I guess to get to a point, I'm heavily influenced by Marshall Mcluhan on this topic who feels that the rise of the Electric Communication Age has pushed us forward technologically, but also causes us to slip backward socially. With that, I do think we're a patchwork now of Individualists amongst Tribal people. A smaller minority are Artists who try to interpret these trends and explain to society what we're becoming.

As these effects advance and influence our identity across the board, it can lead to a steady rise in Nostalgia which I think we've been seeing a lot of. I think the mid-80s was when this effect surged and interestingly that is the time period often tapped for entertainment like Stranger Things. We also see quite a few Remakes from that era or long delayed sequels like TRON Legacy or Blade Runner 2049.

Another aspect of Nostalgia is the return of older styles of clothing. I've also wondered if a combination of Tribalism and Nostalgia is why there seems to be a resurgance of Tattoos. It seems like I see awful tattoos everywhere.

I want to qualify some things mentioned in this clip. By "Violence" he doesn't always mean physical, but sometimes verbal or general abrasiveness.

Also, he's not saying people simply in a group hate eachother, but that the Electronic 'Global Village' brings people way to close together. It becomes something like angry relatives at Thanksgiving on a wide scale. Mcluhan also described this as an Ann Lander Column writ large.

 

[Videodrome]

I've been interested lately in the work of Kurt Anderson author of the book Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire. He thinks there are aspects to American culture that have function well for some time, but have lost equilibrium and things have become unhinged.

He talks a little more specifally about the forming tribes that we're dealing with and their credulity to believe claims made by cranks like Alex Jones.

In his opinion the major turning points were first in the 60s made by the fringe Left and this later enabled the emergence of a fringe Right to push back.

 

[The Sunset Limited]

Good **** Videodrome. I'll be taking a look at those sources you posted.

 

[Viktor]

That Fantasyland book has been on my list to read for a while.

 

[Kerosene31]

I think tribalism is a big problem in US politics, but not in every day life. A telling number is 42%. That's the percentage of eligible voters who did not vote in the 2016 election. It is important to remember that if you're in a room with 10 people, statistically, 4 of them didn't even bother to vote.

I like that perspective when people talk about the political climate here. For as much as some people really seem to care, 42% didn't care enough to take 20 minutes out of their day.

I'd like to know more about why those people don't vote. If they did, would they jump in with a tribe, or would they be more objective, and marginalize the "tribalists"? Perhaps it is the tribalism in the first place that turns them off from voting? I honestly don't know.

I will also add that what has been going on in the US for the past 2+ years is very unique. We see things daily that we never thought even possible. Without taking a deep dive on that, I will say that someone is deliberately and severely polarizing, and that is obviously going to exacerbate the tribal problem.

 

[Videodrome]

That Fantasyland book has been on my list to read for a while.

I just got the audio book read by the author.

 

[Videodrome]

I think tribalism is a big problem in US politics, but not in every day life. A telling number is 42%. That's the percentage of eligible voters who did not vote in the 2016 election. It is important to remember that if you're in a room with 10 people, statistically, 4 of them didn't even bother to vote.

I think there is plenty of Social Tribalism, but it's mostly incredibly dumb things. I imagine most people in this thread avoid these things and don't deal with them.

Facebook has contributed a lot to this. This can be a mix of poltical or cultural things or Religion.

Twitter gets abused in other ways. It can involve toxic Fandoms which could still be thought of as Tribalism.

YouTube comments are where things can get awful or strange. This is where Conspiracy Land really lives and where most things like the Flat Earth Society coalesce as well asl InfoWars and more recently Q Anon.


Now getting a little away from the fringe, I think to a lesser degree, some people actually Tribalize around their gadgets. You have the Android people and the Iphone people. PC vs Mac. This stuff is more benign, but it's there.

This last example isn't necessarily bad, but it can be. My step uncle is quite diehard on behalf of Mac and conversations on that vs. PC can turn ugly.

I think similar things can happen in the work place where a group has adopted work methods that they will not tolerate being challenged. I'd suggest they're inflexible because these things become a part of their identity which is why they take it personally.