Tribalisation - The Root Of All Evil

Over many years I have pondered the difficulties humans have, seeing eye to eye. I pride myself on being a person of relative logic and try to resolve personal issues by rooting out the cause of the problem rather than reacting as a result of the problem.

It is my belief that the root of our differences lies in our tribal instincts.
From the day we are born we are indoctrinated into a society without choice.
Be it religious, cultural, provincial or otherwise, which ever it maybe, it is the seed on which you will be judged by others, your entire life.

From sibling rivalry to border skirmishes, to all out war.

My Life
As a child my brother and I would on occasion fight over toys, or which area of the bedroom was mine or his and where to draw the line. If he or I were pouring a drink from a bottle for us we would argue over the smallest difference in measurement.

Leaving the confines of our house we would enter a different realm, where we would have a common factor, we were brothers, members of the same family. This would become apparent when encountering our friends. Within this group we would be protective of each other ensuring that neither of us would fall foul when our differences to others were apparent. Already, we have the tribal instinct that will protect us from outside influences or dangers. Our parents, influenced by the unfolding of their own lives are showing a strong impact on our overall view and perspective of others.

During the summer break, we would wonder the streets as a group (friends) looking for things to do and adventures to have. On occasion we would encounter other groups from a different area of town. We were the outsiders and would often be chased out of their territory, the best form of defence is running. We wouldn�t question the reasoning behind these confrontations as, subconsciously, we were well aware of why they were chasing us.

Whilst in school there would be groups defined by many a criteria, Black/Asian/White, Male/Female, Tall/Short, Rich/Poor, Jocks/Geeks etc��
School also tried to address the issue of differences by encouraging competition between groups by forming what were called houses, these houses would be made up of several classes that would compete on an academic and sporting level. As there were several classes involved in any one house, we had formed a larger group and created a new tribe, our common factor, our house, made up of an assortment of other groups.

When in school uniform you encounter a similar mentality with regard to other schools and this would be encouraged by the authorities in the guise of inter school sports events, and exam results, this nurtures rivalry.

Finally
In a lot of cases, the more tribes you belong to the broader your perspective.
However, you may also take on the legacy prejudices that are associated with those tribes/groups. An example of which can be seen in factions of religious orders, Protestant � Catholic, Sunni � Shiite etc�, it�s these legacy prejudices that are adopted by default, even though the individual has no first hand experience of the conflict.

The almost infinite combinations of tribes an individual can belong to will inevitably cause conflict with the individuals other tribes, family, work, friends etc�

I have not searched or investigated any of this on the interweb, as I want to discuss how I see the world and it�s continued problems, and am searching for what I believe is the root cause.

Your input and opinions will be much welcomed.


[edit on 19-8-2004 by Koka]

[edit on 19-8-2004 by John bull 1]

Everything you said is so true, I have watched this behavior through out my own eyes, arn't we all just animals anyway? when it comes down to it we sure act like them . just my .000000035965 cents worth.

Thanks.

When I find a person interesting, confusing or amusing, I try to assess the tribes they are part of.

First Impressions
Physical attributes are the most obvious, skin colour, hair colour, height, eye colour, clothing etc.....

A great deal of your delvelopment is dependant on social acceptance.

In an interview for a job as a trainee accountant, which one of the following, based on appearance, would be the more likely candidate to succeed.

The clean shaven, suit wearing, black guy holding a brief case.
or
the white guy withs locks, wearing combat pants and smiley t-shirt?

Although, very apparent, in this particular case, it is more than likely the suit wearer would fit better into the accounting tribe.

If you take into consideration all the possible tribes an individual can belong to, it is high improbable that any two people would be exactly alike and would therefore make the amount of tribes in the world, at the moment, approximately 6 billion, each tribe being made up of one person.

Obviously, a great many of the attributes seem irrelevant, those that like Pepsi over Coke, Beethoven over Bach or cats over dogs, as we will allow our tolerances to be pushed, with little consequence to the tribes which we belong.

The largest tribes tend to be based on the following persuasions:

Cultural, Provincial and Political

The bigger the tribe the greater the conflict.

The above is one of my early posts which I have decided to resurrect, as you can see it did not garner much response which surprised me somewhat.

You may like to tell me why this is so, or maybe you have something to add.

I may have worded slightly differently now, but I still hold pretty much the same belief.