Tribalism is a word that I hear all over the place as of late, usually it is used to describe a negative aspect of current events, tribalism as a whole has a lot of negative aspects though it does have its positives.
Tribalism is where people in a society split apart into groups or factions, often associated with extreme views because in these tribes people are encouraged or pressured to put the tribe first. This can be dangerous as people can easily be manipulated through being told they need to be loyal or that they will have nothing with out the tribe.
This manipulation is what makes tribalism be portrayed in a negative light as this manipulation and tribe first mentality breeds extreme views and can make people do things they wouldn't usually do, then our natural pack mentality comes onto play when a tribe accumulates in one area. As we know pack mentality tends to make people less remorseful and takes guilt out of a situation as everyone else is doing the same thing so its seems okay at the time.
Two faces of a coin
I would say tribalism definitely fits with connotation of a two faced coin as on one side its mechanisms have profoundly negative effects, on the other side these same mechanics can have profoundly positive effects.
How to be on the correct side. The negative aspects of tribalism really seem to take hold of groups that are formed sharing the same political values and ideologies. When people with the same views come together with other people only sharing similar vies it breeds extremism. People usually question each others beliefs and ask them why the think what they think however if the people you talk to all share the same vies rather than question why they believ? They tend to question why do they not believe more strongly.
To be on the positive side of tribalism a tribe needs to be formed full of people that do not share the same views, people will question and second guess peoples more extreme views, if you come to a tribe like this and ask something rather than being either instantly shut down or never stopped the question will be discussed from each differing perspective. People giving these differing perspectives gives a more realistic view and answer to a question that is asked.
Also because of the differing opinions the idea of bettering the tribe works differently, bettering the tribe full of people with the same beliefs only benefits that tribe, bettering the tribe full of different beliefs also benefits the wider population as more beliefs are represented.
Throughout the animal kingdom tribes or packs work well because of differing opinions. If the alpha does something disagreeable then a member will step forward to test the alpha or find a way to get around the alpha.
In Tribalism the alpha(s) in the negative side can not be question, can not be worked around, they decide and that's final whereas in the positive side of Tribalism the alpha(s) can and will be questioned and worked around.
My Opinion
It seems Tribalism is seen as mostly negative because in life it is easy to spend time with people that agree with you and that share the same values as it seems like it would cause the least conflict, however in reality it just creates larger conflict between any group with opposing views.
It is harder to spend time with people that have many different views than you as it would seem to cause conflict, however it can create important discussion and build stronger relationships because you can gain a greater understanding of different peoples perspective and the positives and negatives they go through.
Tribalism can work on a world wide scale positively if people that have differing opinions learn to work with each other rather than against each other. The world will never be perfect but the negative side of tribalism means life will be easy for a small group of people and very hard for the larger population whereas the positive side would result in less of a divide in all senses of the word.
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