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Is the political world necessarily tribal?

Graylight · 51-55, F
Honestly, I think mankind as a species is tribal.

[i]“Show me a man or a woman alone and I'll show you a saint. Give me two and they'll fall in love. Give me three and they'll invent the charming thing we call 'society'. Give me four and they'll build a pyramid. Give me five and they'll make one an outcast. Give me six and they'll reinvent prejudice. Give me seven and in seven years they'll reinvent warfare. Man may have been made in the image of God, but human society was made in the image of His opposite number, and is always trying to get back home.” [/i]
― Stephen King, The Stand
I feel like it’s becoming more tribal because people keep categorising masses of people without considering them. Like people calling people libtards or nazis or whatever. No two people really have the same point of view, but everyone treats everyone like they’re part of a huge group that does have the same view
@Burnley123 yeah I agree with you. Tbh I think it’s best not to identify with any category unless you’re actually the one trying to be elected
MethDozer · M
@Burnley123 It is easy to appear as a caricature on the internet.
Burnley123 · 41-45, M
@Mildreadful Sometimes it is necessary though for political action. I can identify as a Labour party member and as a socialist. To say I wasn't either of those things would be disingenuous and I do fall into those traditions. Shorthand is useful. I think maybe it's the point that we need to engage with people on their level. Take their ideas as stated and not caricature them with assumptions?
It's not necessary, no.

People are feeding into their media outlets and acting accordingly. If individuals diversified where they get their news AND engage their brains (to formulate an original thought instead of reacting to fear porn) they would be less "tribal".
Absolutely, there are layers of government which only the "Need to know" people are aware of.
@Burnley123 You have hit a very sensitive chord, something I've tried to resolve in my mind. On the one hand I feel we are evolving, on the other, it's as you said only a bit more brutal. One thing I do know is that the earth mother isn't going to tolerate the poisons much longer. She can shake us off this blue/green pear we call "earth" Nature will alway's correct itself with or without us.
Burnley123 · 41-45, M
@Coyotedave611 That is some dark shit man but it does make sense. We are sleepwalking into catastrophe. There are many reasons for this but one of them is that our brains are not geared to thinking about a world-wide multi-generational disaster. We naturally adapt to our environment but we don't have the evolutionary maturity to be responsible for having power over our environment. We think collectively in groups (political, workplace, nation) but rarely as a species. I think there is the potential to overcome these things because progress does not happen in a straight line but I do worry about the future.
You are one of the reasons I come to SW, I need to link in with similar ideas to reaffirm it isn't all just a waste of time, waiting for some armagedden or whatever. Remember the guy in Jurassic Park who said, "Life finds a way" I feel like a global mass consiouness too will find a way. (sorry about the spelling)
CountScrofula · 41-45, M
There will always be factions and interests. The degree of tribalism seems to vary about how shitty the conditions are.
Burnley123 · 41-45, M
@CountScrofula As long as property exists, inequality will exits. As long as inequality exists, factions will exist. As long as all this exists, there will be a need to those with property to encourage additional factionalism in those without.
Northwest · M
I don't believe there's any way to classify association with political parties, as anything but tribal.

Political independence, means that you evaluate the issues, and the candidates, without having a political affiliation, but most people do not operate independently of a political tribe.

At some point, technology will solve the problem, through direct democracy, but a parallel system of checks and balances must be developed, to avoid turning the world we live in, into an apocalyptic cluster fuck.
I don’t remember it being so. Being a Republican was once more of a class issue, for example. Owning class supported the party of big business, while working class supported Democrats, the party of labour unions. And before that, the Republicans represented the North, and a majority of Democrats represented the South. That’s why there were so many pro-slavery Democrats and abolitionist Republicans. But whenever [b]today’s[/b] Republicans try to cling to [b]that[/b] legacy I always ask them why, in 2018, [b]they’re[/b] the ones fighting to keep the Confederate flag flying. 😒
MethDozer · M
@Burnley123 This question deserves it's own thread bud.
Burnley123 · 41-45, M
@MethDozer Yeah, maybe I will sometime. I kind of touched on that with my question on populism though so I'll leave it for now.
MethDozer · M
@Burnley123 True, you did and have. Just the phrasing is really good.
MethDozer · M
Tribalism is only natural. Politics are not however. Politics seems to be the real problem.
MethDozer · M
@Burnley123 I know tour position and it is an argument. I still see it as the opposite. I find politics to a tool of tyranny mostly and a way to hold central power and keep the people's tribes under control. The first thing an empire does is destroy and conquer the tribes of a land.
Burnley123 · 41-45, M
@MethDozer Rulers have always used divide and rule. Should we all unite against the rulers?
MethDozer · M
@Burnley123 The central government is what we should fight I think. I fully support a bottom up system where power is decreased at each higher level of government. Local should have the most authority and national the least IMHO.
I don't mind certain levels of inequality of outcomes and feel.it is healthy and necessary for development of the group. It is when the system becomes rugged with unfair legalities given to one and against the other it becomes an issue. Which is what political parties are really all about.

 
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