What's your tribe?
I spent the weekend at a conference on tribalism. Nothing to do with Indians -- the conference organizers were investigating the way people segregate themselves by education, class, and especially political beliefs. Especially about the environment. They feared this sort of tribalism spelled trouble for the effort to make smart decisions about environmental issues.
One of the entertaining things for me was that the conference was organized by FREE, a think tank whose economic conservatism is, well, not of my tribe. But FREE president John Baden is a man of endless intellectual curiosity, stimulated by ideas and genuinely interested in political interchange. The process of my coming to trust John may be a worthy model for reaching across tribal boundaries.
I see "tribalism" as a glorified name for "community," which is the buzzword of a more liberal tribe. Tribes exist because people are willing to give to them: immigrant communities give to new immigrants, all sorts of people give to their churches, and in the book 'Bowling Alone' Robert Putnam cited a man who once gave a kidney to another member of his bowling team – a gift that crossed racial boundaries. (The bowling tribe! Who knew?)
You bond closer with the tribe when you have some sort of initiation rite. For academics, it's graduate school. For wilderness advocates, it's usually some wild trip in the wilderness where you felt frightened and alone and probably ran out of water or food. I've never understood what it is for libertarians – though when I asked, one person at the conference said, "Drugs."
The tribe then reinforces itself with coded language. Academics use jargon. Conservatives scoff at the liberal media, and liberals have finally taken up the cudgel and scoffed at conservative media. (These rants usually entertain the faithful but do little in a wider cultural sphere. I love Molly Ivins, but the conservative media criticism in the conference packet bored me.) It may be of value to the tribe, but does it help wider democracy?
More thoughts on tribalism later.
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One of the entertaining things for me was that the conference was organized by FREE, a think tank whose economic conservatism is, well, not of my tribe. But FREE president John Baden is a man of endless intellectual curiosity, stimulated by ideas and genuinely interested in political interchange. The process of my coming to trust John may be a worthy model for reaching across tribal boundaries.
I see "tribalism" as a glorified name for "community," which is the buzzword of a more liberal tribe. Tribes exist because people are willing to give to them: immigrant communities give to new immigrants, all sorts of people give to their churches, and in the book 'Bowling Alone' Robert Putnam cited a man who once gave a kidney to another member of his bowling team – a gift that crossed racial boundaries. (The bowling tribe! Who knew?)
You bond closer with the tribe when you have some sort of initiation rite. For academics, it's graduate school. For wilderness advocates, it's usually some wild trip in the wilderness where you felt frightened and alone and probably ran out of water or food. I've never understood what it is for libertarians – though when I asked, one person at the conference said, "Drugs."
The tribe then reinforces itself with coded language. Academics use jargon. Conservatives scoff at the liberal media, and liberals have finally taken up the cudgel and scoffed at conservative media. (These rants usually entertain the faithful but do little in a wider cultural sphere. I love Molly Ivins, but the conservative media criticism in the conference packet bored me.) It may be of value to the tribe, but does it help wider democracy?
More thoughts on tribalism later.
To receive these posts via email, write to johnclaytonoutreach-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. (You need not put any text in the message.)
