Nerd Pride Radio

Is tribalism and people separating themselves into “us” and “them” groups, a learned or genetic trait? Can it be overcome? If so, how?

I've had the word tribalism on my masterlist for the podcast for a few weeks now. I've given it a lot of thought, and I haven't gotten much of anywhere.

I have the sense that tribalism is a necessary part of individual human development. It starts around 12-ish. Tribalism comes from a need to belong (socially) and it provides security and comfort and identity. In my mind... in an ideal world... humans would/should grow out of that phase, and by their mid-twenties should come to realize that tribalism is all bullshit differences, and that we should recognize that while we all have our own identities and our groups that we identify with, one's definition of oneself shouldn't come from our tribal identities, and we should respect the differences between groups. People need to recognize that simply being "other" does not imply an insult or attack on your tribe and/or your personal identity.

But I don't think the vast majority ever do grow out of the need/desire for a tribal identity. I've seen grown men get legitimately angry and worked up in a discussion of Ford vs. Chevy. Apple vs. Android. Texas Aggies vs. Texas Longhorns. Call of Duty vs. Team Fortress 2. And these are strongly felt emotions/identities based on inconsequential shit. I'm not even delving into stuff based on religious or racial or cultural differences. Hell, in some places different sects of the Baptist faith are at each others' throats, so how can they be expected to relate to Evangelicals or Muslims or Hindis?

And I know plenty of people who think they're too enlightened for this crap, but then smugly brag about unfriending anyone who voted for Trump.

I have so many more unformed thoughts, but no time now to delve into it. I look forward to other people's thoughts, and maybe that will help me understand my own.

I don't know if it's learned, or it's a natural mental process. I think it comes from the desire to categorize things. That could very well be a natural tendency of the human mind. It simplifies a lot of things if you can sort of large group of things into categories based on characteristics. Ranking life by kingdom, phylum, class, order, etc., is one example. Sorting music, movies, art, into genres is another example. "Tribalism" is just extending that same concept to groups of people, albeit in pretty simplified ways.

I mean, c'mon, everybody on this site knows there are really only 10 kinds of people: those who understand binary, and those who don't.

We love our tribes.
They serve at least two evolutionary functions:
They allow us to quickly distinguish between us and them. Not inconsequential in the world before trading was invented.
They allow us, as they allow other creatures, to react more quickly to patterns than to individuals. The frog recognizes 'it moves like food' and it has to take action quickly or go hungry. Good berries, bad berries, if I'm to gather enough of them they can't each have an individual inspection

I was looking into when the college football season starts, found some advertisement with music set to it, and discovered halfway through I had actual goosebumps. So whether some impulse to tribalism is present before birth, or whether I just had the good luck to be born in the vicinity of the proper college football team, there's no way we'd want to overcome or get rid of that. People are going to start concussing themselves senseless soon for my delight and entertainment, don't you know?

I have no idea what the answer is - obviously so much of it is learned, even if we have a tendency to shrink from strange people and animals just in case. It's also a genetic boon to mix it up with other people's women, but then, it's not a boon to have strangers from the other tribe stealing your women. So... who knows. I assume btw that women have been the objects of this kind of struggle for quite some time; I don't buy any of this ancient matriarchy stuff. All you get is matriliny, combined with typical struggles over property, women, women's property, and women as property.