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Tribalism Revisited

Entry 2260, on 2023-02-20 at 14:59:15 (Rating 3, Politics)

My standard item of "formal attire" for work is an Apple t-shirt with a cool caption on it like "Think Different" or "Once You Go Mac, You Won't Go Back" or "Lion, the World's Most Advanced Operating System" (that one's a bit dated). Apart from the debate regarding whether something so informal is appropriate for work - and anyone so superficial who would make that argument is barely worth considering - there is the other question about whether it is unnecessarily divisive, although you rarely see anyone wearing a Microsoft t-shirt, but that's no surprise, is it?

The bigger issue here though, is tribalism, and the symbolism employed by people in different groups (or tribes) to signal their membership of that group. I guess by wearing the Apple branded clothing I am signalling my commitment to that company, but how much further does this go? Well, a long way, actually.

First, I have to say that, unlike in the past, my membership of the "Apple fanboy" group is not particularly serious. I do honestly believe that macOS and Apple hardware is the best platform for general computing that has ever existed, but I accept that a Windows PC is better for gaming, and Linux is better for servers.

But a Mac is the best general purpose computer for everything else. That's because Apple have created the best graphical user interface, and nothing else is close in terms of capability while maintaining ease of use. And that layer runs on top of the extremely efficient and capable system, Unix, which offers great (but not perfect) reliability, security, and power.

But I don't despise Windows users like I might have done in the past, and when I see PCs outnumbering Macs it doesn't worry me any more. People should use whatever works for them, and if a current Mac user wants to switch to a PC, I say good luck to them!

While my "cult of Apple" membership is fairly benign, there are other tribes which are less so. Look around and you might see people signalling their membership in various tribes, and many of them aren't as generous to others as I am.

If you are a "lefty" or even a moderate who follows fairly well established social norms, what do you think when you see someone wearing a "MAGA" cap? You might think something like "there's a far right nutter with no intelligence, compassion, or understanding of the real world", right? And if you are more right of center how do you feel about people waving gay or trans rights flags around? A sense of disgust at worst, or maybe just something like "shut up and keep your deviant sex life to yourself"?

And there are less obvious signals of group membership too. I am convinced that, during the COVID epidemic, wearing a mask was as much a sign of compliance with the regime as it was a public health measure. I wore one when I was forced to, but avoided it whenever I could, but I saw people driving by themselves in a car while wearing a mask. What were they trying to achieve?

Maybe they just didn't understand that there was nothing to gain in that situation, or maybe they were just so used to wearing it that they forgot to remove it, but I suspect it was as much a signal of membership of a tribe as the MAGA cap is. They were saying "look at what a great person I am, doing what I'm told, and protecting my fellow humans".

And there is some merit in that; it's not a totally empty gesture. But so is wearing the MAGA cap. There are genuine issues that Trump got right, and anyone who supports the good aspects of his leadership is at least partly justified in that view.

Once you start looking for these signals of group membership you see them everywhere, with clothing choices, bumper stickers, books being read prominently, badges, and the use of language all being common examples.

Tribalism is part of the human psyche, because, in the past, we lived in small tribes, and members of other tribes were often a threat. It was important to know who your friends and enemies were, and to act accordingly. There is still an element of utility in this attitude today, but hopefully it isn't as relevant now, although it does seem to be becoming increasingly prominent.

When I debate people on-line I can immediately tell when they have assigned me (usually falsely) to a group, most often the "far right" because I refuse to comply with modern politically correct ideology, and when they try to debate me on that basis and fail, they are surprised.

So when I say I disagree with trans people who are really men but view themselves as women (or vice versa) being given the full rights of people born as women, they immediately assume I'm a transphobe who wants to reject the right to exist of trans people completely. But I very much believe that everyone should be able to live in a way that makes them happy... until it starts interfering with other people's rights to do the same.

So saying trans women (that is a person born male who wants to live as a female) are real women, just isn't true. Some people say it because it's a way to signal their virtue. It would be interesting to try to extract their real views with a subtle psychological appraisal. I suspect they would really believe the same as I do when the layer of virtue signalling is stripped away. But I could be wrong, which makes them even more out of touch with reality!

So tribalism can be relatively innocuous, like me wearing an Apple t-shirt or the person wearing their mask alone in the car, or it can be slightly problematic like a person waving a trans flag or wearing a MAGA cap, or it can be serious like a protestor burning down a business during a BLM protest or an extreme gun rights person walking around armed and just looking for an excuse to use their weapon. All of these things have other elements involved as well, I agree, but I think a lot of it is mob mentality and signalling membership of a group dedicated to a particular dogma.

Notice that all of the examples I have given here have come equally from what we might simplistically call the left and the right. For example a trans flag signals left, and a MAGA cap signals right. The fault for this divisiveness is almost equally from both sides, although I am fairly sure the most damaging social engineering currently comes from the left, with its dedication to toxic ideologies arising from applied postmodernism and critical theory.

So, first, is this really a problem; and second, if it is a problem, what is the solution?

Clearly tribalism is a problem causing massive divisiveness in many modern societies, so the answer to that question is yes, and the answer to the second has several components...

First, I think understanding the origin of people's behaviour is a good start. When you see a person signalling their (alleged) virtue, they often want a response: either endorsement of their views, or disagreement with them, at which point a dispute of some sort might arise. So if you ignore their signal it sort of negates it. I have to admit that I am not good at taking my own advice on that one. I often "take the bait" and launch into a tirade denigrating the views of the tribe the person is signalling membership of.

I doubt whether I've caused anyone to immediately swap allegiance, but I just hope it might introduce a small element of doubt which might blossom into a realisation of how blind they have been to alternative views.

Second, it is OK to debate them, but make sure it is in a reasoned way. When those people immediately assume I'm a far right ideologically driven nutter they are often taken off guard when I have a more nuanced opinion, which might even partly align with their own. They might understand that not everyone who is not fully on board with their views believes in some extreme idea on the opposite side. They might see that there are people who have views somewhere in between the trans flag wavers and the MAGA cap wearers.

Lastly, self-awareness is the greatest asset you can have. Sure, I'm an Apple fanboy, but I admit it's a bit silly, and I don't take it too seriously. One of my favourite quotes is this: people who can't laugh at themselves, leave that job for someone else to do.

Unfortunately, being self-aware can produce a degree of vulnerability. When you are self aware but your opponent is not, it gives them an advantage in some sense, because they might be too ignorant to realise how ignorant they really are: the classic Dunning-Kruger Effect. This is particularly common with what I call "middle management morons", but occurs at all levels of society.

So keep this idea in mind as you interact with others. Most people aren't members of a tribe as the result of a process of deep and careful consideration of the alternatives. Most of them just drifted into that mindset because of their societal background, or influence of their education, or the subtle propaganda from the media. They're not evil. They're just naive and shallow.

We have to accept that tribes exist, but there can be understanding, or at least acceptance, of another tribe, because most of them have more in common than they might think.

Comment 1 (7390) by Jim on 2023-02-25 at 20:51:24:

I like what you are saying. Want to share other examples.

Comment 2 (7391) by OJB on 2023-02-26 at 10:13:36:

Just think of a trendy political issue, and people will support it, not because they have a deep commitment to it, or knowledge of the subject, but because it shows their alleged virtue. A classic example would be indicating your support for environmentalism or mitigating climate change by wanting to destroy capitalism or shutting down various valuable activities (transport, farming, etc). Another would be showing "support" for "disadvantaged groups" by displaying your pronouns or using the language of a minority group (Maori in New Zealand). While all of these issues have some basis in fact, the woke mob's activities in these areas just make me laugh. They're pathetic!

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