I often speak of tribes and tribalism in a negative context, in terms of divisions, racial strife, politics, the things that divide us along tribal lines. I am a real outlier, as in I don’t know if I would agree to belong to a tribe that would have me. Given my history among cults, dysfunctional families, feminism, and strange groups of people, this is not surprising. I am often on the outside looking in because I am not quite sure I want any part of you people.
I tend to be an outside observer, not a joiner. However, I forget sometimes that tribes can also be healthy, that they are innate to the human experience, that people need to belong to one another, to have a sense of purpose and a place in the world. In our culture we’ve kind of fractured the family, economics have caused us to move away from extended communities, and there is a real hunger for tribal belonging in the world. You see this expressing itself in unhealthy ways, in kids joining gangs, in cults, in everybody who is anybody clicking the politically correct “like” on facebook. In politics, at least on the internet, there can be a great deal of ostracisizing, bullying, all tribal behaviors as if we we’re rival gangs competing over territory, policing the tribe.
So when you’re outside the tribe, rejection can be a powerful thing, painful. People will modify their behavior to try to fit in, they’ll change their values. Or they’ll separate themselves and just refuse to have anything to do with people in general, people who have often rejected them.
I’ve just been pondering and observing the nature of tribes lately, the push to create equality, multi culturalism, versus human nature, the human need for belonging in small groups. While I am all for creating a more peaceful world, for some unity within the human family, as people we are really designed to exist within smaller tribes. When your world gets too big, like in cities for example, we shut down, we wind up living the fallen log in the forest syndrome, where we just step over one another as if people lying on the sidewalk were nothing more than fallen logs. It is not that we don’t care, it is that we can only care about a limited number of people within our circle, within our tribe.
I don’t have the answers, I don’t know how you fix it, but I think the concept of tribalism and the human need to belong to small groups needs to be recognized and acknowledged more. A big part of that begins with families, that is our first experience with the nature of tribes. As we dismantle the family more and more, and redefine marriage, we begin to lose that foundation for future relationships, we lose the skills for building tribes that become communities. Technology, world trade, this push to create one global world, also threatens to dismantle our innate instincts for tribal belonging and when healthy things are repressed they tend to manifest themselves in unhealthy ways.
You know I just can’t end a post without mentioning our Lord and Savior, friend of the fatherless, of orphans and widows and the lost, the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
historypresent said:
Brilliant. Thank you
LikeLiked by 1 person
gmgoetz said:
I love your closing line—“You know I just can’t end a post without mentioning our Lord and Savior, friend of the fatherless, of orphans and widows and the lost, the Lion of the tribe of Judah.”
Even though you will always mention our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, I just want to thank and encourage you. Without Jesus, we are nothing. As we surrender to Jesus, and follow Him, He will accomplish great things through us.
Christ’s Love. George.
LikeLiked by 1 person
insanitybytes22 said:
Thank you for your kind words and for your encouragement. It is much appreciated.
LikeLike
KIA said:
“So when you’re outside the tribe, rejection can be a powerful thing, painful. People will modify their behavior to try to fit in, they’ll change their values. Or they’ll separate themselves and just refuse to have anything to do with people in general, people who have often rejected them.”
—
Did you watch the video I posted or something? This literally applies to denominations and ‘tribes’ of christianity, and deconversion from said, and how people who leave churches or Christianity as a whole feel and are treated by those who who want to maintain that there is nothing wrong.
Please watch the video and continue this line of thinking. Apply it to christianity.
LikeLike
insanitybytes22 said:
I did not watch the video you posted, sorry. I actually have applied these concepts of tribalism to Christianity and also the ostracizing,the bullying that can happen even within the church, that can create a lot of spiritual abuse and division. Unfortunately, sin is a real thing in the world and these things are a part of human nature. People do leave churches, they leave faith itself because of how they are treated by other people.
However, there is still a unity among Christians that crosses all divisions, that rises above all the things that might separate us. When we look to the Lord for our faith rather than seeking the favor of other people, we can’t go wrong.
LikeLiked by 1 person
KIA said:
Please, I encourage you to watch the video I posted.
LikeLike
insanitybytes22 said:
It’s a really good video, Kia. I grew up around cults, totally secular cults, all these crazy new age ideas that were springing up in the 60’s. I’ve seen a lot of the indoctrination, authoritarianism, and psychological abuse that drives control, manipulation, abuse, and cult behavior. That is a part of the reason why I am such an outlier, a polemic in so many situations. That is also why I have such as sharp eye for cultian behavior on the internet.
However, as the book and the author says, not all tribes are cults, not all groups are about authoritarian control. Interestingly,the bible actually warns us about this, about the idolatry that can rise around false prophets, golden calves. Even Christ Himself asks us,why do you call me good? He also speaks of servant/leaders and addresses the issues that can arise. One could even say it was cultian behaviors that crucified Him.
Do Christian cults exist? Absolutely. And cultian behaviors can influence the culture at large. However, cults can also spring up around atheism, secularism, which is what I grew up with. It is something I still see happening where I live.
It’s somewhat amusing Kia, but I am the last person you will ever see marching along in lockstep or joining a cult. People who engage in cultian behavior can spot me immediately and I am instantly out of the group, deemed incorrigible. They’re quite right,too. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: Things I have read on the internet – 50 | clydeherrin
Paul said:
Very true IB, and I too have pondered this. The way we are using democracy is not quite right. Don’t get me wrong, I think democracy is the best political system humans have come up with yet, but it needs tweaking. We need to blend tribes into democracy somehow. Perhaps, instead of their being separate elections for city, state and nation, – we should vote for city reps who then vote for state who then vote for nation.Then everyone in the city would have the same representation. Or perhaps we could draw up new ridings and have each riding vote for city, state and nation.Then all neighbors would have the same political representation. That would give locals more power over their reps.. Those are just suggestions, but you are right, we need tribes and have to find a way to re-institute them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
insanitybytes22 said:
Hmm, interesting, Paul. In the US we do elect representatives from our area and than congresscritters from our state. In theory, they are supposed to represent their constituents. In theory.
Democracy can be a messy business,which is why we have a modified system, a republic. I’m all for local control, but I live in an area that is also all about local control, except the way it looks often makes me roll my eyes and wish someone would just send in the feds. 🙂
I totally agree however, we need to figure out how to blend tribes into politics at large. I suppose we’re always going to be trying to figure that one out.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Paul said:
When Canadian troops went into Afghanistan, the locals were saying that there was a new tribe in town – the Canadians. ha! Many companies leverage the dedication and commitment that employees have to tribes by encouraging them to think of the company as a tribe. The problem is, of course, that, unlike a tribe, the company has no dedication to the employees.
LikeLiked by 1 person
insanitybytes22 said:
Good points, Paul. In healthy business relations you have some tribalism going on. It can be kind of a problem when the company you work for has no sense of loyalty, reciprocity, towards employees. I work for such a company, we are disposable. Conversely however, they have a real problem getting and keeping good employees. So from a business perspective, it makes good sense to invest in and value your employees. Otherwise you have what we have, constant staff shortages, people praying they get injured on the job so they don’t have to work there anymore, people leaving the moment something better comes along. This situation suits me at the moment, but I am often thinking, you know, if you ladies just built some tribalism, created some team work, recognized the symbiosis between employers and employees, we could really be productive and far more profitable.
Ain’t going to happen, but I can see the potential there. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Paul said:
And do know what – I hate to say this but I am sure that no greedy CEO will have the guts to do it, so I’m safe. When you build a tribe out of the employees and company and treat everyone accordingly – i.e. with respect and commitment and with the benefit of the doubt, etc- the pay becomes immaterial to the employee. In other words, by being human the company gets the dedication and hard work at lower cost. I watched a documentary on an AIDS patent who was working for a high end clothier , selling to the rich and personal shopping for them – transporting their purchases to their homes and fitting them. The employee showed no symptoms and was not contagious except through sex -i.e. not a danger to anyone. The employer found out about the AIDS and fired the employee. The employee took it to the human rights commission and the employer refused to abide by the ruling in favor of the patient. The HR Commission asked the employee what they wanted -money, raise, buy-out, benefits, etc – and the employee said he only made minimum wage but he did not want a raise, all he wanted was to belong once again -to be a part of something greater than himself and recognized for it.
LikeLiked by 2 people
insanitybytes22 said:
Oh, that’s terribly sad, Paul! That’s really what we all want, to belong and to have a purpose. It can be really painful when that is stolen from you. Hard to recover from. On the bright side, it really is a matter of perspective, one has to find a new purpose, a new way of belonging, and sometimes to realize that those who cast you out were simply unworthy of you.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Susan Irene Fox said:
Quite an interesting and thought-provoking post, IB. It is sad that families don’t live near each other any more. That one hit a personal note for me. I am 65 and single, and my brother, nephews and grand-nieces and -nephews live an hour to seven hours driving distance away. We try to get together at Thanksgiving, but that’s about it. Since I too am an outlier, I feel quite lonely at times. Neighbors, Bible study and friends an fill some gaps, but family really is one’s innate tribe.
LikeLiked by 1 person
TT said:
Tribalism touches a nerve with me. I feel like it should be reserved for those that actually come from tribes. It is a sacred term. From my perspective, you don’t just ‘find your tribe’. Yet, at the same time, I guess we do in a way because we are all looking for a place to be loved and to belong. Great thoughts!
LikeLiked by 1 person
insanitybytes22 said:
That’s interesting, “a sacred term.” I suppose it is, I never really thought about it, but I think you’re right.
LikeLike
Salvageable said:
In the novel “Slapstick,” Kurt Vonnegut depicts the government assigning every citizen a new middle name, composed of a noun such as “the name of a fruit or nut or vegetable or legume…” etc., and a number from one to twenty. The purpose is to create tribes–people seeking out and helping others with the same middle name noun or the same middle name number. He imagined that it would be very effective in creating what he called “artificial relatives.” Vonnegut had no interest in Christianity. He said that the best artificial families in the United States were volunteer fire departments and Alcoholics Anonymous chapters. J.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Paul said:
As an aside IB, I did guest post over at Mark Bialczak’s https://markbialczak.com/2016/08/21/harry/ If you have time to drop by, I would be honored. Thank You
LikeLiked by 1 person
Desdi said:
God mentions tribes from Genesis to Revelation. Multi-culti Globalism attempts to eradicate tribal identities.
I just found this post of yours after reading Genesis 49. Deuteronomy 32 & 33 come to mind as well.
Very interesting post IB, thanks for writing.
LikeLiked by 1 person