It is natural to love ones most like us. To trust ones most like us. It is natural to put blood first. To put tribe first. An outsider may not share our ways, anyway, we don't know his people or who he is. How do we know he is not outcast? A pariah, accursed and exiled - or even, fled from his tribe, because of his evil deeds or bad beliefs? It is natural not to trust such a one.
Of course, one can seek initiation, and be adopted, and eventually earn trust, and become one of us. But trust is withheld until those tokens of trustworthiness - whatever they may be - are tendered and accepted.
The history of civilization has been the history of the ever-widening tribe. The expansion of the group, that sacred "us" for whom one is expected to feel tribal affiliation. From nomad clan to village. Village to feudal unit. Feudal unit to autonomous state, or to empire - with many intermediate stages in-between, shading into each other. But with the rise of polyglot nations, and of intellectual trends that cut across lines of nationality, the old bonds of nationalist or regionalist patriotism have largely given way. We find ourselves living estranged from our neighbors, many of whom are Not Like Us, and we realize that the attempt to take the old, blood-deep natural ties of tribe and stretch them to the lengths and breadths of nations was distorted and artificial anyway. Besides, haven't we grown beyond all that?
We'd like to think we have.
Our new tribes are ideological. We define who we are by where we stand. We know we are right. Therefore we know the other is wrong - has not even the possibility of being right; their basis is invalid. The other is not a person; the other is the problem.
In fact, nothing can be more hateful to us than to actually meet an other! Most of the demonization of the other takes place at a faceless distance. To meet a person who seems human, and intelligent, and caring - and then suddenly, they say the wrong thing! Catastrophe! We realize what they ARE. They aren't human, intelligent or caring - they are THE PROBLEM. Certainly, we know people like them exist. We know that all of them are either stupid or evil, and we hate being confronted with one of them who seems intelligent or decent. It flies in the face of our conviction. We need to believe the enemy is evil (or stupid). The enemy must be evil (or stupid) - just look at what they believe! They don't believe as we do! And what we believe IS IMPORTANT! There may be no more important issue than this!
And there they stand: they are opposed. Opposed to everything we know is right, and true, and self-evident. And they persist in their wicked belief, their wicked opposition, and we want nothing to do with them! Not to talk with them, not to hear them spout their wrong views so plainly and innocently, as if that will convince us! - we don't even want to see their stupid faces. We wish someone would come along in a very big truck, and take them away, and leave us a better world.
All of this is very natural. It is natural to want to bond with ones like us. To love first ones most like us. To trust first ones most like us. It is natural to put blood first. To put tribe first.
Nothing can be wrong with any of that.
Of course, one can seek initiation, and be adopted, and eventually earn trust, and become one of us. But trust is withheld until those tokens of trustworthiness - whatever they may be - are tendered and accepted.
The history of civilization has been the history of the ever-widening tribe. The expansion of the group, that sacred "us" for whom one is expected to feel tribal affiliation. From nomad clan to village. Village to feudal unit. Feudal unit to autonomous state, or to empire - with many intermediate stages in-between, shading into each other. But with the rise of polyglot nations, and of intellectual trends that cut across lines of nationality, the old bonds of nationalist or regionalist patriotism have largely given way. We find ourselves living estranged from our neighbors, many of whom are Not Like Us, and we realize that the attempt to take the old, blood-deep natural ties of tribe and stretch them to the lengths and breadths of nations was distorted and artificial anyway. Besides, haven't we grown beyond all that?
We'd like to think we have.
Our new tribes are ideological. We define who we are by where we stand. We know we are right. Therefore we know the other is wrong - has not even the possibility of being right; their basis is invalid. The other is not a person; the other is the problem.
In fact, nothing can be more hateful to us than to actually meet an other! Most of the demonization of the other takes place at a faceless distance. To meet a person who seems human, and intelligent, and caring - and then suddenly, they say the wrong thing! Catastrophe! We realize what they ARE. They aren't human, intelligent or caring - they are THE PROBLEM. Certainly, we know people like them exist. We know that all of them are either stupid or evil, and we hate being confronted with one of them who seems intelligent or decent. It flies in the face of our conviction. We need to believe the enemy is evil (or stupid). The enemy must be evil (or stupid) - just look at what they believe! They don't believe as we do! And what we believe IS IMPORTANT! There may be no more important issue than this!
And there they stand: they are opposed. Opposed to everything we know is right, and true, and self-evident. And they persist in their wicked belief, their wicked opposition, and we want nothing to do with them! Not to talk with them, not to hear them spout their wrong views so plainly and innocently, as if that will convince us! - we don't even want to see their stupid faces. We wish someone would come along in a very big truck, and take them away, and leave us a better world.
All of this is very natural. It is natural to want to bond with ones like us. To love first ones most like us. To trust first ones most like us. It is natural to put blood first. To put tribe first.
Nothing can be wrong with any of that.
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