Sunday, April 5, 2015

The positive side of tribalism


The numbers are overwhelming with 44% of adults in the US saying they go to church and only 11% still attending weekly.  This well overrepresented minority makes the headlines with silly legislation and protest about discrimination and intrusions into the private personal decisions of other people not in their tribe.  It is tribalism the same way the turmoil in the geopolitical world is tribalism.

Technically, for those who care, these beliefs are part of the human ecosystem or a display of cognitive capture or (for the BLS) the largest entertainment expenditure in the U.S. For the holiday weekend families (whatever that is in 2015) gather and declare truce from arguments that have endured generations to essentially celebrate springtime. Outdoor folk get the opening of trout season and of course gardeners can finally get dirt under their fingernails. Even the Paganists got a blood moon lunar eclipse.

Would that tribalists could be calm and tranquil more often.

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