A Deeper Look at Tribalism
Tribalism shows up everywhere. It is so widespread that people take it for granted, without really understanding what the Tribal lens is really about.
To be tribal is to be a proud member of a group. It means identifying with other people and wanting to protect and defend them.
Soldiers in battle don’t fight for ideas, ideals, or even for their homeland. They fight for their brothers in arms -- their tribe. The camaraderie of team sports offers another clear example.
At its best, a tribal worldview lends itself to a warrior’s heroics. A soldier throws himself on a grenade to protect his squad. Athletes lay their bodies on the line to help their team. The tribe is bigger than any individual, and that is ennobling.
But the immediate downside of the tribal lens is that there must be an out-group. The tribe defines itself in opposition to somebody. That might be necessary in war, but it creates problems in a modern society.
To see this point, look no farther than today’s racial politics. The very notion of race is based on a tribal perspective. What is race, after all? People point to skin pigmentation, hair type, cultural traits, and more. None of these really capture the essence of race.
In the end, race is simply about identifying (the self, or the other) with groups. They can be in-group (your own) or out-group (a different tribe). But once you’re seeing the world as a division of competing identity groups, you’re seeing the world through the tribal lens. The concept of identity politics might just be another way of describing the tribal lens.
The Black Lives Matter movement shows several clear examples of tribal perspective. First, the movement specifically identifies itself with black lives. Of course, there are many good reasons for this, but it’s significant that the movement creates a clear differentiation between the in-group and the out-group. This movement seeks to defend black lives.
The BLM movement exists to defend the group from an external threat. This desire to defend and protect the group (the tribe) shows the positive side of a tribal worldview.
At its best, a tribal worldview lends itself to a warrior’s heroics. A soldier throws himself on a grenade to protect his squad. Athletes lay their bodies on the line to help their team. The tribe is bigger than any individual, and that is ennobling.
Unfortunately, the care associated with defending a tribe looks very different to other tribes. In the case of BLM, there are at least two other groups that feel very threatened by this movement to defend black lives.
For BLM activists, the most important external threat is the police. This makes sense, since police killings of black Americans have been the inspiration and the fuel for the entire BLM movement.
Seen through the tribal lens, it’s easy to see how the police are a tribe too. They wear a uniform that sets them apart from other people. Their work is dangerous and requires a high degree of trust and cooperation. Police are known for the blue wall of silence that keeps them from speaking out about misconduct by fellow offers. That’s all about protecting their tribe.
The BLM movement seeks to protect one tribe (blacks) in America by diminishing the power of another tribe (the police). BLM activists have many valid points about mistreatment, and their emphasis on tribal perspective means that, unfortunately, other tribes will be equally motivated in opposition.
As a tribe, the police do not want to be demonized. They see themselves as the good guys, doing a tough job, for little pay, for the benefit of society. They see calls to defund their departments as direct attacks on their tribe.
There are a lot of white people in the United States who see the world primarily through the tribal lens. They feel threatened by BLM. Many people are tempted to assume that these white tribalists are just racist and wrong, but that would be a mistake. An identity built around being white is no different than one that centers on being black. It’s just another group identity.
And when one group makes a play for power, other groups are going to feel threatened. In the case of BLM, the police are typically seen by both black and white tribalists as allies of the white tribe. So when BLM activists portray police as the bad guys, white tribalists rally to defend their allies, the police.
Thus we can clearly see tribalism at work in the case of the Black Lives Matter movement. It’s a case of black tribalists vs white tribalists and the police tribe.
