A Better Tribalism
There’s been a lot said about tribalism lately, mostly bad. I’m not a sports guy, but when I listen to sports fans, I see our tribalistic tendencies at work (by the way, you know the word “fan” is short for “fanatic: a person exhibiting excessive enthusiasm and intense uncritical devotion toward some controversial matter.”) But the truth of the matter is that humans may have very well been designed as tribal creatures. The oldest communities, the ones closest to the earth are almost all tribal. Jesus grew up in a tribal community; the Hebrews were a profoundly tribal people. Even modern, urban people are born into tribes. We call them extended families.
We cannot and should not escape the gravitational pull toward tribalism. We all need to belong to a community with whom we strongly identify.
What we want to avoid is toxic tribalism, that tendency to use our belonging to one group as grounds for attacking the other tribes. In America that has become most evident in the Donkey Tribe versus the Elephant Tribe (as I think about it, neither animal is particularly gracious or regal).
When people randomly compare themselves favorably over and against another person, we recognize their insecurity. There is a wound there, some sort of brokenness and they are desperately trying to address. An inferiority complex which the wound has produced. I see that in the toxic-tribalist when they use up so much energy putting another tribe down or promoting their tribe. I wonder who will help them explore that hidden wound causing them to compare themselves so unreasonably well and denigrate the other so mercilessly. Instead of healing, that wound gets punched by a rival tribe member. It will never heal if that keeps happening.
The answer is not to convince someone to leave their tribe, it’s to call ourselves to a better tribalism. A tribalism where we celebrate the good things about our tribe and lament the shadow side, the violent past, the arrogance and the hate our tribe has perpetuated. We can love our tribe and lament its sins. We can take pride in our tribe while calling it to a higher standard, and calling out our leaders with grace and truth. We can even love our tribe while celebrating things about other tribes.
Tribalism doesn’t have to be toxic. Let’s not eliminate our sense of belonging to these beautiful, broken, fallible communities. Let’s just work toward a better tribalism – whether political party, religious affiliation, national identity or even sports team. Let’s embrace a tribalism where we recognize the differences, appreciate our community, and see the merits in the other. We need to belong, we just need to stop inflaming the wounds in other tribes and ignoring our own.