Let the Tribe Decide

The easiest thing for people outside the tribe, is to decide what the tribe should do.

As we watch the Presidential race here in Romania, people talk to us about who they think we should vote for. :) Nice of them to be concerned, but it's our race, not theirs! CNN frequently features comments from people all over the globe who have an opinion about our politics. This was more amusing a few months ago when people thought that our race was between O'Bama and Clinton. We tried to explain to people that this was only a party race, the real one was still to come.

However, we watch leadership decisions in other countries with the same, if not more, interest. For example, right now the election in Zimbabwe has created international concern. It appears that the election was rigged. Should we intervene? If so, how? If we place a boycott, we hurt the people, not the president. Still, we are feeling honor-bound to at least complain.

Also in Darfur, we join other countries in complaining about the genocide and the refugees who are fleeing their homes from violence.

And of course there's Iran, our new old enemy. We definitely don't like the leadership there because we didn't choose them. The Ayatolla overthrew our favorite, the Shah, and quit talking to us. So now we feel invested in complaining about that leadership.

It's so easy to make decisions for others, to tell them how to run their tribe, to advise them on correct choices and actions. It's the easiest thing in the world to tell others what they should do.

In a recent issue of Newsweek (p. 108, July7/July14, 2008), Apo Gaga, the young Karmapa who is the Dalia Lama elect, was interviewed. This man, the age of my children, was identified at the age of seven as the incarnation of the next spiritual leader of Tibet. He fled the country when the Chinese attempted to capture him and gain control of the incarnation process. He has some reasons to dislike the Chinese and his circumstance. He said, when asked what we all should do about Tibet, "The most important thing is what Tibetans in Tibet think." When asked about the Chinese and how to deal with them, he said, "[China] belongs to the Chinese brothers and sisters. The world needs to give them more chances and opportunities to show their growth and express their views."

Gosh! Someone who isn't telling other tribes what to do! Well, he is a blessed leader.

Benefits of Tribalism: Shared History and Wisdom

One day, in the Surin Islands of the Indian Ocean, the ocean waters suddenly receded dramatically. The Moken, a tribe known as “sea gypsies”, and the dwellers of the Surin Islands, knew what to do. They knew, even though they had never seen such a phenomenon in their lifetimes. They knew to run from the ocean; to seek higher ground.

How did they know what to do? Their folklore includes tales of a “wave that eats people” and tells how to avoid the danger by fleeing from the ocean. These tales are told every year, especially during the spring rites.

When "the wave that eats people” came to their island on December 26, 2004, every Moken ran to high ground; not a single life was lost.

In contrast, relatives of the Moken who had moved to mainland Thailand, faced great disaster. In the mainland village of Taptawan, 40 residents were killed, another 100 injured, and another 100 missing.

”The village leader, Thiaw Saetha, said he remembered being told as a child to be wary when the ocean quickly retreated but never passed the knowledge on to his children.” Even though his people still lived by the ocean, the folktales had become mere tales to the Moken who left their island homeland.

Did the re-located Moken think their new circumstance protected them from danger? Did the tales now seem superstitious in the face of “modern” scientific knowledge and lifestyles? So many people could have been saved and protected if the tribe’s history and wisdom had been preserved and respected.

(The Sunday Denver Post , January 16, 2005, Pages 1A, 14-15 A.)

Other examples of tribal lore helping people or a tribe survive?

Quirky Tribes Friday: The Bobs

Introducing the Tribe of Bob. The Bob Tribe holds an annual convention and Bobs come from all over the world to meet and socialize with other Bobs. Only Bobs can officially belong and attend, although, obviously, spouses of Bobs are invited to Bob Conventions. Bobs can be in any size, shape or color. They can come from any religious affiliation or political leaning. They can have any job or no job. Nothing distinguishes one Bob from another in the Bob Tribe. All are equal members.

However, you cannot, repeat cannot, join the Bob Tribe if your name is not Bob. No matter how hard you may try, until you legally change your name, you cannot join. Once you make that name change – poof! – you are a Bob and may join the official Bob Tribe.

Why did the Bob Tribe ever get started?

Maybe the Bob Tribe started when a bunch of Bobs just wanted to belong to something and they had a name in common. The English-speaking world if full of Bob jokes, so maybe the Bobs joined forces as a show of solidarity against the jokesters. (I'll bet you hear a lot of very funny Bob jokes at a Bob convention.)

Certainly, the desire to belong to the Bob Tribe has grown and the Bob Tribe conventions get a lot a media coverage. I admit, I’m curious. What do all those Bobs talk about? Could I sneak in?

Anyone out there a member of the Bob Tribe? Can you tell us about this exclusive group? Do you know for sure how it all started?

If, as a reader of this blog, you know of other quirky tribes, let me know!

Why Tribes?

A recent Newsweek article talked about how we are being scared by so many things: economic collapse, global warming, immigrants, etc. It talks about how politicians use fear to sway our opinions. If we are afraid immigrants will hurt us, and a certain politician seems to understand the seriousness of this problem, maybe they are worth supporting to keep our worst fears from being realized.

I’ve been wondering, since I started thinking about tribes, why we are so tribal. Clearly, we are wired for tribe membership; it’s in our brains, and I presume our DNA. We MUST be with others of our own kind, and actively seek those others if we feel left out. But why? Why are we so incredibly hard wired to belong to tribes?

I think the answer may be --> fear.

As primitive people, we were always afraid. (Being afraid is not a new phenomenon, although journalists and politicians would have us think so.) We were afraid of wild animals, starvation, injury which could lead to infection and death, childbirth, floods, fire, cold weather, and other tribes. Our world was a scary place and we were vulnerable there.

Many paleontologists have proposed that we formed groups in order to be more effective at big projects, like hunting mammoths. However, the paleontological record is showing that mammoth hunting was rare. A person might participate in one of these hunts, successfully, once in their life (their life being about 20 years). Most of the food for primitive people came from hunting small game with nets (yes, nets!) and from local plants. Also, primitive people were not picky about eating grubs and worms, raw, if they were hungry.

Therefore, the notion that we would be wired for tribes just for the once-in-a-lifetime joy of killing and eating a mammoth, doesn’t fit with the current evidence. We are wired to belong to tribes all the time. We commit to tribal membership. Generally, we don’t just go to church once a year and call it our tribe; we join the church membership, get on the roster, and then go when we want. Most of us would not attend club meetings, say Rotary or Kiwanis, without an intent of actually joining. Who wants to go to meetings with a group that one does not officially belong to? Someone attends meetings because they want to be part of the program.

We join tribes, we don’t just gather with them occasionally.

If we think of primitive people as being constantly afraid, then commitment to a tribe starts to make a lot more sense. The group of humans is definitely stronger together than alone. Alone, we are weak, incompetent, clever, but probably dead. Together, we are fearsome animals. A group of humans is inventive. A tribe is strong and probably safe.

Fear has been shown to be one of the most powerful emotions that affects our decisions. Millions of talented people never use their talents because they are afraid of something. Almost everyone is more afraid of speaking in public than of dying! If you love to sing or dance or sculpt, and you’re afraid of speaking in public, chances are you’re not going to be very public about your art.

Also, fear keeps us at home, keeps us from leaving our towns, keeps us doing jobs we hate and in relationships we hate. Most people would rather face a known enemy within their tribe than an unknown enemy in another tribe. Better to stick with the spouse you don’t like any more, than face the dating scene again. ‘E gad!

It makes sense that fear, such a powerful part of the human psyche, would be the part that wires us for tribes.

Qirky Tribes Friday: The Goldwings

An interesting set of tribes are the motorcycle tribes. We all know those crazy Harley people motor off to some poor small town in North Dakota every year, but did you know there are OTHER motorcycle tribes?

We have friends who recently purchased a Honda Goldwing motorcycle. Suddenly, they were members of the Goldwing Tribe. The Goldwings hold ‘gatherings” (they eschew ‘conventions’) in order to meet and socialize with other Goldwings. Only owners of Honda Goldwings can officially belong to the Goldwing Tribe. Goldwing members can be any size, shape or color. They can come from any religious affiliation or political leaning. They can have any job or no job. Nothing distinguishes one Goldwing from another in the Goldwing Tribe. All are equal members.

However, you cannot, I repeat cannot, join the Goldwing Tribe if you do not own a Honda Goldwing motocycle. No matter how hard you may try, until you legally purchase that motorcycle, you cannot join. Once you make that purchase – poof! – you are a Goldwing and may join the official Goldwing Tribe.

Why did the Goldwing Tribe ever get started? Probably Goldwing owners started gathering to share maintenance tips and to talk about places they had been on their cool gold motorcycles. Now, at gatherings, members cheer about how great the Honda Goldwing motorcycle is and therefore how smart and special the people are who belong to the Goldwing Tribe. I’m sure the Honda company supports these Goldwing Tribe gatherings, because these are the product’s greatest fans.

Our friends have met some new friends through the Goldwing Tribe. I am glad for my friends, but I have no desire to join the Goldwing Tribe.

However, I must admit, for just a tiny moment, I wanted to be part of that Goldwing Tribe. It seemed my friends had found something special and I wanted to be part of that. I wanted to belong.

Anyone out there a member of the Goldwing Tribe? Willing to share what it's like?

Other quirky tribes anyone has heard of? Let me know!

Tribalism Everywhere

Imagine a sporting event; since I live in Colorado we’ll imagine a Broncos football game. A long line of fans stands in line to buy their tickets to watch the game. Now zoom in a little, that’s right, to the man in the red jacket. He’s standing with a little boy.

Let’s take a snapshot of this man.

• He is Scots-Irish – a condition he has absolutely no control over. This is just the group of ancestors that led to him. The ancestors even determine that his skin is pale, his hair is reddish, and his eyes are hazel.
• He is a Campbell – again, a condition he has no control over. This was the family name of his parents when he was born. He has not chosen to change his birth name.
• He is a Broncos fan. He happens to be a Bronco fan because he lives in Denver and everyone in Denver is a Bronco fan. (Well at least 98.9% of the people who live in Denver are Broncos fans.)
• Therefore, he probably also lives in Denver. (However, there are many former Denver residents who are still Bronco fans. Ask them!)
• He also probably lives in Colorado, and is a citizen of the United States of America. He calls himself an American.
• He works as a maintenance supervisor at a hospital.
• He belongs to a church (you can choose which one) or a civic club (again, you choose) or an informal social club (beer drinking, auto polishing, hunting, you get the idea).
• He received a college degree so he is an alumnus of a state college, I’ll choose my favorite, Adams State College.

This man belongs to many groups. He feels a sense of belonging with all of them, even if he doesn’t like them much (such as the Campbells). He has chosen to belong to the club of Bronco fans, the alumni of ASC, the church or civic club or informal social club. He did not choose his family heritage, and apparently he is content with his family name because he did not choose to change it. People all over the world, if we look at a similar snapshot, are similar to this man.

Because this blog is about tribes, let’s name his groups ‘tribes’ and see what tribes he belongs to. He belongs to the tribe of Scots-Irish, Campbells, Broncos, Americans, Coloradoans, maintenance workers, supervisors, medical personnel, and college alumni. He may also belong to the tribe of Methodists or Catholics or Hasidic Jew; the tribe of Kiwanis, Rotary, Optimists, Lions, Elks, or Oddfellows; or the tribe of fellows who gather at that one corner bar to drink beer, or that meet at someone’s garage to discuss the latest auto polishing secrets, or that always plan that best hunting trip ever.

There he is, just standing in line, and he belongs to all these tribes! We all belong to multiple tribes. Every one of us in every corner of the planet.

My project about tribes started when I heard a news report about Africa. The reporter was explaining the terrible violence between two ‘tribes’, and there was an undertone of judgment: These poor folks just live in ‘tribes’, and we do not anymore. Clearly, if they were not in ‘tribes’, they would not be fighting like this. They would be civilized.

I thought, “That doesn’t seem fair; to judge these folks as ‘uncivilized’ just because they live in ‘tribes’ and to assume that we are ‘civilized’ and do not live in ‘tribes’.” Isn’t this a question of semantics? Why do those people live in ‘tribes’ but I live in a ‘nation’?

At that moment, an epiphany: We all, every single one of us, live in tribes.

Yes, every single one us: born to the breed, born to the race, born to the species. We live in tribes. We start in tribes, we thrive in tribes, we select tribes, we participate in tribal ceremonies. We are tribal creatures. Our bodies are wired for tribalism, our brains are wired for tribalism, our social fabric is wired for tribalism.

We sort ourselves into tribes. It’s behavior we can’t help. We want to be with others who are special, separate, different. We want to belong to a team and to be able to cheer for them. We want to join up with people who have similar interests to our own. Many times, the tribal boundaries are based on one simple element, such as a name or job description, or even a special product.

Now, let’s take a snapshot of this man’s son.

• He is Scots-Irish and Zulu – a condition he has absolutely no control over. This is just the group of ancestors that led to him. The ancestors even determine that his skin is light brown, his hair is reddish, and his eyes are hazel.
• He is a Campbell – again, a condition he has no control over. This was the family name of his parents when he was born. He has not chosen to change his birth name, and one would argue, as a child, he doesn’t really have the choice to change his name.
• He is a Broncos fan. He happens to be a Broncos fan because his father is a Broncos fan and the son enjoys being with his father.
• He probably lives in Denver and definitely with his parents, which makes being a Broncos fan pretty easy.
• He also lives in Colorado, and is a citizen of the United States of America. He calls himself an American.
• He goes to an elementary school in his neighborhood.
• He belongs to boy scouts and a soccer team.
• (He doesn’t tell anyone, but he also takes jazz dancing lessons.)

Again, the son belongs to as many groups as his father. (He doesn’t know that his dad was the best tap dancer in the 6^th grade, and this is why Dad did not object to jazz dancing lessons.)

List all the tribes you belong to. Then double the list. You’ll be surprised how tribal you are!

The Beginning

I'm setting up this blog in order to toss out to the greater world my thoughts about "tribes", the groups we all belong to and that we love and hate.

My topic is "tribes". I am fascinated with the way groups function, how they interact with each other, and how they affect the individuals who belong. I look at tribes on a microscopic level (like the nuclear family) and the macroscopic level (like the world's countries).

My theory, at least today, is that if we can gain an understanding of how we as humans function tribally, we may be able to successfully tackle some of the world's worst conflicts. Mighty big order, I know!

I'll post occassionally, and I welcome discussion of the ideas I propose. Sometimes, a person left alone with their own thoughts, begins to think that everyone thinks like them. This blog is my effort to get beyond my own thinking and hear what others might think.