Have you ever considered that the ‘civilized’ ways of the West are just camouflage for the ingrained tribalism of mankind? Animals are tribal…so, why
not humans? Well,we are! But now, in our intricately and elegantly
connected world, we may want to call it “neo-tribalism”. Whatever the descriptor, 'A hates B because A thinks he is superior' has been around for all of recorded history...and still is.
Before
you conclude this post is about the Middle East, it is only in
part. Tribalism is alive and well pretty much everywhere among most religions and backgrounds. We humans strongly relate to our tribal roots and are sometimes accepting
or tolerant of others…but not always. The patriotism we demonstrate for our now richly diverse countries masks the primal part of our humanity, our tribes.
Recently,
I had a ‘eureka moment’…a crystal clear vision when it struck me that, while
incredibly complex to unravel, the Middle East is actually quite simple. It’s entirely
about tribes. Here’s the dictionary definition of tribalism:
“loyalty to
a tribe or other social group especially when combined with strong negative feelings for people outside the group”.
Do you recognize any personal
tendencies? This is precisely the same driver that, through millennia, has seen
one group set upon another group, disparage it, and often engage it physically.
There is likely no single more identifiable target these days than the Jews.
After all, Judaism was the first monotheistic religion and has been around for
a very long time. The current conundrum facing us is that our western
nation-state mentality demands we intellectualize differences we prefer to
think come from the distant past, are quite rudimentary, and that draw on our
basest instincts whenever conflict rears its head…as it invariably does.
Intellectualizing tribalism is almost oxymoronic.
There
is nothing new, for example, about the ‘flavor’ of the tribalism that sets Muslim
Arabs against Jews in Gaza (Hamas). It's not really any different than the
tribalism that separates Shia and Sunni Muslims, or that causes ISIS to
crucify or behead Christians.
Writing
on American political tribalism, former US Secretary of Labor (under Clinton)
Robert Reich said this about tribalism generally…
Separatist movements have broken out all over — Czechs separating from
Slovaks; Kurds wanting to separate from Iraq, Syria, and Turkey; even the Scots
seeking separation from England.
Reich
points out that modern nation states are only a few hundred years old and that
prior to their creation, tribalism was an open matter of fact rather than a conveniently deniable one.
Nations are becoming less relevant in a
world where everyone and everything is interconnected. The connections that
matter most are again becoming more personal. Religious beliefs and
affiliations, the nuances of one’s own language and culture, the daily
realities of class…are providing people with ever greater senses of identity.
If you take issue with that last paragraph, just check out Facebook or Twitter. These and other social media provide incentive and empowerment to stick with your tribe and allow you to breach borders as communication so easily does.
Why are Israel and the Jewish people so internationally
pivotal that we hear more reporting on some ceasefire that's actually holding in Gaza than we do about tens
of thousands being massacred and butchered in Syria and Iraq?
My conclusion is that modern Israel is the ultimate Jewish symbol of success. It happens to be situated like an island in the middle of an ocean of failure in a region known contemporarily as the Middle East but
which was the starting point for modern man. The Jews have sustained more annihilation attempts against them than any other group/tribe in history...no surprise because
that’s what happens when you stick around for thousands of years. Add to
that the fact that Jews have a vastly disproportionate profile in the world compared with any other group. Jews
are a Caucasian sub-group numbering a scant 15-million total in a world
population of some 8-billion people – Jews are statistically irrelevant - but that’s
why statistics never reveal the complete truth.
Jews
are at once feared and envied. The fear comes from other ‘tribes’, none more
prolific or savage than fundamentalist Islam. Islam is burdened by the
dichotomy of the Qu’uran where it dually suggests that Jews are to be
considered as brothers, though indeed they are AND that Muslims
must eradicate all Jews from the earth. Why is there this fear factor? Well, what
if the opposing belief system suggests that Jews got something right because their God has never
failed them? That idea is also within the purview of non-Islamic Jew haters and has been seen the world over for centuries.
This
type of undercurrent is palpable among people of many religions who are so inculcated with their own tribal belief structure that they worry
about a non-existent Jewish mysticism to be feared or eliminated or both...but no such thing exists! And in 2014, with all of our education and communication, it doesn't matter. Jews
have excelled in the arts and the empirical sciences…medicine, physics,
chemistry, music, literature, banking, business, and education are all obvious
fields where Jews remain prominent. Is that to be applauded or mistrusted?
Are
there reasons to revile every Jew? Through the ages we have borne witness to the Spanish Inquisition, the Holocaust, Russian pogroms,
Jewish blame for Jesus’ Death, Christian ire for rejection of Jesus as Messiah, the
Crusades…and so much more. Why? Is the rift any different than what separated Hutu and Tutsi
tribes in Rwanda to a point that called for mass extermination of one side by
the other? What was the basis for ethnic purification in Kosovo or, even now, in
Sudan? Historically, tribes of North American aboriginals warred incessantly as
did tribes in the wilds of Australia and New Zealand…and still it is thus across
Africa. Mistrust, division over differences, need for superiority are all manifestations of tribalism and evident in all of these conflicts. Some have just lasted for a very long time.
This is not the diversity of humanity
we discuss intellectually over Chardonnay and claim to cherish in the West when we seek to resolve world conflict. It is facile to send an envoy from a neutral organization or from another country to “broker” peace amongst long warring tribes who really want only to eliminate an ancient foe. Tribal
alienation was and remains the driving force for mass violence on a world scale owing to irrational, ancient fears and the ultimate need for threat elimination.
When does this end? Let's ask the
Irish! Catholic and Protestant Christians killed and maimed each other for centuries until
people of good faith concluded that they had more similarities than
differences. And they grew tired of watching their loved ones and countrymen die for no
discernible reason. When people decide that raising a family securely, educating
young people, attracting industry and working in it for family sustenance are basic to making the best
of the 80 (or so) years we get, tribal differences might be set aside. I fear that, in some places on this planet, most people living in 2014 (even infants) will
never see that peace and security in a world where all human beings should
legitimately expect it.
Peter
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