Make the World a Better Place: Good Tribalism vs. Bad Tribalism

A lot of people are suffering right now. I think at root it is tribalism. Us vs them.

We could say it is smart vs stupid, but then we look at the smart people and they're doing a different version of the same.

There are a lot of problems in the world right now. People are hurting, whether that is being left behind, being socially isolated, or being not heard. A bunch of poor decisions in a time of weakness have compounded.

Because people are hurting, they are just trying to survive. Generally that increases selfish behavior, which makes people focus on themselves, or their family, or their community. This is at the expense of others. In other words, tribalism.

And of course the us vs them dynamic makes it all worse and reinforces the problems instead of people working together on solutions. A house divided is a very weak house.

So there are many problems, but I don't think any of them get solved before we escape the tribalism. Just look at Africa or the Philippines, which are both profoundly tribal, and you see the vicious cycle.

So for me, it starts with fighting that tribal, selfish instinct within myself. Being that change and modeling it for others is all I can do. Eventually, slowly, it will change the direction of the ship. But I also am resetting my expectations, because this problem took years to create and it will take years to solve; it could take generations.

Somewhere along the line we let down our guard and forgot that being selfish is a bad thing. This will take time to fix, especially because the root cause isn't yet fully understood.

So until then, I just play my part and refuse selfishness and tribal thinking even when others insist upon it.