WHY MUST WE BE TRIBAL?
WASHINGTON, D.C. – January 15, 2019 – Last night I attended what was for me the second Civil Dialogue event at the Arena Stage Theater in Washington, DC. It is a free event, that provides the people of D.C. an opportunity to hear a diverse selection of experienced and informed panelists discuss their views on society and political issues. The idea for these dialogues came about as a response to the increasing noise in social media that is becoming more and more uncivil, and full of disinformation.
Last night’s topic was, “Why must we be tribal”, and it was for me a very timely one. It was really good to see that not only was the event well attended – every seat was taken – but that although the speakers were older, the audience comprised people from college students to retirees. In fact, one of the most esteemed speakers, Amitai Etzioni, was celebrating his 90th birthday.
As a professor of International Relations at George Washington University, senior advisor at the Carter administration, who also taught at Columbia, Harvard and University of California at Berkeley, and president of the American Sociological Association, Amitai Etzioni is ranked as one of the top 100 American intellectuals. He has also written several books, including his most recent, “Happiness is the Wrong Metric: A Liberal Communitarian Response to Populism”. Another member of the panel, Isabel Sawhill, is a senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institute.
On to the discussion: basically this was about how we have a need as human beings to be part of a community, and how being isolated causes not only health and mental problems, but impacts society negatively. The community needs to grow and to reach out to become part of wider communities to foster greater cooperation, not only in a city, state or country, but eventually worldwide. We see this in local community groups of activists, artists, support groups, then local government, state and main government. Groups like the British Commonwealth, the EU, and trade organisations form the wider world community, and gradually we are all becoming a part of these, and the benefits of being members and being tribal grow.
It was a very interesting discussion, and very pleasing to see that when the audience was given the opportunity to ask questions, the majority of those came from college students. It was also a great experience to listen to a discussion that was held without people yelling and hurling insults at one another for having different opinions. The younger members of the audience held the older panelists in high regard and valued their input. The panelists also treated the young students with respect, and I came away from the event feeling that my time had been well spent.
Then I went home and turned on my computer, and logged in to Facebook. How very sad it is to find that on social media so many people are anything but civil to one another. A person stating their social media has become the anti-community, and has created tribalism of a different sort – them against us. I absolutely will not be drawn into any public political discussion on Facebook, especially when I see that disinformation is being used as the main weapon. You cannot have a civil dialogue with someone who is name-calling and spreading lies and rumours about the individual that they disagree with.
Everyone in politics has an agenda. But when that agenda is to divide, misinform, and attempt to destroy another person’s point of view using character assassination, then the community suffers, and is in jeopardy. No useful discussion can be continued. So if you are a stranger and you inbox me and basically threaten to start causing trouble on a post that someone I am close to has written, not even my opinion, don’t expect me to respond. Nothing good can come out of this. There can be no progress without respectful dialogue, and in this world that is fraught with conflicts, we should be doing more to try to bring people back together, not tearing one another down. History shows that where there was conflict, only one side wins. Where there is diplomacy and community everyone wins. This is why tribalism is so important for communities to function and work together.
