Monday, October 17, 2016

Well Informed 2.0- Tribalism and Terrorism

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, tribalism is "strong in-group loyalty" and "loyalty to a tribe or other social group especially when combined with strong negative feelings for people outside the group." A tribe is basically just an organization or culture with similar beliefs and values. A tribe in itself is not a bad thing; we are all part of many tribes, such as our families, gender, race, sexuality, town/community, church, school, work, etc. However, when tribalism becomes extreme it can be the cause of so many problems in societies. There is not a problem with being proud of and loyal to a tribe until that loyalty overrides reason and morals. 

So many conflicts in history and in our daily lives can be traced back to tribalism, "[t]hink of the inhuman things we do in the name of tribal unity. Wars are essentially, and often quite specifically, tribalism. Genocides are tribalism - wipe out the other group to keep our group safe – taken to madness. Racism that lets us feel that our tribe is better than theirs, parents who end contact with their own children when they dare marry someone of a different faith or color, denial of evolution or climate change or other basic scientific truths when they challenge tribal beliefs. What stunning evidence of the power of tribalism!" (Ropeik).

Terrorist attacks are often because of tribalism (e.g. Hitler, ISIS, etc.). An example of tribalism and terrorism that comes to my mind is the Rwandan genocide in 1994, in which radical Hutus killed nearly one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus. This is the perfect example ethnocentrism and tribalism turning into terrorism. The radicals and leaders of the Hutus believed and taught that they were superior to Tutsis so they decided to exterminate them along with anyone who disagreed with them. 

To avoid tribalism turning into terrorism, people must put their morals before their loyalty to the group. I do not think it is ever good for a person or group to become radical or extreme because it becomes nearly impossible for them to stay in touch with reality and realize that they are not better than those who are different from them. 


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2 comments:

  1. itsnikkimoonOctober 23, 2016 at 5:43 PM

    I agree with you very much. In my intercultural class we talk about these in-groups a lot and while there are definitely some benefits to groups and culture that comes with them, we are all humans that deserve equal rights and treatment. I really liked your comments about the morals. It's not easy to stray from your group or openly disagree a lot of the time, but we shouldn't let this stop ourselves from doing what's right.

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    1. alisonwittOctober 24, 2016 at 9:38 AM

      It is hard to balance being proud and loyal to a group while still being open minded to others. I liked your point about not letting in-group ties stop someone from doing what is right ethically. Many of my communications classes have talked about groupthink and I think it relates to tribalism because when people are afraid to speak up, sometimes corrupt people and ideas can rise to the top and take over the group.

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