The worsening phenomenon of tribalism
Paul Fidalgo has an interesting piece in Free Inquiry (where he is now the editor-in-chief).
Tim Minchin Reaches across the Algorithmic Chasm
Nice title, too.
In a “lecture” portion of his show recently posted online, which is introduced as being a “TED Talk” on confirmation bias, Minchin (winner of CFI’s 2021 Richard Dawkins Award) teases apart what he sees as the worsening phenomenon of tribalism, wherein the political right has come to hold bewilderingly absolutist, contradictory, nonsensical, and bigoted beliefs, while progressives have turned on themselves, creating an endless fractal of mini-tribes that are constantly ejecting their members over increasingly minor ideological infractions.
Also over what I would consider not infractions at all. Progressives have lost their grip on the difference between reality and fiction lately. Progressives now queue up to denounce people for not believing other people’s fantasies – which is a weird thing to denounce. It’s weird when it’s religion and it’s weird when it’s ideology.
This is something I think about all the time, particularly from the position of someone who runs a secular humanist publication that is literally called “Free Inquiry.” It has to be okay to ask hard questions and to have a healthy skepticism of the beliefs held by those even within our own “tribes.” Just as it’s important to speak out against what is false, harmful, and wrong, it must also be okay to be wrong in the first place so that one can feel free to learn and grow.
Which doesn’t mean you have to be wrong about everything all the time, like Trump.
You don’t even necessarily have to be wrong about anything, but you have to acknowledge the possibility you may be wrong. And be prepared for the uncertainty of never knowing for sure if you are right.
That seems to be nearly impossible for many people, to assume ideas they believe strongly might be wrong. Of course I think what I believe is right; if I didn’t think that, I wouldn’t believe it. That blinds human brains to a lot of other possibilities. Being open to recognizing you might be wrong, even in areas where you are completely committed (such as, what if I’m wrong that females can do math? Actually, since I am female and I can do math, that might be a hard one to convince me on, but as a ‘what if’? It’s hard to imagine being wrong about that…but I have to be willing to admit it’s possible, and that the numerous women I know who can do math may be exceptions).
I often hear people talk about how most people are hardest on their own ideas; that hasn’t been my experience. Most people will defend their ideas loudly while dismissing the ideas of others as mistakes at best, hatred at worst (or maybe genocide at worst, since it’s worse than mere hatred).
iknklast @#1:
I think you are on the money there.
Academia has a reputation of being something of a crocodile-infested swamp, where survival of the most assertive and thickest-skinned is the rule, and they go over each others’ work looking for nits to pick and to proclaim to all & sundry in their field or outside of it as well; which is why their own statements are commonly very cautious and hedged around with all sorts of qualifications and escape hatches.
Also, as the name of the game is to become the world authority in one’s field, those fields tend to contract at the same time as the numbers within them increase. As one academic once put it to me: “you finish up knowing everything about nothing.”
In life generally there are two ways of building up one’s own sense of self-worth: 1. by achieving something worthwhile in one’s own estimation/right, or 2. by putting others down; which is the way of the egotist. The trap for the egotist is that when he or she trips and falls flat on his or her face, it usually gets a laugh and a cheer.
This definitely resonated with me. I, too, have a political tribe. And in some sense I am no different than anyone else. My tribe is the right one and the other one isn’t. But the difference is that I identify as a Democrat, for instance, not because I am convinced they are 100% correct, but because they might be more correct than the other side. I think argument within the tribe is healthy, contrary to a lot of tribalists. I was on a political message board for a long time that I THOUGHT used to be like that, but it turns out that if you are not on board with Clinton/Obama/Biden 100% of the time, you are not allowed there. Criticism of them was hardly allowed. Giving aid and comfort to the enemy or some such. Fiine, it’s a private site; I don’t really care.
This did not make me a Republican or a Libertarian or even an Independent but just made me stop posting on that site. At some point I woke up and realized that people are allowed to be wrong about things. Even big things. We should be allowed to disagree with members of our own tribe without being cast out. We should listen to opposing ideas without shouting them down. We used to be able to do that (at least to some degree) but not anymore. I don’t think “transwomen are women” so I must not be a real progressive. I also don’t think GMOs are dangerous and that hunting and fishing (if managed correctly) are perfectly fine activities for some people (not for me because I can’t be bothered). Those and other contrarian ideas should cancel me within the progressive community. But it should not be like this.
I think one of the most important questions that one can ask when confronted with ideas that don’t make sense from our perspective, is “What am I missing?”
It’s generally my first assumption, that I’ve missed something, based on the experience of being wrong so many times when I knew for certain I was right. (Like the time I insisted that Staten Island is east of Manhattan. That was embarrassing.) I learned a lesson about listening to New Yorkers on the subject of the five boroughs, and that I can be a real egotist at times.
I should cite that self-described “stable genius” Donald Trump as an example of an egotist who went berserk when he did not get his way, and threw a tantrum of massive proportions (on Jan 6 2021) for which he is on-course to finish up in the clink.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTtOvUvhs2I
Mike, I agree with you (my brother once insisted Walla Walla was the capitol of Washington, and doubled down when it was demonstrated to be untrue; I hope I don’t do that sort of thing, but I can’t be sure I don’t).
On that note, though, I do not tolerate the media whizzes scolding me because I do not sympathize with neo-Nazis and white supremacists, urging me to understand that they really believe that. Sure. I know that. I don’t need to sit down and have cozy talks with them to know they think the world is screwed up. And I don’t need to be sympathetic.
I see a lot of people on this site having the same struggle I have often: considering the other side’s position fairly, vs. knowing when you’ve done that and can conclude they are just plain wrong. Knowing when to quit listening, and when to start giving voice to your own side is as crucial, and there are so many people shouting at us – the woke AND the moderates, who want us to be sympathetic with unsympathetic people – to just listen to THEIR side.
I find it very easy to slip into tribalism these days. I try not to, but I’m afraid I probably do it quite a bit.
Iknklast, I hope that whenever you think your brother is wrong about something you fake cough into your hand and mutter “Walla-Walla.”
Amy, I was kicked off a certain leftist site I had commented on for a decade for disagreeing with trans dogma. There are a few holy articles of belief on the left, and some of them are just plain counterfactual.
Walla-Walla Wash and Kalamazoo.
Iknklast wrote:
There are those who try not to slip into tribalism but occasionally fail, and those who try not to slip into tribalism but fail just a bit more than that. Wankers.
Hahahahaha
Similar to my experience. I’ve also been told that I can’t possibly be on the left because I am not a vegan or even a vegetarian, and because I am open to Australia opening a nuclear power plant.
Pogo fan spotted at #8.
I like the way Fidalgo ended the article:
Yes, exactly. We have to be prepared to learn from others. Not dismiss all disagreement as “hate speech”. Not assume “if they just educated themselves they’d agree with me”.
@Holms. Same here.
I often describe myself as so far Left that I scare Karl Marx.
I oppose nuclear power on cost/benefit grounds, tolerate vegetarians, loathe vegans (far too pure), think Katherine Deeves is right about gender while being wrong about most other things, and am heartily disappointed we now have a Liberal Light government instead of one riding the social justice horse for all its worth.
I think Sall Grover is a Shero and the Queensland Government can get in the bin over gender self-ID, along with Tasmania and its war on Lesbians.
I want cancelled submarines and better health care, an end to negative gearing and increased welfare payments, the expulsion of all US bases and a truly independent foreign policy, Norwegian-style taxes on extractive industries and free Universities, and finally, an end to all government funding for non government schools and a Finnish style education system.
Finally, would it be too much to see Fauziah Ibrahim in the stocks and get my ABC back?
@8,
Poor Nora. Won’t somebody get her a blanket?