(WRITER’S NOTE: These are musings from seven years ago. I find them worthy of re-posting here on Substack because much of it has come to pass. The so-called Alt-Right that I referenced has morphed and metastasized into the MAGA movement. And America has become increasingly more trial.)
I have long believed that the fundamental organizing condition of human beings is tribalism. It has always been 'us' and 'them.' I think it will always be such. It's an instinct.
The Left does not fully understand the power of tribes. Progressives want egalitarianism - equal rights, equal opportunities. Progressives want universalism - tolerance for all cultures, respect of all points of view. Progressives want integration - diverse communities living together in peace and understanding. All of that runs counter to tribalism.
Today I was reading about the principles of the so-called 'Alt-Right,' which is a movement underpinned by the concept of traditionalism. A few lines from an article by Brietbart writers Allum Bokhari and (ugh) Milo Yiannopoulos struck me as powerfully insightful. They wrote that natural conservatives "instinctively prefer familiar societies, familiar norms and familiar institutions." The chief concern of that group is "the preservation of their own tribe and culture." The writers assert that those people "want their own communities, populated by their own people and governed by their own values."
Those perceptions ring true. Those are sentiments that are growing around the world. They are foundational to racial, religious, ethnic and cultural conflicts. They are tribal. While it appears that the moral curve of history is bending toward liberalism and globalism, it is in fact, moving politically towards traditionalism and nationalism. To repeat my point, we are becoming increasingly tribal.
Stephen Bannon is a voracious reader of history. He understands the over-arching movements of the past and present both intellectually and intuitively. He has capitalized on this world-wide upheaval by attaching himself to a malleable populist leader whom he can manipulate and thus be a central player in an historic disruption. Bannon sees the long game, sees his place in history, sees his role in what he perceives as global clashes of cultures, impending vicious battles between Judea-Christian institutions and Islamic jihadism, between corporate cronyism and populist unrest.
While progressives are distracted by the daily outrageous statements and actions of an inept and insulting president, Bannon is working on the big picture, the remaking of the world.
There are, however, more mundane and provincial political and economic forces with which Bannon has to contend. There is the 'Unified Republican Government,' long in the pocket of wealthy conglomerates, who now have a political monopoly and are emboldened to put in place policies that they have always advocated.
And there is entrenched corporate America, with its influencers peppered throughout world governments, that will always have its own profit-making as its primary interest, regardless of the world view of any national leader or his or her puppeteer.
And, there is the resistance, the "instinctive liberals" and progressives who Bokhari and Yiannopoulos say are "comfortable with diversity, promiscuity, homosexuality and all other features of the cultural consensus."
Well, that cultural consensus is marching in the streets in opposition to the Trump kleptocracy and oligarchy. They are being heeded about individual outrages and are winning some tactical legal battles. But are they winning or losing the long game, Bannon's attempt at disrupting and overturning the prevailing world order?
We on the Left rightly speak out against the racism, homophobia and misogyny we see on the Right. We stand up against intolerance, inequality, discrimination and voter suppression. We fight for justice and opportunity. We want our feelings to be respected. We want our voices to be heard. But, we are missing another message from the Right. They say, "Fuck your feelings. I'm being put upon."
We are deaf and blind to a point of view that has been brewing and building under the radar. We are deaf and blind to the tribalism of a large segment of our citizenry which doesn't care about immigrant rights or gay marriage or safe spaces or 'political correctness.' They care about their own jobs, their own families, their own places of worship - their tribes. They are defending 'their feelings,' which they believe are under attack.
We can and should continue to assert our morality, our honor of individual rights and diverse communities. We can proudly display the flags of our tribes, our community of tribes. But that other tribe sees those displays as denigration of their deeply-held beliefs. They have been banding together quietly and effectively and they have just taken power in Washington.
While we have been basking in the glow of our 'post-racial' president for eight years and celebrating the cultural and social progress being advanced across the country, that other tribe has slowly and surely built a power base. They found a voice in a bombastic, fearless, establishment-bashing, politically incorrect populist who said he spoke for them, voiced their unheard concerns of victimization, rightly or wrongly perceived, justly or unjustly espoused.
There has always been tribalism. It is becoming more apparent and polarized than I have ever witnessed in my lifetime. There is a real culture shift underway in the world. We need to see it. We need to understand it.
I honestly can not predict in which direction the world is moving - a global community working together or segregated constituencies working against each other.
Are we becoming one tribe or fracturing into even more divisions with perpetual conflicting interests? In any event, the so-called cultural wars that the Left has disparaged and dismissed for years are now more real than ever.
The whole wide world is undergoing fundamental change. We all need to see and hear what is happening. We need to start listening to the voices that are growing louder and are becoming more forceful.
As Dylan said, "Something is happening and you don't know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?"
This shit is real. This is war.