Tribalism is when one group of people start to think people from another group are “wrong by default”. It’s the great-granddaddy of racism and sexism. And the most dangerous kind of tribalism is completely invisible: it has nothing to do with someone’s “birth tribe” and everything to do with their affiliations: where they work, which sports team they support, which linux distribution they love.
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Let’s be clear: tribalism makes you stupid.
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The very uncool thing about being a fanboy (or fangirl) of a project is that you’re openly declaring both a tribal affiliation and a willingness to reject the work of others just because they belong to a different tribe.
Comments:
Shuttleworth is right, but I think he might be succumbing to the very flaw he describes. The test is what percentage of hardcore fanboy/fangirls who read this post would be convinced to abandon their fannish ways. I'm not that optimistic.
I think I would have said that humans are tribalist because they evolved that way, so it's not your fault if you find yourself being a tribalist, admitted to struggling with tribalism myself, and maybe avoided making this point in the context of a larger argument (because then there'd be no risk of others thinking I was making a ploy to advance my tribe). Of course, maybe a leader like Mark Shuttleworth can't be saying things that lower his status like this.
Not to be confused with tribadism, which I'm sure Mark emphatically supports.
The alternative is to become cynical like myself, finding flaws in all sides of a conflict and never really taking a side. While avoiding tribalism may sound like the rational choice, I've found this mindset makes it much harder for me to help any conflict progress.
The consequence of tribalism is that devotees may take a sub-optimal path, sometimes even moving backward until they realize their errors or die. The consequence of cynicism is that I rarely move anywhere, so on average people who engage in tribalism make significantly more forward progress than myself.
Don't avoid tribalism. Just make sure to moderate yourself and change tribes occasionally.
"[...] you’re openly declaring both a tribal affiliation and a willingness to reject the work of others just because they belong to a different tribe."
Sorry, it's not totally true. I can be a fanboy of something and still do not be offensive against every else around. Its about maturity only!
As John suggested in a comment above, Shuttleworth might be succumbing to the very flaw he describes.
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