From: matus (matus@snet.net)
Date: Thu Mar 27 2003 - 09:40:21 MST
"Four hundred years ago, Francis Bacon could see clearly enough the need to
move beyond idolatry of tribes. He suggested we think of ourselves as
citizens of the Human Republic. Yet that notion has practically disappeared.
That meme cannot hang on amidst the near universal colonization of human
minds by nationalisms."
Lets be fair here and compare *types* of tribalism. When some nationalisms
include such memes as murder, oppression, and torture of political
dissenters, and are opposed idealogically to human progress and the general
increase in the standard of living, embrace genocide, are west hating
racists and want nothing less the destruction of freedom, progress, and
modern civlization, it is easy to understand why one should prefer
*tribalism* that embraces the value of human life, values free speech,
progress, rule of law, representative governments, and objectively makes the
lives better of all its tribal members.
Yes, the US and the democratic market based western nations are
*tribalistic* in that they value there way of life over the alternative
presented by fanatical islam and murderous tyrant dictators of oppression,
enslavement, and murder.
To simply discount all forms of *tribalism* because they are tribalism is
absurd, and ignores the fact that many are actually a heck of a lot worse
than other forms. I invite you to imagine a *world* where the strongest
power in the world is any one of the following
despotic communist dictators
murderous oppressive theocracy
Saddam Hussain
And then compare that world to the one in which the strongest world power is
a democratic constitutional republic which embraces (albiet tribalistically)
such values as free speech, rule of law, and individual civil liberties, in
*at least* orders of magnitude greater levels than any of the other systems
out there.
In short, lets bring everybody up to a better form of tribalism, and then
worry about erradicating tribalism all together.
Michael Dickey
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