It's peculiar, of late, the degree to which the idea of tribalism has been surfacing in the world. With every act of brutality on the part of ISIS, every act of monstrousness from Boko Haram, every dark and unpleasant bit of nastiness out there, it seems tribalism is to blame.
"It's these backwards monsters and their tribal god," or so goes the refrain.
"Tribal" becomes shorthand for insular, stunted, and ignorant, snarling clans of highlanders ever butchering one another, the Hatfields and the McCoys firing potshots. It is juxtaposed with the deep virtues of modern and "postmodern" thinking. We are, after all, the ones who make decisions based on reason and enlightened self-interest.
