“Realistic Dems are finally realizing their toxic party needs an overhaul,” blares the title of an opinion piece by the New York Post’s editorial board. Paraphrased, the article claims that the party emits a certain stink and vaguely resembles a pile of sludge. This article’s only real purpose is to insult the Democratic Party, and check for yourself—its only sources are opinion pieces. So, a question: Why put in the effort to write and post an opinion piece on the internet simply to insult someone else?
The answer? Tribalism.
“Tribalism,” for the purposes of this article, is the state of being organized into different groups that share a common opinion or identity. There’s nothing wrong with this; on the contrary, the tendency of human beings to associate with a specific group is perfectly natural and even desirable, fulfilling the inherent human desire to belong. But the formation of groups can magnify feelings of animosity or negative beliefs between opposing groups, and can separate individuals simply based on the groups they are in. The creation of these divisions is the issue with this mentality.
As humans, we are extremely social beings with a desire to fit in, so there are many different social cliques at MSE; the people within them usually have a strong desire to find people similar to themselves. It’s a microcosm of the way that members of society naturally band together. The members of these cliques tend to have a shared viewpoint.
However, for every shared view, there’s an opposing view to counter it, giving rise to conflict. Our amygdalas perceive this conflict as a threat and release stress hormones such as cortisol, sending us into a state of “indiscriminate hypervigilance,” making it difficult to think rationally and elevating threat response to priority number one. As a result, during conflicts, differences are inflated and nuance gets sent on the next flight to Timbuktu. Tribalism activates this response more quickly as a result of heightened alertness caused by a drive to protect the ideals of our group. As the adolescent brain is highly malleable, the conflicts experienced during adolescence can set the standard for one’s future disagreements, making issues stemming from tribalism more pronounced in adulthood if prevalent during one’s teenage years.
Tribalism has the potential to hurt both members and opponents of a group. Internally, as noted by an article from Medium, group-centric mentalities can pressure individuals to conform to the ideals of the collective, stifling independent thought and resulting in an atmosphere that rewards following the collective over thinking for oneself. Externally, they can increase levels of prejudice towards outsiders, polarize different groups by inflating the importance of the debated issue, and discourage independent thought in favor of group ideologies. Furthermore, as suggested by a study published by the Pew Research Center about people’s deteriorating confidence in their opponents’ characters, these mindsets can magnify baseless negative feelings towards those who identify with political parties that aren’t your own.
Such limited perspectives do nothing to foster open mindsets. Did you know that most people will stick to their opinions even when disproven with facts? A study published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides a strong basis for the claim that trying to prove someone else’s opinion wrong will only make them dig their heels in. The end result is an argument that is made with the intent to win, not to learn. With both sides so firmly entrenched in their opinions, it’s unlikely that either group will learn much from a debate and may even come away more resentful of their opponents and with a firmer belief that their views are correct.
Psychology Today notes that tribalistic mindsets can also cause those affected to be more susceptible to propaganda exploiting divisions between factions. Propaganda can employ a variety of tactics, from “card stacking” (manipulating the audience’s views of a situation by using half-truths) to “plain folks” (convincing the audience that they are directly impacted by the depicted issue). When applied in tandem with the confirmation bias that these mindsets tend to encourage, these tactics can be very difficult to detect and debunk by those they attempt to ensnare.
An important part of the potential danger of tribalism is the possibility that conflicts between groups can devolve into arguments whose purposes stray away from the group’s original goal and more towards defeating the opposition. This issue is more prevalent in cases where opposing groups sense that the reward for victory can belong to one side only, resulting in conflicts where the other side starts throwing out ad hominem attacks (attacks directed at a person, not an argument)—either in a desperate bid to win or out of malicious intent fostered by the argument. These attacks can get very personal and even aim to undermine the character of those towards whom they are directed. When this happens, restraining yourself from retaliation and focusing wholly on the goal you’re fighting for becomes incredibly difficult, which is why so many of these sorts of conflicts exist today.
Because tribalism is in our nature, it’s likely that we may be drawn into the mindset that makes us want to dismiss our opponents out of hand—the mindset that prevents us from truly considering the validity of opposing viewpoints. Having differences of opinion is natural and healthy. We are all caught, for better or worse, in the throes of tribalism—but that absolutely does not mean we can’t fight the impulses it produces within us to adhere unreasonably to the views we hold and to only focus on winning the argument.
I entreat you to go out of your way to truly consider the viewpoint of someone with whom you disagree. Instead of aiming to win, aim to learn. Treat the encounter as practice for understanding both the reasoning and the facts that support your opponents’ views and evaluating them nonpartially, without dismissing them based on the principle that your view is right. Your beliefs and your ability to communicate with those on “the other side” will be much stronger for it.
Don’t let hate control your debate—open your mind, and learn from those who oppose you.