FEAR AND LOATHING AND TRIBALISM IN THE AFTERMATH OF PARIS AND BRUSSELS

         I have been pondering the why of this:  When it looked like ISIS had shot down a plane over Egypt, I was distressed.  Upon hearing about bombings in Beirut or Kabul, I have been saddened.  But, when I heard about Paris, I was distraught and riveted.  And the same was true yesterday when I heard about Brussels.

         Why, I am wondering, did I have such a visceral reaction to Paris and Brussels?  It could be, in part, because Paris is familiar to me.  I have been fortunate enough to visit this lovely city twice.  And Brussels is another European city.  I have never been to Beirut or Egypt, but I have seen a little bit of Europe. 

         Still, I think there is more to it than this.

         Upon reflection, I lay my response at the feet of tribalism and its spawn, selective fear—twin pulls that I believe I, and we, would do well to resist.   

        

         TRIBALISM.   We love our tribes.  Our families.  Our nations.  Our religious groups.  Our schools.  Our team-fan groups.  Our friendship groups.  Our political groups.   As I understand the origins of this state of affairs, we evolved to be tribal.  Our distant ancestors lived in small nomadic groups and, for safety’s sake, learned to distrust “the other.”  Our first reaction is still often tribal.  We notice when “our people,” the people who look like us, are threatened.  We can’t help it.  Evolution has not caught up with modern realities, i.e., with the fact that we now live cheek-by-jowl with “the other” in our large cities. 

                          

         The once widely-scattered tribes are now sharing a very small planet.  The other is no longer them.  It is us. 

         And then there is this:  We are inundated 24/7 with news about terrible things that we can do little or nothing about. In order to deal with this overload, our tribal brains seem to sort for the familiar.  I don’t think this is peculiar to those in the West.  I think it is a human thing. 

         Since the tribal reaction seems to be in our DNA, there isn't much point in beating ourselves up for it.  But, neither, in this global village, should we foster it.  We can have our visceral reactions, and then we can rise above them and extend our concern to those who live in constant danger, i.e., many of those living outside of the West. Our fates, after all, are intrinsically interrelated. 

         If we go about our merry business and pretend those other tribes have nothing to do with us, we stand to be in ever greater danger.        

         SELECTIVE FEAR.  Our tribalism begets fear.  A bombing in Beirut arouses empathy in me.  But, when there is a terrorist attack on New York or Paris or Brussels, this is a signal that there could be a terrorist attack where I live—against the people who look like me and live in cities something like mine.  One-hundred-plus people dead in a western city of millions makes all of the West react, at least momentarily, with precisely the fear that ISIS is seeking. 

        

         As many have pointed out, ISIS does not have the power to conquer a western country by arms, but, with a relatively small outlay of resources, it can sow fear in the same way that the KKK's random acts of violence once spread terror throughout the black population of the United States.   This, I assume, is why it is called “terrorism.”

         I am not suggesting that we should not attempt to stop these acts of terror, although I am pretty sure that “making the desert glow,” as suggested by one presidential candidate, is not the answer.  I am only suggesting that widespread, persistent, and irrational fear, and reactions bred of this fear, rather than reactions based on reason, are precisely what ISIS seeks. 

         (Yes, I said “irrational.”  I read that more Americans were killed by furniture than by ISIS last year.  Of course, we should do everything we can to stop terrorist plots, but this is not a reason to turn on our neighbors.  And when we are thinking of turning on our neighbors, we might bear in mind that many acts of terrorism in this country have been committed by people who look like us – Oklahoma City, Newtown, the Charleston church shooting.)

         If we turn on our neighbors because someone who looks like them has committed an atrocity, then we are abandoning our values, and what are we fighting to preserve? 

         If we build a wall, the terrorists have won.

         If we turn away refugees fleeing from ISIS, then ISIS has won.

         And it goes without saying that we will be creating the conditions that breed more terrorists.     
            

         So let us mourn for Brussels.  And let us also start using our intellect to override tribalism and irrational fear.  To do otherwise, will not make the world a safer place.  It will make us lesser people.  


Photo by Aarón Blanco Tejedor on Unsplash