Tribalism and Identity Politics

Tucker Carlson asserts that he will never support identity politics or tribalism, that as an American he supports that which is best for Americans.

This sounds noble, but it is rather naive.

The problem with this limited thinking is manifold: that “American” culture and “American” identity have changed dramatically, particularly as more and more “Americans” have departed from institutions of faith and moral values, and as a consequence of this and of “progressive” public education progressively more have come to reject American heritage and traditional American values; that, for related reasons, many modern “Americans” don’t particularly identify as “Americans” and don’t actually want what is best for America; and that identity politics consistently prevails in the battle between propaganda and reason, while tribalism — the rule, not the exception, in the evolution of the human species — ultimately dominates, particularly where its chief opponent is little more than ideas or idealistic thinking by people who reject violence outright and mistakenly fancy themselves safe and secure in their ideals.

Where so many ‘Americans’ are ‘American’ in name only — not sharing in the ideas, core values, and traditions that have defined shared American culture since before the country’s founding — it becomes a contest between one camp — the unrestrained, the unscrupulous, and the undisciplined who rally around identity politics, harden their tribal ties, and are prepared to do battle — and another that holds fast to noble-sounding principles, ideals, and commandments (i.e. “love thy enemy”) which are generally valid or virtuous, but which in practice risk denying uglier realities and succumbing to those who hesitate at nothing as they band together with their tribes, regardless of the soundness of their causes.

It is in this way that the wise and the prudent — who tend to live more cautious, patient, and isolated lives focused on their own work and their own families — give way to the brash and the crass, whose ‘tribes’ coalesce around the matter of getting what they want, whatever the costs.

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