Tribalism: in politics and in Ludo

So I was playing Ludo with my brother and his friends. At one point, I noticed I hesitated for a brief moment before taking out my brother's coin! It was reflexive and fleeting, and I eventually did take his coin out, but the absurdity of it didn't fail to register. First, this was a game we were playing, with literally no real-life implications. What was the source of this instinct to 'favour' someone I knew over someone I didn't? Second, this had never happened when it was just my siblings and I playing - then, I was happy to play to win. No sympathy.

And so, I caught myself making the 'one's own' vs. 'other' distinction, (however inconsequential/harmless): one of the prime reasons why I'd vilified in my mind, people who over-identify with their religious/national/linguistic/other identities to the point of being tribal and lacking in empathy for anyone who doesn't share those identities.

And then, sort of serendipitously, I stumbled on this altogether brilliant Waitbutwhy article (https://waitbutwhy.com/2019/08/giants.html) which answered a lot of questions/mentioned a lot of observations I've been ruminating about for a while now. In it, Tim Urban does an excellent job of unpacking 'innate tribalism', with insights from evolutionary psychology.

Among other things, he notes that this is probably a remnant of our tribal past: an age when tribe support was utterly essential for survival. A time when it paid to 'lionize members of 'Us' and demonize members of 'Them''; when conformity earned security; when selective kindness aided survival.

Now just to be sure, these are all just explanations for tribal behaviour, not excuses for malignant discrimination/prejudice. Police brutality (which caused George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and many many others to die), hate crimes and zealotry leave me feeling viscerally gutted, and then cynical and resigned. But this article, I found assuring, because if we can become aware of what drives our behaviour, then maybe there's hope for change.

I guess now noone will be left wondering why I'm taking too long to roll the dice while playing: I am psychoanalyzing my every move.