Quote:
Originally Posted by WCW Nitro
I would say that there's some form of tribalism in most people. Take for example what happened in Paris. Would there be this sort of outrage in the West had isis done the exact same thing in a non-Western country?
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We all have circles of empathy. They tend to be strongest for people who are like us. Canadians feel more strongly what happened in Paris than they are about the bombings in Beirut because we can more easily picture ourselves being a tourist in Paris going out to a concert than we put ourselves in the streets of Beirut. Or we might know people who live in France. And yes, most Westerns feel they share a cultural heritage with France, where they don't feel the same about Lebanon or Yemen. I don't think that's anything to feel ashamed about, as long as it doesn't turn into hating or fearing those outside the closest circles of empathy. You can recognize our common humanity without feeling the exact same degree of empathy for every other human being on the planet (which is impossible).
But yes, tribalism - the tendency to turn issues into an us versus them struggle, to internalize all that is good and externalize all that this bad - is the greatest challenge we have to overcome to continue to make progress in reducing war and violence.