Tribalism and the Beast

Allison Kilkenny writes a critique of liberal tribalism, pointing out how emotional-comfort-thinking is not limited to racists, nationalists, and W. Her liberal friends often divide themselves into liberal sects to avoid the discomfort of clashing ideas. This anti-social posture results from emotional insecurity and reflects a disregard for the kind of community-building necessary to counteract Republican idiocy, she argues. Great article, and in the discourse-encouraging spirit of same, here’s where I disagree.

Kilkenny is apparently speaking only to liberals, telling them to unite against Republicans. “We can build a foundation of unity even if that means defining ourselves by what we are not. We are not racists, we are not bigots, and we do not deny respect to any decent human being. In other words, we are not Republicans. And that is good.”

I’m not sure why the line should be drawn between conservatives and liberals. That’s a line that’s been drawn for us by the rich and powerful. A more relevant line is that between the corporate forces waging war on Americans and the Americans who are suffering as a result. This takes another form as a civil war between the rationally inclined and the rationally disinclined who fall for the convenient comfort offered by the lies of the rich and powerful.

Ways to deal with true-believer neocons

1. Them Angry Liberals

There’s outright hatred, sometimes coupled with death wishes and sadistic verbiage, a childish wish for the complete disappearance of the hated object. No discussion is possible, they think, with the morons, idiots, assholes, etc. on the right. If your grandma is a neocon, that’s too bad — fuck your grandma. They seem to be pursuing tribal catharsis after taking the abuses of an insanely irrational political climate. This is common on message boards, where an angry liberals can get solace from their tribe without actually confronting the people they attack. They see a propagandist dumping horse shit all over the American public and are helpless to stop it. They can’t penetrate the absurdity, don’t have the time or willpower to think of a rebuttal that would shut the propagandist up and have a lingering nugget of doubt “I’m not crazy, they’re crazy, right?”.

2. The Krugmans

There’s a belief in rational discussions with the rationally disinclined. The fruitlessness of this approach is the cause of the visceral hatred prevalent in group 1. If you have to explain that W is a criminal, you shouldn’t be worried primarily about facts and arguments.

3. Beasted

At buffalobeast.com, where I found Kilkenny’s article, there’s a self-assured, condescending mockery of the rationally disinclined.  Fundababble is viciously ridiculed rather than treated as refutation-demanding theses.  Confident that even if they’re not right, they’re far less wrong than Corporate Vocal Defecator X, they offer the kind of intellectual conviction sorely needed by the Krugmans and Angry Liberals who, vicariously relishing CVDX’s initial pummeling at the hands of the Beast, shriek “Let him up! He’s had enough!” as the intellectual severing of limbs and tendons leaves any decent human feeling ethically nauseous.