#20. The Tribalisation of Our People.

Politicians are reaping the consequences of their rhetoric.

Last year I wrote a post titled The Tribalisation of Our Nations (well worth a read), in which I broke down how desperately tribal we have become as society. I use the word ‘desperate’ purposefully as the issues on which we are taking absolute positions based on our tribe, ranges from the highest magnitude to the insanely minute. Our desperate need to adhere to our chosen tribe’s positions means that we are unable to compromise, unable to dither, unable - or rather, unwilling - to differentiate right from wrong.

And here we are. Divided to an extent we are willing to kill.

Political Violence

We all saw what happened this weekend and I don’t know about you, but I was in disbelief seeing it on the news. How did we get here? Well…

No matter what news coverage you saw this weekend, at some point you would have heard the term Political Violence. You would have heard Senators, Congressmen and the President himself use that term. Political violence is off-limits they say and yet, we are seeing a significant rise in it.

Earlier this year the Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot.

Earlier this month over 50 French political candidates were attacked in a fiery snap election.

In the UK, Reform UK candidate Nigel Farage was attacked, albeit with a milkshake. Other’s were abused and harrassed.

These are acts of violence, made more shocking as we are unaccustomed to them in the ‘western’ world.

The last major attack we witnessed was David Amess, Conservative MP for Southend, England who was murdered whilst in a church in 2021. Before that, Jo Cox, the UK Labour politician was murdered in 2016, prior to the Brexit vote, a deeply polarising issue.

This weekend, Donald Trump was an inch away from death. A literal head tilt away from joining JFK, Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley rather than Reagan and Roosevelt. Unfortunately Corey Comperatore, a father of two, a husband and simply an innocent bystander was not so lucky.

Trump survived but there is no doub that we are in desperate, divisive times. We are an inch away from chaos.

Rhetoric

With the dust settling on the assasination, you’ll hear politicians talk about unity and the need to come together. A welcome change from what we’ve been told recently.

It is no surprise to me that politicians are finding themselves the victims of attacks. The divisive vitriol that they have used during campaigns and time in office has fostered a deep rooted ‘us vs them’ mentality within the people. The people are not only entrenched in their tribe but they believe other tribes are the enemy. They believe it because they are told to. Politicians are reaping the consequences of their rhetoric.

In France, for example, the elections were marred by coordinated tactical voting by different left-wing groups to ensure the right-wing New Popular Front didn’t gain a majority. This is neither new nor necessarily bad however here are examples of the highly divsive language used by the left-wing groups to justify their positions:

• “The far right was at the gates of power” - Encumbent Prime Minister Attal

• “We have seven days to avoid a catastrophe the likes of which France has never known in its history.” - Also, Prime Minister Attal

• “I do not confuse political adversary and enemy of the Republic,” - Albane Bralant.

These are highly emotive and divisive statements made with the intent to sow fear and anxiety into people. “The far right was at the gates of power”, what is the insinuation here?

What happened to parties offering solutions, guidance, hope? All we see nowadays are politicians tell us how bad the ‘enemy’ is. How threatening they are.

In the US we’ve seen for years the divisive rhetoric from republicans and democrats, both preferring to focus on ‘the enemy’ than what they can offer.

Joe Biden, or his staff I should say, cannot post things like this on X and expect people to not feel fear, anxiety and angry. These are highly emotional and highly divisive statements.

Who wouldn’t feel like a true American hero, by felling a genuine threat to freedom, democracy and everything America stands for? Who wouldn’t feel like a patriot?

Now I know I pulled two example from ‘the left’ but this goes both ways. This isn’t a ‘left’ issue and thinking that it is only perpetuates the ‘us vs them’ mentality. It’s fostering the idea that the enemy tribe is wrong and my tribe is good. This is not true. Don’t fall for it.

The reality is that the political establishment cannot expect to spew hate and division without consequences. There are real world consequences to actions and the actions of the political establishment across the developed world are harbouring dangerous consequences.

Joe Biden rightfully calls for unity, now. He’s right to do it because he understands that he can come just as close to joining those former Presidents just as Trump did, if they keep using that type of language.

Brother’s Unite

Wherever you live, wherever you’re from, whatever your ideology, remember that we are more united than divided in our interests. As are the political establishments. Their interests are not yours, they are theirs. Their interests are not you, it is them. They are the mouthpiece of lobbyists and they are vying to represent them, not you.

So be involved in politics but be gracious. Do not fall out with your fellow brothers and sisters over ideology or tribe. Remember that the beauty of people is that we are different and that we do have different opinions and beliefs. That’s what makes us great.

Our differences unite us.