When I was a kid, my brother Mike and I were playing Cowboys and Indians one day. Another kid shot brother Mike, who went down with a convincing death scene.
So convincing that Mr. Peepers, our loyal half sheep dog and half lots of other breeds sank his teeth into the shooter’s ankle.
Mr. Peepers understood something profound. It starts here: We knew who the good and bad guys were without having ever once met either a cowboy or a Native American, just as when we played Cops and Robbers.
Mr. Peepers understood who the good and bad guys were, too, only his perspective had nothing to do with cowboys, Indians, cops, or robbers.
Happily, brother Mike’s killer didn’t end up with rabies, nor did any of us end up infected with animosity toward Native Americans, or, for that matter, toward robbers. But playing Cowboys and Indians probably did give each of us a bit of a cognitive hill to climb when the ’60s came along and exposed us to, in addition to the occasional doobie, a less one-sided view of who did what to whom in American history.
Back to Mr. Peepers.
As has been pointed out in this space from time to time, most of us, most of the time, divide the world into us and them. We are the source of all that’s good and right with the world, they cause everything and anything we dislike. That’s true whether we consider “us” (or them) to be: Democrats, Republicans, Unix jockeys, mainframe dinosaurs, scientists and engineers, pointy-haired bosses, whistleblowers, loyalists, mavericks, bureaucrats, ELCA Lutherans, Missouri Synod Lutherans, or …
You get the picture. Now paste in Mr. Peepers. As the rest of us divided into two tribes — cowboys and Indians — Mr. Peepers knew which tribe he belonged to, and it was neither of the above.
He was a Lewis.
We’ve talked about culture from time to time in this space, defining culture as how we do things around here.
Or perhaps it should be how WE do things around here, because how, and for that matter what we do around here is dictated by relentlessly enforcing peer pressure. Every affinity group has its own approved narratives, which means all of us … not most of us, all of us … are subject to starting our thinking about whatever issue floats into our view by matching it to one of these approved narratives.
The narrative supplies the logic. Evidence? We might find it interesting, but mostly to the extent it provides ammunition, not illumination.
Our thinking works this way whether we’re evaluating our employer’s decision to lay off staff due to COVID-19-driven revenue shortfalls or we’re deciding whether to wear face masks in public places.
And while there’s a glimmer of hope for developing a COVID-19 vaccine, there’s no such outlook for immunizing us from tribal thinking.
The best I can do is offer a palliative: Whatever the controversy at hand, join a non-combatant tribe and follow its narratives. Ideally it would be a tribe that has a legitimate stake in the subject and isn’t one of the major current combatants.
When I find myself falling into a tribal trap my go-to is trying to climb out of it by self-identifying with the tribe of engineers, where I define “engineer” as someone who, faced with a problem, sees it as something to solve, as opposed to non-engineers, who respond to problems with “Oh, no!”
But it depends on the situation: If the question at hand is, for example, the aforementioned round of layoffs I might instead choose the tribe of Bloomberg opinion-writer, where I’d be deeply interested — it is, after all, my beat — but not predisposed to a particular opinion as to whether any specific layoff decision is a good or bad idea.
The great thing about conscious tribal choice (should we make this an acronym? CTC?) is that we don’t have to pass any tests or otherwise get anyone’s approval to join.
In fact, this would defeat the whole purpose, which is to drain as much hero/villain thinking from our brains as possible.
Maybe we should all make one of our alternatives the canine clan.
Because I don’t remember whether Mike was a cowboy or Indian on that fated day, so I don’t know if his killer was a hero or a villain. Mr. Peepers, on the other paw, knew the killer wasn’t a Lewis.
That’s all he needed to know.
The issue about tribal loyalties plays directly into much of today’s issues. The canine, Lewis(?), can only sense his tribe – the family that he depends on. The animal probably was one of the protective breeds who is attached to the family. The animal hardly can understand the play actions if they became too serious. We all have some affinity of our ‘tribe(s), but we are more capable of understanding that not all other tribes are a danger to their tribe. In my readings, this tribalism appears deeply rooted in humans and may have contributed to human survival. As we become more educated and find more reason we can deal with those outside our tribes creating social harmony. I have worked in offices with a variety of office culture and have always had difficulty with the individuals who often get grouped in the ‘ain’t it awful’ group. Nearing layoff times, as office doors get closed more frequently and business projections begin to look dire, the groups seem to form spontaneously. I’m much more aligned with the ‘gotta fixit’ group which gets negativity from the ‘awful’ bunch. The worst situation seems to happen when a few of the top performers get nervous. Loosing them may interfere with the ‘fixer’ group so I’ve tried to influence their thinking that fixes are possible. As we enter into the current situation, it’s useful to observe competitors are also facing a similar decline. Some lower performers may need to go in order to keep the top people who will be needed when things turn around. Finding ways to stay afloat means trying to get the top performers to become part of the turnaround vision – the survival tribe. It seems I’m getting really old now in that the layoff scenario has been repeated more than a few times in my career.
I can only wish our political tribes could find away around short term thinking and develop some compromises. We act as if every election is a life or death struggle between two (or more) opponents. Our US culture is a collection of many individuals, most doing their best for their personal situation. No single President nor Congress has the ability to alter the basic culture although they think they can. External forces, other tribes, are more worrisome.
Brilliant and timely article Bob. Really made me think.
Perfect article for today’s world!! Thanks!
Great story and insight, Bob, thank you!
Yes, we’re too easily submerged into a particular tribe and somewhat unconsciously picking up the narratives and posturing being reinforced by other members of that tribe, while casting members of other tribes as villains. (You know who you are!)
Doobie. Been along time since I’ve read/heard that word!
Don’t know if I’m a ‘Lewis’, or just plain clueless. I know that I can’t be the last rational person on the planet, so why does it seem like that’s the case? Seems like everyone is afraid of everyone else, and no one is talking to anyone. It feels like a very old Stephen Stills song. Labels are for ‘joiners’, who result in Nazis and the KKK. If someone has to resort to name-calling, it only proves that they’ve run out of rational arguments, and the ones they had weren’t effective. Could someone please explain to me what the heck is going on?
I’m just glad that IT is still slogging along, and Bob still seems to have a bead on it.
Great piece! “The narrative supplies the logic. Evidence? We might find it interesting, but mostly to the extent it provides ammunition, not illumination.” Most helpful to provide a concrete way to try to mentally avoid the tribal trap! Unfortunately, once the tribal trap gets sprung, most people can’t get out (assuming they were even sufficiently aware and wanted to.
Thanks for another approach to add to my toolbox. My go-to (when I remember) is that no one is 100% right (or even close), including m. One of my favorite authors, an author/pastor/broadcaster named Steve Brown, is fond of saying “I know that I’m wrong 50% of the time, but that doesn’t bother me. What does bother me is that I don’t know which 50%.” Interestingly,Steve comes from a theological “tribe” that believes there is truth, holds to it pretty firmly, and yet still is able to recognize the need to continue to listen to other points of view. It’s been a good challenge for me. Thanks again for your thoughts.