Thursday, September 29, 2011

Tribalism is interested in you

To borrow from Trotsky, you may not be interested in tribalism, but tribalism is interested in you.

Lots of my readers find tribalism viscerally uncomfortable.  They would prefer to live in a nation or a world where such considerations were insignificant.  Unfortunately, we don't live in such a world.  Particularly in pseudo-democratic societies, groups which are less tribal face a significant disadvantage against groups with more political and cultural unity.  One fairly easy way to see who has the tribalism 'advantage' is to ask, who do people of mixed race, say 1/2 or 1/4 typically identify with, when the choice isn't forced on them?  Does someone who is half Hispanic call themselves that, or call themselves White?  Obviously these choices can be influenced fairly heavily by what legal 'plusses' each choice gives.  Getting rid of the bonuses given for not being white should be a fairly significant focus for white reactionaries and conservatives---not simply because every bonus to someone else in zero sum games is a penalty to our own, but because the presence of such modifiers tends to cause the mixed race to identify more with the other.  You'll know you're winning the tribal wars when the 1/2 and 1/4 start trying to 'pass'.

Here's a significant wake up call, aimed particularly at libertarians.  As white demographic hegemony decreases, expect things like affirmative action and racial wealth transfers to increase, not decrease.  These issues aren't about moral principles at all, they're about who is to enjoy higher status and a larger share of society's goodies.  And to those who say that immigration reduces support for the welfare state, I ask, how's that working out for you in California?

It is patently unreasonable to expect that a group that has a significant---even, say a 1/2 sigma---disadvantage in a major metric of success in your country will not seek to use the political process to overturn said disadvantage.  The only group that ever tolerated another group playing its game better than it does is white people, and those only relatively recently. 

3 comments:

Hail said...

"these choices can be influenced fairly heavily by what legal 'plusses' each choice gives."

This is true, but perhaps more significant is the impact on status. To be white is often to be low status. Nonwhite is cool. White is boring at best, (capital-e) Evil at worst.

"You'll know you're winning the tribal wars when the 1/2 and 1/4 start trying to 'pass'."

Of course, though, the seeds of victory in that case can sow defeat: If enough mixes do, indeed, "pass", you end up with Brazil.

J said...

Brasil is good.

Jehu said...

J,
Not if you like living in a high trust society.