Tuesday 19 June 2012

Gender Tribalism

Revolutions are caused by tribal regrouping. If you can reclassify people you may well be able to bring about a new revolution.

Tribes first were large matrilineal communities. The women would have had a strong influence on the internal culture, whereas the worth of the men would have depended mainly on their efficacy in war, protecting the weaker members on whom the tribe depended for its continued existence. Fight for territory would probably only have set in when land became a scarce commodity, but there would have been a lot to gain from fighting other tribes. The invaders could obtain what their victims owned, use the despicable aliens for slaves, steal their women (as the Vikings did) and introduce 'new blood' to get stronger, more beautiful and intelligent offspring.

Tribes regrouped by their approximate positions in relation to rivers, mountains and seas,  according to the languages they developed together, and most importantly, according to the customs, religions and thoughts associated with those languages.

Tribes became almost coincident with nations. Jingoism was rife. Of course tribalism demands that you 'talk up' your own tribe and 'talk down' other tribes in order to justify fighting them and probably stealing everything they've got.

Nationalism was followed by Communism. Marx came along and reclassified (although he was not the first) people according to social 'class'. People regrouped. Instead of saying 'I'm British' and being proud of that, you may have begun to say 'I'm working class' and the working class became the tribe. Then we had to 'talk down' the other tribes, even refuse to acknowledge their very existence (who will acknowledge the existence of an 'upper' class?). 'Middle Class' was an acceptable term, because that sounded despicable and mediocre. Don't forget, it is acceptable to hate other tribes.

Once people are successfully regrouped, it is a short step to revolution, because revolution, even though perhaps starting as high-minded indignation, gathers energy from tribalism. The other tribe has all the goodies. We want those goodies. We'll fight for those goodies.

You can see the progression from clans to class (which stratified us horizontally, cutting across national boundaries).

What stage are we at now? Do we have to wait a hundred years for historians to tell us retrospectively?

No. It is obvious. The new tribes are based on gender. Gender can overthrow any tribal structure throughout the world. What we think we are is the basis for tribalism. With the rise of feminism and 'women's studies' our minds are becoming conditioned to identify ourselves first by gender. It is a very small step from that to the notion of gender exploitation. "The other tribe has all the goodies. We want those goodies. We'll fight for those goodies."

When we have food, shelter, education and social order preserved by parliament and police, women no longer seem to need protection by men. The State becomes the father. Families are weakened by easy divorce, while serial polyandry makes the bond between man and woman loose and exchangeable.

But please remember, all the great civilisations that we know of were based (and please tell me if you can think of a high point of invention and culture which was not) on the new idea of family. The idea is probably no more than four thousand years old, which of course is nothing compared with the whole development of mankind. Strong stable families are our only bulwark against tribalism.

As the family breaks down, tribalism returns. Do we want this?