tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post1936913183141767430..comments2024-03-28T18:32:05.933-04:00Comments on bensozia: The Restored Murals of the Stratford Guild ChapelJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037215533094998996noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-67498082462342107632016-11-27T20:38:12.925-05:002016-11-27T20:38:12.925-05:00"What bothered people most was sins against c...<i>"What bothered people most was sins against community, and they did not much like it when their neighbors thought themselves too holy to attend the same church as everyone else. Whatever denomination it happened to be."</i><br /><br />This general mindset is still hugely prevalent in much of the world, of course. It is one of the root causes for xenophobia, homophobia, sexism, racism, and similar.<br /><br />"Loyalty" to the "community" - or rather, conformity to the whims of the select privileged elites within the community - is placed above the needs and wellbeing of individuals within the group. Failure to conform and to submit results in retribution and coercion.<br /><br />Many millions of people effectively still live in tribal systems, and their lives are ruled to a staggering degree by modern tribal leaders. And when something new or different starts to happen within a community, these (often unfit) tribal leaders typically reject it out of fear, lack of understanding, and an indoctrinated reliance on tradition instead of rational problem solving.<br /><br />When a parent rejects their child for being homosexual, they are acting on tribal instinct. When a church leader condemns members of other faiths, that is also a tribal behavior. When a school administration enforces a dress code or forbids certain innocuous behaviors, that too is tribalism in action.<br /><br />It is all around us, unnoticed, taken for granted, accepted as normal, considered the natural way of things. Children are taught from an early age to remain "loyal to the tribe", and to put the desires of the tribal leaders above their own interests, or those of other groups, often with little regard to the cost or harm.<br /><br />The instincts that allowed us to propagate our species to dominate all other life on the planet are still with us, and they're holding us back from being decent human beings. At the end of the day, despite everything we've accomplished in our history, we're largely still just clannish apes who fear what we don't understand and who rely on harsh negative reinforcement to invoke the mindless obedience necessary to perpetuate dysfunctional behavioral systems we don't fully understand and can't logically justify.G. Verlorennoreply@blogger.com