Can Americans Resist the Pull of Tribalism?

Humans are tribal, we are hard-wired to be that way.

J.D. Vance Investor; Managing Partner, Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Revolution; Au...

Full Session

Featured Highlights

Can Americans Resist the Pull of Tribalism? 50m 9s

The divide between America's two white tribes. 2m 53s

To come together, we should join in being more protective of American principles 4m 4s

Truth, trust, and tribal prejudice. 4m 24s

We should join in being more protective of American principles. 2m 49s

Session

Can Americans Resist the Pull of Tribalism?

Key Moments

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Setup

Humans are tribal. But in America today, the allure of tribalism takes us down one treacherous path after another. American political elites have ignored the group identities that matter most to ordinary Americans. Identity politics have seized both the left and right in an especially dangerous, racially inflected way to the point that every group now feels threatened. To survive, America must transcend tribal fears and loyalties and forge an authentic national identity: one that acknowledges the reality of group differences and fights the deep inequities that divide us. Underwritten by Koch Industries.

Speakers

2018 Festival
USA

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Humans are tribal, we are hard-wired to be that way. We need to belong to groups, and once we do, the effect is almost like a drug. It’s only when tribalism takes over a political system that things get very dangerous. At that point, everybody starts to see things only through the lens of their group and then facts and arguments don’t matter.

J.D. Vance

67% of the white working class feel that they are subject to more discrimination than minorities. (source: Political Tribes by Amy Chua)

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I think it’s a huge difference between saying that we are country with great principles that we have repeatedly failed to live up to, so we must try harder -- there’s a huge difference between saying that and saying that America is at its core a land of oppression. We are a land of white supremacy. We are a land of genocide. Because if we are truly nothing but a land of white supremacist genocide, why is it even a country worth fighting for?

Amy Chua