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Savage tribalism vs. the Red Pill

In recent discussions with people of varied perspectives about political choices in the upcoming election, what has struck me is the high volume of tribalism involved in selecting who to vote for. We can also call this political party partisanship, which it is, but at its core this simplistic solution to complex problems is really just tribalism.

Tribalism is Us versus Them, Black vs. White, Good vs. Evil, Democrat vs. Republican etc., and at its core, it represents human savagery. Savagery because tribalism requires little analysis or critical thinking, and because people act out their unconsidered partisan politics in brutal ways that would make them blush in any other venue.

Sure, people living in America have a wide variety of reasons for voting the way they do – Biblical values, atheistic values, pop culture values, no values, but if you watch the YouTube videos of intensely partisan people responding to questions about why they are supporting a given candidate, you will often see that they really don’t know the particulars. All they know is Orange Man Bad, Republicans bad, white people bad, capitalism bad, and so on. Don’t push them too hard, because they can get upset quickly when asked to think about their actions and decisions, or to explain them. Tribalism has pretty much shut off the I Can Think For Myself button in their head.

The over-arching question for the next three weeks is, Can enough people take the Red Pill to overcome their simplistic tribalism in this election?

Recall that in the scifi movie The Matrix, good guy Morpheus offers our clueless young man two choices. He can take the blue pill, and he will wake up in his bed with vague memories of some weird discussion, and a red pill. The red pill opens his eyes and he suddenly sees reality, not silly tribalism. People who have watched the movie know that Neo takes the red pill, which wakes him the hell up to an uncomfortable reality, which he eventually changes through his informed actions.

And so as the mainstream media-Democrat Party-Hollywood entertainment complex has created an evil dream-like “Matrix” environment, you, me, individual Americans are taking the red pill and waking the hell up is imperative.

Today, the red pill means getting voters to read www.breitbart.com and www.thegatewaypundit.com and www.zerohedge.com and #walkaway and the Black exit from the Democrat Party slave plantation among many others sources of information. Anything to get voters off of tribal MSNBC, CBS, NBC, ABC, NPR etc. Daring people to open their minds, to free their minds, is step one to ending tribalism. Getting voters to actually take the red pill, cut through the mainstream media fog, stop behaving like savages, and realize that there is no Orange Man Bad, just false choices that work against their own interests, is the hard part.

Take the damned red pill, Carla! Open your mind!