Tom Kawczynski - Off the Record

Having been to more than my fair share of political gatherings over the year, I've heard the lament:  "If only people made decisions based on ideas, the world would be a better place" at least a thousand times.  But it made me wonder...

Throughout history, people have defined themselves in many ways.  The most basic unit is the family, and then the town, and then eventually the nation, but it was always grounded in some concrete relationship.  Whether the binds be the red of blood or the green of the earth, there was something physical that transcended all people and was all inclusive (or at least, had the potential to be such).  Tribal identity, if you want to call it that, was predictable in that it brought people together to some social norm and some set of common expectations.

Functionally, it is hard to imagine there was a previous alternative as people needed to work together for their survival, against the elements, against other predators, and against one another.  Specialization of labor results, but people still bought into the idea of a shared identity, based on location and need.  While there were communities based on ideas (the most prominent of which were religious), these were largely isolated and existed outside the state, and found themselves being integrated more often than not.  Also worth noting is that these were often as compulsory as the state itself.

Today, we have something different happening.  Thanks to technology and the advent of the internet, our social groups are changing.  We now can build communities based on ideas and identities we choose that transcend borders.  Our physical needs being met much more easily, I wonder what it means for civilization when we can so easily choose just to associate with those who share something in common with us.

Can you imagine a new future where classes aren't economic, but simply societal?  The nerds, geeks, jocks, drama people, and all the groups that exist in high school never having to blend, never having to find some center.  Imagine politically, a nation divided house by house into two worlds with different ends and in contempt of one another.  Not knowing each other, not caring, and feeling justified in their righteousness.  And in absolute freedom, could there be absolute chaos?

I don't know.  It frightens me.  Without a sense of social responsibility (which I freely admit is cultivated), I could imagine that.  The sort of elitism that pervades groups set apart (which I know too well from my own education and some of the people I met) could easily become a dividing trait hidden beneath the veneer of an all-encompassing individualist ethic.

I don't have an answer for this, but I have a suggestion.  Read something that you disagree with, not to change your mind, but so that you can understand a more basic truth:  what unites us is greater than what divides us.