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What Helps to Ensure Cooperation in Diverse Societies
“History repeats itself because no one was listening the first time.” Anonymous
I wrote this post about the Bosnia war a number of years ago, but re-reading it made me think about the sociopolitical environment that exists in our country today. Our alienation from each other, and from “the other” — be it Democrats from Republicans, urban from rural, whites from blacks, secular from the religious, Christians from Moslems, and both from Jews, and citizens from migrants — is frighteningly reminiscent of the conditions that existed in Bosnia at the time of their terrible conflict. And given certain political leaders’ acquiescence and even encouragement of “the new normal”, I believe there is a compelling reason to fear for our country.
Tribalism is not destiny: The story of an ancient book
Let’s face it. We are tribal animals. Paradoxically, as we evolved into the human species, we became more viciously tribal and, at the same time, more altruistically humane. These thoughts went through my mind as I was reading Geraldine Brooks’ wonderful historical novel People of the Book: A Novel about the history of the Haggadah, the story of the exodus of the Jews out of Egypt.
