How humans desire a tribal sense of belonging that is missing from modern life

[Van Lady]

I found this article interesting....perhaps you may also.

http://dailym.ai/1Uq5ixI


Van_Lady

 

[Canine]

I'm an old indian fighter myself.I just can't find any old Indians.I think the whole concept of the book is based on a false premise.I don't know of any RVers who have moved onto the reservation.Anyone who has ever saw Pine Ridge reservation would want no part of it.

 

[Patrick46]

Bob...I think you might wanna go back and read the article again.

Seems like you missed the point.


I liked it, and found the concept very relevant.

 

[dragonflyinthesky]

It seems to have valid points. Thanks for sharing this.

 

[eDJ_]

I think most people seek to be part of a group.  This is evident with young children even.  Boys form cohesive bonds in sports,  school organizations,  things like Boy Scouts, etc.  Girls will have a circle of friends that they tightly maintain.  I've seen young girls use being a part of their circle against other girls as a tool and a weapon if they don't like the other girl.

Historically,  in the early  days of the USA the colonist were told not to cross the Appalachian Mountains.  Still as the article points out, they did in large numbers and assimilate with the tribes of Native Americans.   In my extended area there is an outdoor drama (in Xenia, Ohio)  titled, "Blue Jacket" where Allen Eckert (whom I've met) developed the screen play for the production.

South of Xenia, Ohio is Harrodsburg, KY where another outdoor drama about Abraham Lincoln shows each summer.  In that production Lincoln recounts passing by "Shaker Village" in Pleasant Hill, KY. (about 25 miles
south of Lexington, KY)   All of this is examples of people seeking some type/structure of tribal or communal living.

Back in the late nineties I visited a "Comedy Club" where comic James Gregory (the worlds funniest man) was
performing.   He mentioned something in his routine about how Americans have since Vietnam been building back yard decks for their family to socialize together.   He ask what's gone wrong with us ?  We used to all have front porches on our houses and set out there in the evenings and folks would walk around the neighborhood greeting each other and chatting for a few minutes and visiting each other.   He thought "decks" were built for alienation and nothing more.   He wished we could all get back to the "sense of community" we had before.  Of course he made this suggestion in the most humorous of ways where
people were laughing in agreement with him. 

Where I live the RV sales places are running commercials constantly with images of people sitting around camp fires in the evenings talking with each other and keeping the art of conversation alive. (and it is an art) 
But this plays to people wanting something more than a deck or den with big screen TV and a Cell Phone that constantly rings with someone on the other end wanting little more than to be "entertained" until they get a call and can't hang up fast enough.  (leaving the one who answered feeling alienated and objectified)   Nothing
beats face to face conversation & interaction and that is likely a large part of the appeal of "Tribe" experience.

 

[Gary68]

"During John Ford’s celebrated western film The Searchers, John Wayne’s character spends years hunting for his niece Debbie, kidnapped as a child by Comanche Indians.
When he finally finds her, she initially wants to stay with her Comanche husband rather than return home.
Although shocking in the film, it’s historically accurate. White people captured by American Indians (author Sebastian Junger’s preferred name for Native Americans) commonly chose to stay with their captors - and the book cites a case of a captive woman who hid from her would-be rescuers"

today we call it the stockholm syndrome,its not a good thing

my issue with tribe is that by definition there is a chief an all powerful if he wants your food he gets it,if he wants your woman he gets it chief.
i think i will pass,along with dictatorship and monarchy

 

[MadVanMan]

Very interesting article.

 

[mockturtle]

I've read a few books involving pioneer women kidnapped by Indians and I don't think it's merely the tribe, or sense of belonging, that keeps them there.   

 

[Svenn]

The US is one of the most socially isolating societies I've seen (and I'm American). This is mainly due to it being car-based, and thus walkable or mingling areas are almost obliterated by strip malls, but also the culture- everyone wants to be a pioneer and have a mini farm- a big house in a suburb surrounded by lots of yard and a fence. Zoning and other laws of course only reinforce this. Even in Canada the strip malls have well-kept bars and people mingle.

In more communal societies, I'm thinking of Thailand at the moment, there's almost no time or space to be on your own. Everywhere you go there's people and socializing, and houses are always packed. This almost completely eliminates the particular introversion and the severe depression so many face in the West. Granted, it comes at a price.

Americans are some of the funniest and most creative people on earth; we'd do well to socialize more.

 

[akrvbob]

my issue with tribe is that by definition there is a chief an all powerful if he wants your food he gets it,if he wants your woman he gets it chief.
i think i will pass,along with dictatorship and monarchy

Actually, it's just the opposite, virtually all hunter-gatherer tribes were egalitarian, which means there is no leader, no one can tell anyone else what to do. Certain people, usually older, gain more credibility by virtue of their wisdom and experience, but they are not the boss. 

That's one of the big problems with the Indian wars, we tried to find the HEAD MAN in charge but there was none. So if he spoke, he only spoke for himself, no one else in the tribe was obligated to keep his promise. White men simply could not comprehend that way of thinking. Chiefs influenced, they didn't order. ALL WHITE MEN HAVE SOMEONE THAT CAN ORDER THEM AROUND, BUT NO INDIAN DID. Although it didn't really matter, every word the White man said was a lie. That was the other big problem, an Indian couldn't comprehend how a man could give his word knowing it was a lie and then as soon as it was inconvienent, just break his word. White men valued things above everything else, Indians valued honor above everything else. Far better to die than to lose your honor.

Any man who stole and raped and wasn't generous was a man without honor and would be a total nobody in the tribe. Almost certainly to be cast out or killed.

Also, in virtually all hunter-gatherer groups, generosity is the highest, greatest value. to have food when others go hungry would be the greatest sin--of course they had virtually no concept of "sin" that is strictly a civilized concept. Stealing and rape were exceptionally rare.

Most were nomadic, and to nomadic peoples possessions were a burden, if you have to walk 100 miles to better hunting and gathering, the last thing you want is a bunch of crap to drag around. So it was essentials only and even those were discarded if they could be easily replace at the new home.

Humans evolved for tribal life, the further we drift away from it, the more miserable, sick and mentally ill we will become. 
Bob

 

[Gary68]

sorry Bob,revisionist history will not work on me
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_massacre

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...s-butchered-babies-roasted-enemies-alive.html

see there was no good,
and since i have lakota and cherokee ancestry and my sister did marry the son of leonard peltier(makes me wonder about that sks i got from him) i have been on the inside and the history told on the inside of the teepee is a whole lot different the the history told on the outside after all billions of dollars are at stake

the american indians where an ultra violent stone aged people
the europeans where conquers expanding their empire

there was no good,todays society is the best that humans have ever been
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_by_death_toll

 

[mockturtle]

Bob, I think you have a very romanticized view of hunter-gatherers. 

 

[rvpopeye]

Either way , the tribe at CRVL is what matters to us here.
Go to an RTR and see how the group works for US !

 

[AltTransBikes]

Bob, I think you have a very romanticized view of hunter-gatherers. 

Indeed.

 

[Sameer]

Flagstaff, Arizona  6/11/16

TRIBE--COMMUNITY
View attachment 8144

 

[Patrick46]

part of it is just plain perception.

Look for black, and you'll find black.

You want white?? look for it and you'll find that too.


I like to look for the good in people.
(probably why I could never became a drug dealer)

 

[Sameer]

sorry Bob,revisionist history will not work on me
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_massacre

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...s-butchered-babies-roasted-enemies-alive.html

see there was no good,
and since i have lakota and cherokee ancestry and my sister did marry the son of leonard peltier(makes me wonder about that sks i got from him) i have been on the inside and the history told on the inside of the teepee is a whole lot different the the history told on the outside after all billions of dollars are at stake

the american indians where an ultra violent stone aged people
the europeans where conquers expanding their empire

there was no good,todays society is the best that humans have ever been
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_by_death_toll

What Bob is speaking about is our common behavior as human-beings. As we evolved and migrated we had common behaviors. This is supported by a Anthropological history supported by Archeological evidence. The stories told around the campfires in the America's would be similar to the stories told around the campfires in the caves at Altamira and Lascaux, France. Those stories would have been creation myths and legends. The paleo-indian migration from Asia took place some 40,000 to 16,000 years ago Humans walked here across the Bering Strait land bridge. Before that their were no humans in the Americas. Our behavior as humans as we evolved from nomadic behavior to creating permanent settlements is the same everywhere in the world. A great book to read is Jacob Bronowski's 'The Ascent of Man'

 

[IanC]

Personally I have never felt part of any tribe. There may have been times I had wished I was, but almost never now . The greatest time of any gathering, for me is saying the goodbyes, and when I get home to my quite house I feel like I'm where I belong.

 

[mockturtle]

The greatest time of any gathering, for me is saying the goodbyes, and when I get home to my quite house I feel like I'm where I belong.

Me, too, Ian. My quiet RV.

 

[Mobilesport]

sorry Bob,revisionist history will not work on me
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_massacre

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...s-butchered-babies-roasted-enemies-alive.html

see there was no good,
and since i have lakota and cherokee ancestry and my sister did marry the son of leonard peltier(makes me wonder about that sks i got from him) i have been on the inside and the history told on the inside of the teepee is a whole lot different the the history told on the outside after all billions of dollars are at stake

the american indians where an ultra violent stone aged people
the europeans where conquers expanding their empire

there was no good,todays society is the best that humans have ever been
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_by_death_toll

It was'nt very good for the Bison either as they were killed and turned into teepees