{"id":3157,"date":"2009-07-14T19:01:20","date_gmt":"2009-07-14T19:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=3157"},"modified":"2009-07-14T19:21:33","modified_gmt":"2009-07-14T19:21:33","slug":"mustering-the-tribe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=3157","title":{"rendered":"Mustering the Tribe"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Steven Pressfield<\/strong> responds at It’s the Tribes, Stupid<\/a><\/strong> to Fabius Maximus<\/a><\/strong>, Michael Yon<\/a><\/strong> and….me!<\/p>\n

What I Would Say Differently If I Were Saying It Again<\/a><\/p>\n

“Good” Tribalism and “Bad” Tribalism<\/strong><\/p>\n

I would define “bad” tribalism as that practiced by the Taliban and al-Qaeda. I know, I know . . . critics will say that both those groups are pan-Islamic, ideology-driven, supra-national, propelled more by Salafism and Deobandism than pure tribalism. I would not argue with that. <\/strong><\/p>\n

But if we probe beneath the surface, we recognize virulent tribalism at the heart of the belief systems of both the Taliban and al-Qaeda. I would cite the following “bad” tribal characteristics: hostility to all outsiders; perpetual warfare; codes of silence; duplicity and bad faith in all negotiations with non-insiders; suppression of women; intolerance of dissent; a fierce, patriarchal code of warrior honor; a ready and even eager willingness to give up one’s life for the group; super-conservatism, politically and culturally; reverence for the past and, in fact, a desire to return to the past.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Defined in relation to its opposites, “bad” tribalism takes its stand against everything open, inclusive, modern, progressive, secular, individualistic, Western, female-empowering. <\/strong><\/p>\n

What about “good” tribalism? “Good” tribalism is the ancient, proud, communal system of family- and clan-based local governance that has been practiced in Afghanistan and many parts of Central Asia for millennia. Tribal jirgas resolve disputes and give a voice to all members; tribal militias protect the land and the people. “Good” tribalism wants to be left alone to live its own life. In a way it’s democracy in its purest and most natural “town hall” form. It has worked for thousands of years and it’s working today….<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the rest here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Steven Pressfield responds at It’s the Tribes, Stupid to Fabius Maximus, Michael Yon and….me! What I Would Say Differently If I Were Saying It Again “Good” Tribalism and “Bad” Tribalism I would define “bad” tribalism as that practiced by the Taliban and al-Qaeda. I know, I know . . . critics will say that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[527,205,191,420,129,2,215,51,78,336,499,210,533,268,312,217],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-afghanistan","category-al-qaida","category-anthropology","category-authors","category-blogging","category-blogroll","category-culture","category-history","category-ideas","category-intellectuals","category-islamic-world","category-islamist","category-religion","category-social-networks","category-tribes","category-warriors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3157\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}