Tribes and backstabbing

tribes and talking bad about others, backstabbing...

Evolution.

....I think in the far past people lived in tribes of 50 to 100 people and the forming of bonds/friendships was often based on having a common enemy; the enemy being the evil tribe over the hill or across the river that would eat their hotdogs with sauerkraut or whatever.

Today the tribes aren't so clear. Although I guess one can go to high school and see how we still go to such lengths to divide up into tribes. But outside of high school, we more generally can't divide into tribes so well anymore. It's basically tons of people just arbitrarily plopped down together.

And they try to make friends. They try to break silences by... having a common enemy... and so they just so, so often start talking bad about someone else who isn't present. So much better if they can talk bad about a politician or piece of art, but so very often they jump to talking bad about coworkers, etc.

It was evolution. We lived in these little tribes and we killed one another. We constantly warred. Those tribes that killed best survived. Till the day some tribes grew to huge levels. What traits were desirable? Talking bad about people, smearing others behind their back was one such desirable trait.

...

It is what it is. If we can see it for what it was. Perhaps we could learn to grow beyond it. See the monkey in us and rise above it.

One example of many that I'm slowly compiling.