Suicide of the West is back in rotation on my walks when I listen to audio-books. The author talks about our retreat to tribalism which manifests itself in a variety of negative ways. He argues that being tribal is what comes to human beings naturally and in modern society the organization of tribes has been fueled by forces of technology and globalization that were never part tribe building in history. He attributes a lot of what ails the world to this phenomenon. The book is provocative but as is my gripe with most modern woks of non-fiction, the content merits an essay or opinion piece not a book.
When the essay is foamed and frothed out to occupy the space of a book it was never meant to be, it taxes the reader's patience. In this case, there is the unending proof-points to make what is already a cohesive case regarding tribalism. It is a reasonable thesis and many could agree with Goldberg. But that idea alone does not explain everything that is going on in the world. And trying to convert us to his line of thinking by arguing the same thing ad-nauseum does not help.
Over half-way through the book, I have yet to learn what if anything we can do to correct the error of our ways, improve our collective lot even if we assume that at the root of all our problems is the resurgence of tribalism. The navel-gazing and self-flagellation must at some point give way to something concrete and actionable. I will stick to the end to see if there will be some big reveal in the end.
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