Politics today doesn’t feel like a discussion anymore; it feels like a fight. It is not a debate over ideas but a battle between “us” and “them.” People aren’t just supporting policies; they’re picking sides, almost like rooting for a team. Everything becomes personal once you’re on a team.
This sense of picking a team and sticking to them is a lot about tribalism, our deeply rooted human psychology that gets us wired into wanting to belong to a group. Most of our human history, being tribal meant survival and security, loyalty meant safety and corporation, but in today’s world, those same instincts have found a new home; politics.
Instead of survival, we now chase identity and a sense of belonging. Being politically “left” or “right” becomes part of who we are. It’s rational, not emotional. And once we are on our side as the goof guys, the other side naturally becomes the enemy. We stop listening and start judging, bias is filled in our minds, and we can’t help but fight against them. People are dismissed not because of their arguments but because of the “team” they’re on.
As we dig deeper, the issue gets worse. Our brains are so wired to think in a way that means to better ourselves, not others, we begin to filter the world through this lens of left or right. In fact, research shows that we are more likely to believe something if it aligns with our political identity and more likely to reject it if it doesn’t. In this way, tribal loyalty often overrides critical thinking.
Then there are the effects of social media, which feed us so much of what is already happening and remind us that there is always the other side that needs to be won over. It literally turns politics into a never-ending argument against the true virtue of helping, making winning the only goal, not to understand or be compassionate.
If there’s something at stake, it’s the conversation, dialogue and curiosity. Tribal politics make it look like changing your mind is being weak and listening to others’ perspectives is a betrayal of your own. We have built walls where we should be building bridges.
But it doesn’t need to be in this way, if we learn to let go of this tribalism, it doesn’t mean that we dont have the values or we are giving up on anything. It means that we are ready to embrace a broad perspective and honour that the person on the other side is human too.
We all look forward to a better future, even if our paths are different, our destinations are the same.
Real change begins with empathy and compassion. Learning to listen, willing to talk without turning it into a war, not that we are enemies, but we choose to behave like one, because we want to uphold our side first. Still, once we understand that it’s never about winning, we will go a long way in bringing peace and happiness.
Leave a Reply