Tribalism, media prejudice ruining America

Celebration of the individual’s pursuit of happiness has always been the American project. Unfortunately, tribalism and identity politics, the prejudging of people based on their immutable characteristics of race and gender, are ascendant in American media and politics.

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was prejudged based on his race and gender during his confirmation hearing. The media ran multiple stories about the claims of Christine Blasey Ford, his accuser, without any proof. Those same media seem less interested in investigating the alleged sexual misconduct of Virginia Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax, who is black, despite the evidence being more compelling this time around.

The Covington Catholic teenagers were also negatively prejudged, and quickly convicted, based on their race and gender and theatrics, while Nathan Phillips, the “tribal elder” who instigated the confrontation, was positively prejudged based on his race and theatrics. He was later exposed to be a liar, while the teenagers were largely exonerated.

Back home, Catholic Bishop John Stowe joined the digital mob dehumanizing the Covington Catholic teenagers. He represents an organization whose record of violence and dehumanization stretches back centuries. The modern record of his church is the participation in the genocide in Rwanda, the sexual abuse of children and nuns, its opposition to the use of condoms in places ravaged by AIDS, and its cynical embrace of the mass immigration of poor Catholics into America by which it intends to fill its pews and enrich itself with federal immigration dollars.

By the way, many of those immigrants are the descendants of people who were violently converted to Catholicism, and they remain poor in many ways due to Catholic teachings. And still there is no word from the socialist Pope about the utterly predictable collapse of socialism in Venezuela and the unfolding human tragedy there. The essence of socialism is dehumanization because it destroys capitalism, the natural economic system of individual, free human beings engaged in voluntary trade and commerce.

America is a nation of immigrants, but it is a nation of immigrants who have historically assimilated. Those who want America to remain a nation of laws and customs that promote legal immigration, border control, and assimilation are falsely accused of being racist and xenophobic. In fact, they know from history that, absent assimilation, multicultural societies eventually collapse.

A necessary prerequisite to assimilation is a nation’s commitment to it. Rather than encouraging and enabling the use of multiple languages among its citizens, a wise nation would insist upon a common language. “Diversity strengthens us” is a popular slogan, especially on college campuses, but nobody ever provides any evidence that it is true. In fact, there is plenty of evidence that diversity, the opposite of assimilation, leads to tribalism and violence everywhere and always.

The last century taught us that the capacity for evil and violence resides in every human heart, and that ideology and group think have a unique and particular capacity to unleash it. Political parties, the formation of which was mourned by Jefferson, build and operate the machinery of ideology and identity politics, and thus tribalism, dehumanization, and ultimately violence. The media are increasingly in the business of greasing that machinery.

Our nation is begging for a leader who can heal our racial tensions. Being of mixed race, President Obama was perfectly positioned for that role. Unfortunately, he chose identity politics. For a variety of reasons, President Trump never had a chance. Stacey Abrams, a black woman who lost last year’s gubernatorial race in Georgia, gave the rebuttal to President Trump’s recent State of the Union speech. She called for people to “come together” in phrases dripping with tribalism.

America’s descent into tribalism, the elevation and the suppression of identity groups, and the dehumanization of individuals is dangerous. It is also profoundly un-American. Everyone, especially members of the media, needs to look in a mirror and cut it out.

Cameron S. Schaeffer is a physician in Lexington.