Comments on: From somebody REALLY smart http://agora.stevenpressfield.com/2009/06/from-somebody-really-smart/ Website of author and historian, Steven Pressfield. Sat, 11 Feb 2012 20:07:25 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Dave http://agora.stevenpressfield.com/2009/06/from-somebody-really-smart/comment-page-1/#comment-1691 Dave Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:13:39 +0000 http://blog.stevenpressfield.com/?p=207#comment-1691 More than Christianity, it seems that Islam is adept at co-opting the tribal mindset for use against other religions. The Koran is full of an "us vs. them" mentality. When a Christian priest is murdered in Turkey there aren't riots in Milan or Pittsburgh along with ritual mosque burnings; whereas, if a Muslim political/holy figure is killed in Gaza, there are riots in Jakarta and Karachi. This is an amazing difference! While tribalism is generally a local/regional reality, the allure of Islam is in taking a tribal mindset and giving it global ambition. This makes Islam problematic to all non-Muslims for obvious reasons and must be acknowledged. More than Christianity, it seems that Islam is adept at co-opting the tribal mindset for use against other religions. The Koran is full of an “us vs. them” mentality. When a Christian priest is murdered in Turkey there aren’t riots in Milan or Pittsburgh along with ritual mosque burnings; whereas, if a Muslim political/holy figure is killed in Gaza, there are riots in Jakarta and Karachi. This is an amazing difference!

While tribalism is generally a local/regional reality, the allure of Islam is in taking a tribal mindset and giving it global ambition. This makes Islam problematic to all non-Muslims for obvious reasons and must be acknowledged.

]]> By: david ronfeldt http://agora.stevenpressfield.com/2009/06/from-somebody-really-smart/comment-page-1/#comment-1690 david ronfeldt Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:07:19 +0000 http://blog.stevenpressfield.com/?p=207#comment-1690 wow. you posted the entire piece. i was just expecting to see a url link, or a few excerpts. hmm. but it looks good. many thanks. readers who may want to see back-up for my analysis can go to the following blog post and scroll to the end for urls pointing to a related op-ed, an article about al qaeda as a global tribe, and a working paper about the rise of the tribal form and its roles in social evolution (past, present, and future): http://twotheories.blogspot.com/2009/01/we-face-turmoil-of-tribalisms-not-clash.html in addition, there are a lot of interesting papers elsewhere around the web that call attention to the significance of tribal factors for security matters. the papers i readily recall -- and i think they are generally consistent with your basic thesis -- are by patrick lang, william mccallister, montgomery mcfate, and ralph peters. googling should locate them. broad security blogs that often carry posts that illuminate tribal factors include global guerrillas, rethinking security, small wars journal, and zen pundit. relevant anthro blogs include anthropologi.info, and savage minds. i am much less familiar with blogs focused on the middle east and south asia, but i know that some of them are relevant to this too (e.g., naxalite rage). there are too many published books and articles for me to begin mentioning here. but they should be easier to identify than what’s scattered around the web. the newest pivotal book is, of course, david kilcullen’s “the accidental guerrilla” (but i’ve not read it yet). my point: clearly, a lot of folks have been trying for over a decade to focus new attention on the significance of tribalism. but it’s also clear that it’s not been an easy endeavor, that it's often been controversial, and that lots of work remains to be done on how to get it right. let’s keep at it. i should note that i am now retired from rand (though still on adjunct status), and that i am expressing only my own views. onward. wow. you posted the entire piece. i was just expecting to see a url link, or a few excerpts. hmm. but it looks good. many thanks.

readers who may want to see back-up for my analysis can go to the following blog post and scroll to the end for urls pointing to a related op-ed, an article about al qaeda as a global tribe, and a working paper about the rise of the tribal form and its roles in social evolution (past, present, and future):

http://twotheories.blogspot.com/2009/01/we-face-turmoil-of-tribalisms-not-clash.html

in addition, there are a lot of interesting papers elsewhere around the web that call attention to the significance of tribal factors for security matters. the papers i readily recall — and i think they are generally consistent with your basic thesis — are by patrick lang, william mccallister, montgomery mcfate, and ralph peters. googling should locate them. broad security blogs that often carry posts that illuminate tribal factors include global guerrillas, rethinking security, small wars journal, and zen pundit. relevant anthro blogs include anthropologi.info, and savage minds. i am much less familiar with blogs focused on the middle east and south asia, but i know that some of them are relevant to this too (e.g., naxalite rage).

there are too many published books and articles for me to begin mentioning here. but they should be easier to identify than what’s scattered around the web. the newest pivotal book is, of course, david kilcullen’s “the accidental guerrilla” (but i’ve not read it yet).

my point: clearly, a lot of folks have been trying for over a decade to focus new attention on the significance of tribalism. but it’s also clear that it’s not been an easy endeavor, that it’s often been controversial, and that lots of work remains to be done on how to get it right. let’s keep at it.

i should note that i am now retired from rand (though still on adjunct status), and that i am expressing only my own views.

onward.

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