I don’t like tribes.

Nice piece Alan. Enjoyed it!

Where do you see nationalism on the tribe-community continuum?

 

Patrick, I don't understand the question. Can you ask it in a different way?

I don't see tribe/community as a continuum, any more than I see smoking and drinking as a continuum. "Nationalism" is a tribal dynamic, because it puts one's "nation" as the top priority, often to the detriment of others. In lighter forms (rooting for your country in the Olympics) it's fairly harmless. But it's often used to subjugate and expel. The Nazis described themselves as "national socialists" instead of simply "thugs." Hamas, Hezbollah and the rest are nationalist movements which transcend "states" because the member of that nation live in arbitrary geopolitical units. 

The Suns and Shia have lived harmoniously through most of their history, but that is changing in modern times as they become two warring tribes.

The continuum in my mind was between the exclusion associated with tribe on one end and the inclusion associated with community on the other end.

Nationalism is essentially tribal, I do agree, though some countries, such as the United States, have traditionally had a more open and flexible approach to whom they would extend nationality to, as opposed to, say, Japan. 

"Nationality" is not the same as "nationalism."

9 hours ago, Alan Weiss said:

I don't see tribe/community as a continuum

But can't they morph from one into the other? For example, what we've seen with higher education.

1. When universities start censoring conservative views, aren't they moving from a community into a tribe?

2. With Harvard, MIT, etc., haven't the protestors formed their own tribes within those communities?

But that doesn't make it a continuum. Continua  are represented by gradual and incremental changes moving from position to position. Do you think that Harvard and NYU are on the same continuum? Or that the Baltimore Ravens and Dallas Cowboys are? We're misusing the term. Communities will jettison tribes because they don't support the community. You're talking to the man who's about to write the book! 

Amazon is not on a continuum from bookstores.

The universities you refer to which censor views are highlighted by certain people and groups censoring views. Those tribes bring down the community. The university's value of inclusion and welcome are thus shattered.