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jsoakes 's review for:
Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging
by Sebastian Junger
A well-written, -crafted, and -researched, argument with lots of personal experience. He packs a ton of great points in less than 200 pages, but overall the vibe feels problematic and a bit alarming.
The good:
-Community is important.
-Having a sense of purpose and believing that you are contributing to society is integral to mental health.
-Government support systems are a bit too generic and if they were more specialized to the individual they could be way more effective.
-Happiness doesn't come from having more stuff.
-Different people/leaders are needed in different situations.
-Our current veteran-support is insufficient.
-The wealth gap and millionaire bailouts are obscene.
The not-so-good:
-He talks about welfare abusers and insider traders in the same paragraph and while he notes the level of harm (financially) isn't in the same order of magnitude, he still equates them to members of a tribe that don't contribute enough or take more than their fair share and indicate that in a historical tribal setting, they would both be beaten to death (face the same punishment).
-He seems to have an odd understanding of gender and gender roles. Admittedly his statements are supported by the studies he references (not necessarily social science at large), but he still seems to almost revere potentially toxic masculinity and maintains that societal roles are inherently gender-based, which is debatable at best.
-He also appears to idealize a military-centric society (or at least mandatory conscription), which is a little alarming.
-He verges on a tirade against victimhood and only remarks in passing that there are some legitimate victims that need actual support.
-He also doesn't even mention the negatives of tribalism that lead to hate crimes, racism, and war. (In his defense, this was written pre-Trump, when some of the most obvious cases against tribalism were on full display nationwide.)
Regardless of what I think of his overall message, this was a good read.
The good:
-Community is important.
-Having a sense of purpose and believing that you are contributing to society is integral to mental health.
-Government support systems are a bit too generic and if they were more specialized to the individual they could be way more effective.
-Happiness doesn't come from having more stuff.
-Different people/leaders are needed in different situations.
-Our current veteran-support is insufficient.
-The wealth gap and millionaire bailouts are obscene.
The not-so-good:
-He talks about welfare abusers and insider traders in the same paragraph and while he notes the level of harm (financially) isn't in the same order of magnitude, he still equates them to members of a tribe that don't contribute enough or take more than their fair share and indicate that in a historical tribal setting, they would both be beaten to death (face the same punishment).
-He seems to have an odd understanding of gender and gender roles. Admittedly his statements are supported by the studies he references (not necessarily social science at large), but he still seems to almost revere potentially toxic masculinity and maintains that societal roles are inherently gender-based, which is debatable at best.
-He also appears to idealize a military-centric society (or at least mandatory conscription), which is a little alarming.
-He verges on a tirade against victimhood and only remarks in passing that there are some legitimate victims that need actual support.
-He also doesn't even mention the negatives of tribalism that lead to hate crimes, racism, and war. (In his defense, this was written pre-Trump, when some of the most obvious cases against tribalism were on full display nationwide.)
Regardless of what I think of his overall message, this was a good read.