It is terrifying to feel isolated in this cold, chaotic world, and a great relief to find your tribe. That tribe may be small and specialized, other guitar players who love Jimi Hendrix and Django Reinhardt equally, or the gigantic tribe of a religious or national identity group. A tribe may be just a group of old friends who love each other, laugh together and comfort and support each other in times of pain and sorrow.

One benefit of membership in a tribe is the erasure of doubt — tribe members get absolute certainty. You belong, and that is the most important thing about tribalism, a beautiful thing you need never question. Disagreements may sometimes happen among members of a tribe, but the main thing is that we are a tribe and have a bond, and common values, that transcend our individual disagreements. The tribe has an uncomplicated view of the world, of life, usually a simple turn on love vs. hate or good vs. evil, which all members take as true, the tribe being on the side of the gods in every case.

In my small tribe of guitar players, people I’ve rarely ever met, half-tone bends are very groovy, as are whole tone double stop bends, if you know what I’m saying, standards and three chord vamps are equally cool. These are core tenets of our beliefs. (Sadly for me, both of my electric guitars are out of commission, so I can’t work on Si Tu Savais today with the looper.)

Research shows that people with a supportive group around them tend to live happier, less stressed, longer lives. If you have a few true friends, even one or two, you have a better chance of thriving than someone without good friends. If you come to hate somebody, and manage to alienate their friends from them, you have exacted a wonderfully effective revenge, increasing their pain and isolation and actually shortening their life expectancy. Bingo!

The American epidemic of loneliness, no doubt also a worldwide problem, leads lonely people down rabbit holes to join with other lonely people. You have nobody you can call when you are in pain, nobody who will answer your call, listen, make you feel connected to another person who cares.

Capitalism has devised an addictive cure to this lucrative loneliness: “social media”. In your painful isolation you can sit at your computer, or with your phone, and find many people who feel just like you, are as angry as you are about the same things you’re mad about. What a relief to find a tribe! The more you check in with your millions of new friends, the less alone you feel!

Think of the giant room full of guys Mohammed bin Salman has working for him, sitting behind computers, each one controlling a thousand spam bots and fake social media accounts, writing and disseminating messaging for the tribe. 100,000 likes for something you already agree with, minutes after posting, the algorithms have tailored each message perfectly for your opinion and those 100,000 likes tell you you’re not alone. An hour later a million of you, in perfect agreement! What you believe is shared by millions and millions, so how can you possibly be wrong?

The beauty of tribal identity is also the ugliness of the world, the reason the history of mankind is written in the blood of helpless victims. My tribe can beat up your tribe, bitch. My tribe is right, no matter what, and your’s is wrong, no matter what! The life of each member of my tribe is of infinite value, your tribe, which hates mine, are all vermin. Suck on that for a while.

When allegiance to a belief system conquers all questions of right and wrong, the stage is set. There is nothing the group can do to somebody outside of the group that you will question. There can be no mercy for evil. If you have any hesitation about what your tribe is doing, just remain silent. All your tribe needs to continue marching is for you and other waverers to keep your hesitation to yourself. After all, if you express dissent you risk expulsion. Expulsion from the tribe leaves you in the cold, alone, and ready to die before your time. Beware!