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Culture War Roundup for the week of June 29, 2026

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All of them, pretty much. European populations were literally living in tribes until they were Romanized, Christianized, or feudalized.

Yes, and that's before they became WEIRD. Before manorialism, cousin marriage bans, and all the other elements associated with the Hajnal line bred WEIRD traits into them.

left those environments to go live in tribalistic environments again – where they did extremely well for themselves, conquering entire continents

Because, in the case of the Americas, diseases did most of the work, killing 90% before they ever saw a European. For the rest, it was the raw technological advantage we had, which allowed us to succeed despite our crippling genetic defects. Now that the gap has closed and the rest of the world caught up? We're doomed.

As an example, back when Tyler Oliveira put out "Inside India's Poop-Throwing Festival," Dave "the Distributist" Greene made a comment in one of his video's about Dinesh D'Souza's reaction to the documentary. Greene asked why D'Souza took the documentary personally, acting like it was an attack on him, when he's a Christian who lives on the opposite side of the planet from these 'pagan' Hindus. Greene then mentioned that his ancestors were mostly German, then outlined a scenario where, instead, it was a documentary about a bunch of Pagan Germans throwing cow dung at one another in the Black Forest; and how he wouldn't care, because what's that to do with him? And he'd be promoting it, saying "look at how disgusting these Pagans are" and using it as an example of why Christianity is better. And that he just doesn't understand D'Souza's behavior here…

Which is exactly my point. D'Souza showed the natural human reaction. He saw this as an attack on his tribe. And he feels an attack on his tribe as an attack on himself, not as a matter of abstract reason, not as a cultural norm, but at a deep instinctual level, the kind of deep reaction that is inborn, that cannot be taught. And that Greene doesn't feel such a natural instinct, cannot even understand that instinct, that he finds it laughable, demonstrates exactly the WEIRD genetic defect I'm talking about.

Show me a WEIRD white who has the inborn, instinctive tribalism Dinesh D'Souza displayed. The inborn, instinctive tribalism of the black people protesting the Karmelo Anthony verdict. (In fact, I see plenty of WEIRDs online siding with them.) Tell me how we undo over a thousand years of selection pressure removing the genes for this instinct from us, in just this century (if we even have that long)?

We're not getting that form of instinctive, inborn tribalism back. And without it, extinction is certain. We're doomed.

Yes, and that's before they became WEIRD. Before manorialism, cousin marriage bans, and all the other elements associated with the Hajnal line bred WEIRD traits into them.

Straight-up racism - which as far as I can tell is fairly similar to your idea of tribalism (although I would dispute this is a correct idea) - was (to varying degrees) acceptable in the West until the 1950s, which postdates those things by a bit.

Anyway, you're not presenting any evidence for this claim. Even for cousin marriage, is there any evidence that it makes people genetically predisposed to tribalism? It certainly makes people less smart, which could be associated with a lack of openness to experience...but on balance I'd take the trade-off. My understanding is that the mechanism of cousin marriage making Western Europeans more open we believed to be at least partially cultural, as exogamous marriages (which are not uniquely Western, AIUI) force greater extra-tribal participation.

Because, in the case of the Americas, diseases did most of the work, killing 90% before they ever saw a European.

I am familiar with this, but from what I understand, this had a much larger impact on North America. I recommend that you read up on Cortez.

For the rest, it was the raw technological advantage we had, which allowed us to succeed despite our crippling genetic defects.

Who's "we"? I doubt that you and I are closely related, and I would certainly be surprised if we are from the same tribe. I certainly do not believe that my line had crippling genetic defects. But perhaps we fixed them via admixture.

And that Greene doesn't feel such a natural instinct, cannot even understand that instinct, that he finds it laughable, demonstrates exactly the WEIRD genetic defect I'm talking about.

In my experience whites have this sort of reaction. I strongly suspect that either not all WEIRD types have whatever genetic makeup you are asserting causes this, or (probably more likely) this is somewhat culturally mediated.

Show me a WEIRD white who has the inborn, instinctive tribalism Dinesh D'Souza displayed.

In the United States, plenty of whites, especially in the South and the West, are extremely tribalistic - they would characterize it as patriotism. In other places, even where patriotism is less en vogue, tribalism may be channeled through consumer attachment ("fandom," football). I suspect you merely don't recognize it because you equate tribalism with genetic ethnic characteristics (which is not how tribes themselves viewed tribalism, or at least not exclusively).

To be direct (but hopefully not unkind), I think you are projecting. White/WEIRD types are still plenty tribalistic. I just think you don't see it, because your perspective on what tribalism and ethnicity is and should be is based on, well, the internet, instead of lived experience. That's why you are focused on race, much more than historical tribes were likely to be (as far as I can tell). Because a tribe is based on common behavior, with race being an imperfect proxy for that - you can read up on the research on children, for instance, which (if I am recalling correctly) shows that they prefer people of their own (parent's) race, but more strongly prefer people of their own cultural dress and behavior. Or you can look to the cultural practices of non-WEIRD types, where adopting people of different racial/ethnic backgrounds into the tribe, was a fairly common practice (at least in North America, where I have the most expertise).