I was familiar with Sebastian Junger’s documentary Restrepo and I saw that he was speaking about his book Tribe at a university near where I live. I made arrangements to attend and I read the book in one sitting, granted it was only 167 pages. The talk was just as insightful as the book and being able to meet him afterwards was just an added bonus. Tribe is Junger’s analysis of modern culture after his experiences living with soldiers and being in the center of warfare. He reflects in the introduction on his own question relating to self development, “How do you become an adult in a society that doesn’t ask for sacrifice? How do you become a man in a society that doesn’t require courage?” Our society has evolved so much that you can make your way through life in unheard of amounts of comfort and leisure. Junger points out that industrial society caused the accumulation of personal property which allowed people to become more individualistic. Urbanization and financial independence tend to lead to isolation which is a massive trade off to the wealth that America has accumulated. Authority has been much more exalted than community in our culture. Junger writes, “The findings are in keeping with something called self-determination theory, which holds that human beings need three basic things in order to be content: they need to feel competent at what they do; they need to feel authentic in their lives; and they need to feel connected to others.” Junger noticed in his wartime experiences like in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan that these soldiers lived under the constant threat of attack and not ideal living conditions yet the bond they shared was unlike anything he had experienced. The bond was so strong that when they left, months later they all longed to be back. He notes the primal desire of man lies within being part of a tribe, “We are not good to each other. Our tribalism is to an extremely narrow group of people: our children, our spouse, maybe our parents. Our society is alienating, technical, cold, and mystifying. Our fundamental desire, as human beings, is to be close to others, and our society does not allow for that.” Another fascinating point Junger makes is the warring society we live in against each other, “We live in a society that is basically at war with itself. People speak with incredible contempt about–depending on their views– the rich, the poor, the educated, the foreign born, the president, or the entire US government.” This last year in America is particularly unnerving. Junger writes about the nature of the current dialogue, “Contempt is particularly toxic because it assumes a moral superiority in the speaker. Contempt is often directed at people who have been excluded from a group or declared unworthy of its benefits.” The American soldier comes home often times from a close tribal group to a society of strangers, “Today’s veterans often come home to find that, although they’re willing to die for their country, they’re not sure how to live for it.” Sebastian Junger is an incredibly insightful man that wears his experiences on his sleeve while being able to communicate the lessons he learned in a powerful way. I will let you search more on your own on about the problems that Junger writes about and the solutions he offers. This book is a great read because it is an unashamed look at our modern society and culture through the lense of what we all want but what we all do not have: a real connection to each other.
Written by Michael McPhail
Sebastian Junger and Michael McPhail at book signing after forum
Brains and Brawn 