While civilized people mourn the assasination of Charlie Kirk—and the uncivilized celebrate it—we would do well to name the relevant divide at a more granular level.
What is the fundamental distinction between these two camps?
It is the act of thinking vs. that of tribing.
Thinking consists in using reason—man’s means of knowledge—to grasp reality and form judgments based on evidence and logic. Tribing consists in subordinating one’s mind to a group, uncritically adopting its beliefs, values, and norms.
Thinkers know that the process of reasoning requires effort, that it is often complex, and that it can go wrong. They know that even when they strive to go by evidence and logic, they can and sometimes will reach false conclusions. But they also know that reason is their means of identifying and correcting such errors. And they bring all of this knowledge to bear in dealing with other people.
Thinkers know that anyone who characteristically uses reason to understand what is true and false, good and bad, right and wrong, is essentially good—even if mistaken. Thus thinkers can engage with one another civilly, even in disagreement.
Not so with tribers.
By subordinating their minds to the tribe, tribers relinquish reason, reject evidence and logic, and thus reduce themselves to mindless followers lacking a genuine means of knowledge. Having abandoned reason, tribers cannot reach rational conclusions nor engage civilly with those who differ. They can do only one thing: march in lockstep with the tribe.
The distinction between thinking and tribing is deeper than that of individualism vs. tribalism (or collectivism). Thinking and tribing name the methods that underlie and give rise to individualism and tribalism. Thinking fosters one, tribing the other.
These methods are the fundamental difference between, on the one hand, civilized human beings and, on the other, those who have abandoned their means of being human—and, with it, their capacity to be civil.
Recognize this distinction when you observe or engage with people. Use the contrasting verbs of “thinking” and “tribing” to name what they do. This is the fundamental factor in the battle for civilization. And we need to know who is who.