(Disclaimer: This is a deep post, not an ego stroke.) The first nation, which contains a multitude of individuals, is the family. Countries are not created from sheer consciousness but born as a result of these linkages. Furthermore, I actually want to argue that the first nation is yourself (look at the two-year-old) but that will be muffled & manipulated at the expense of family & the hierarchies of family. Intrusive thought but you get my drift. Can the individual be appreciated at the level of family? I don’t know. Maybe so but never to it’s full extent. Why? Well, it is a necessary tragedy. Similar to the baby antelope that falls victim to the jaws of a mother leopard looking to feed its cubs. Or the lamb we kill and consume in order to temporarily hold off hunger. What benefit or mfaso) comes out of this then? One attains the warmth and togetherness of other people, so functioning is worthwhile. One-man isn’t an island. The unfortunate trade-off, however, is that the world becomes a stranger. Stranger to your own desires and wants, which you don’t consciously control.
The move from communalism(village-like kin group settings) to nation states/feudal states/empires/ nations/kingsdoms etc. is just an enlargement of the said family unit. It created a larger layer of hierarchies when it comes to said units of family (i.e. community). Take me for example. I am Ghanaian-American, which are two nation states. Furthermore, I am also Asante, which in itself is a subgrouping of the Akan people. Akan also has several matriclans, of which I belong to the Asenie clan. Of course, Black & West African communities would also be attached to me. You cannot forget the personality communities as well (ENFP, & a person high in openness). Neurodivergent community, shout-out to yall. Finally, there is my own nuclear family and then most importantly, me. You see where I’m going with this. In these said communities, we are more or less one. Most of us will attach ourselves to what matters to us most. Yet, subconsciously, we also belong to a whole bunch of different entities as well. The black community, hypothetically, may be 30% ISTJ & 20% ENTP, & 50% ESTJ. These differences are underlying & unconscious but bubbles into conflict when the conscious other(i.e. “White people”) is out of the periphery, which I will touch on next.
Outgroups are already important, but it is more important when the family grows larger. Given, the enlargement leads to larger, underlying divisions. What makes our family unique? What makes it all-powerful? Who/whom is the leader of it all? Where is the prideful smoke to cover the differences within us? Which of its citizens will be made to follow? These are all questions that exemplify the highest family unit, the nation state. Broken down, they represent families in a sense. Is there a difference between Joe Biden coming on TV & saying our great nation and when the matriatch/patriarch of the family says this great family has done & will do as it has done before. There is none. Both are used to make one feel a part of something larger than they are, subconsciously comparing itself to other nations or families.
Another point I want to touch on is conformism. Conforming is like the vast majority of things on Earth. It is neither good nor bad. Mostly, because without it, we wouldn’t survive as a human species & we would all try to murk each other. Depending on who you are, that is fine & fair enough. However, for others who wish to rise above conformism, we ask ourselves a telling question. Is it worth it to just survive? What exactly is the truth? Nonetheless, this activity to go with the status quo or herd compromises against the individual, the very first nation with a plethora of personalities and proclivities. Since we are varying nations (with different wants & needs), can all persons with their own nations themselves be fulfilled to the greatest extent & achieve this so-called pursuit of happiness. It is not possible & will probably never be the case. Yet, I think families that function well do a decent job to make sure that needs are met enough to not destroy the harmony
Lies are the basis of the family, hence why mistrust is abound and frolicking in the global village. It is shocking to hear & even frightening but it’s a deep truth. Pree this story. There was a group of patients in a hospital dedicated to all of those deaf & mute. Therefore, you would assume that it is a quiet place. All of a sudden, the whole medical team heard an uproar of laughter coming from all of the wards. Strangely, it was coming from the patients (the part of the brain which controls laughing has nothing to do with talking) who were watching Ronald Reagan’s State Of the Union speech. Why was it hilarious to those folks, even though they couldn’t hear what was said? They saw through his body language that he was lying. Profusely. And many were buying it. Here is an experiment. Tell yourself not to lie (at all) or say things you know not to be true for a week with no room for white lies or anything of the sort. You will see how difficult it is for you not to lie to your friends, family or just people in general. These daily, necessary lies are the engine that makes things more efficient & quicker. The balance or teetering towards truth makes the fragility of life conscious and reminds us that shit don’t really matter, in the grand scheme of things. This is why animals are free. They just react and try to enjoy themselves through food, procreation(with no discrimination) & play. Not trying to bargain with the future. Not caring about their mortality. Unless it is an imminent threat to the moment. We try to be like the other animals & avoid it, to some success. However, avoiding it altogether is impossible for the very conscious part of us.
The reasons given above such as necessary lies, conformism , heightened in-group, out-group preferences are necessary for the family( and individual) to live. War and tragedy is an out trope of that necessity. The focal point and reason for the Holocaust, slave trades, massacres, unnecessary deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic, warfare in World War I and II & many tragic and malevolent things that happened/is happening in this world is for keeping a family together. At all costs necessary. Observe your own priorities & your emotions. There are levels of sadness and emotion that evokes when tragedy affects a person a part of said family unit/community & I will argue the only reason you feel the same about another person whenever that occurs is because it reminds you of your own community/group mortality and even worse, your own. It is our nature. It is power and it will not go anywhere.
I would also like to close out by saying this. Family is a farce. It is a necessary farce. It is & will continue to be the main blocker of utopian peace. Inadvertently, utopia was probably never a thing to begin with. Love & desire are drugs which made that possible. Acceptable drugs for insane sanity. The only way we can manage these (necessary) desires & try to make a turn to avoid implosion is if we all individuate & look inward. Yet we preach against selfishness every day in our societies. Very few care enough at the core to do that inner work. All alone in this together. Like willful sheep, we follow whatever society imposes or the group imposes. The core of it being the family. An extension of yourself. This was written to answer the question of “Why did so many people die of COVID when it could have been easily mitigated?” “Why were we panicking & clamoring for resources when we could all share?” Well, because you are fighting for your own. This is why family is a double-edged sword. A tragedy. You need people to love. You need relationships. We are human. I am human. No matter how much one resists. But its a vortex. It controls you. It is irrational. Most will become Adolf Hitler to maintain survival. Perhaps that’s why I never understood family. Until now. The (necessary) tragedy of family.