Cultural Rivalries
I (Malcolm) earned my undergraduate degree in the United Kingdom. While there, I had a lesbian friend who went to enormous lengths to hide her girlfriend from her parents. I thought nothing of this—assuming she was a closeted lesbian back home—until it came up casually in conversation that her parents knew she was gay. She later explained to me that she hailed from a traditional Glaswegian family and while they would never disown her for being gay, the same could not be said about dating a Roman Catholic (which her girlfriend happened to be). Glasgow even features Catholic and Protestant football teams.
Though our society likes to look down on cultural rivalries and grudges, the truth is that all strong cultures have them. Shared cultural rivalries strengthen cultural bonds. This can be seen in the much tighter ties individuals in the U.S. have to their universities due to collegiate sports rivalries—a bond not seen in the U.K. outside of the only two universities that culturally invest in sports and school rivalries (Oxford and Cambridge, where Simone went).
Rivalries tend to arise between groups that are very similar and physically close. Rivalries ensure cultural fidelity (preventing members from shifting between the rival groups) and reinforce cultural speciation. Were two physically and memetically close cultures to stitch up their differences, they would reform into a unified culture. The tendency for rivalries to arise between very similar—rather than different—cultures can be seen with conflict between Sunni vs. Shia Islamic sects and the Protestant-Catholic divide. The dynamic is best summarized and satirized by the “Judean People’s Front” scene in Monty Python’s Life of Brian.
Is it possible to create a cultural grudge that yields only “friendly” rivalry instead of discrimination and bias? We think so, and would love to see “friendly rivalries” fostered between Index Houses—rivalries focused on intergroup competition instead of hatred. This sort of rivalry has historically been kindled between branches of our families. In our childhoods, these rivalries made inter-family gatherings more interesting—as you got to see who was outcompeting who and whose methods of parenting really were “superior.” While rivalry isn’t universally enjoyed, some people need competition to motivate important life actions they should be taking anyway.