We bicker about whether the real culprit in the latest Middle East conflict is Israel or Hezbollah...In other circumstances it's Israel or the Palestinians...Or Iran....Or Syria....Or,Or,Or..

The real culprit, IMO, is the refusal of all sides to let go of tribalism. The real enemy is the notion that you do not deserve to live -- or you do not deserve to participate in a common society or share in a common good -- because you come from a different tribe.

Personally, right now I'm royally pissed off at Israel, and at the US for being such boneheads in supporting their extreme actions and not intervening to stop this carnage against the people of Lebanon...In a larger sense, I'm pissed at the hawks of Israel who continue to do everything possible to provoke their neighbors, and demand everything on their terms.

But I'm also pissed at Hezbollah, both for provoking this, and for their cumulative crimes....I'm pissed at the Palestinians who believe that blowing up a bunch of ordinary people in a restaurant or bus stop is some kind of justified and holy act.....And I'm pissed at the thugs in Iraq who insist on blowing up other Muslims who come from some different branch of their faith...And all of the other sects and factions who use violence to further their goals or to settle scores from several thousand years ago.

In short, I'm totally fed up with every damn person over there who rabidly clings to some barbaric form of Tribalism over co-existance, co-operation and common decency.

THAT IMO is the real culprit behind all of it. Stupid Tribalism. Jew vs. Arab. Sunni vs. Shiite. Moderate vs. Fundamentalist....This tribe vs. that tribe.

All who have let that tribal instinct override everything else -- including their own damn self interest -- are guilty IMO. All those who waste their lives devising new and creative ways to blow up their perceived tribal opponents are guilty.

It's stupid. It's evil and it is impractical.

For all of the faults of American society, we at least have partially learned one crucial lesson in life. We have to co-exist with each other. We might argue and we might harbor prejudices and we might attempt to stifle or exploit those who are different than us...But for the most part, we do it within a framework of civilized behavior. We don't waste out time and our lives blowing each other up. We generally accept the fact that if someone has the money to buy a house next door, they are entitled to be our neighbors.

Again, I emphasize that I am not being a Pollyanna. Sure our own history is rife with tribal conflicts. There are exceptions to the basic rule of co-existence today. People are still sometimes held back by their ethnicity or religion.

But overall, we have learned and moved beyond the form of overt and relentless and violent tribalism that continues to be the norm in the Middle East.

I'm just ranting, I realize. But this pattern of tribal violence and retaliation over there makes me sick.

As for the role of the US, we may not be able to stop them from this insane desire to kill each other. But we should not stand by and condone it -- or encourage it. That's what is currently making me sick about our own role in it all.