A Tribe by Any Other Name Would be a Mob

This post is one of an on-going series about words that are used either incorrectly or injected so many times into blogs, articles and general conversation that they are starting to sound not only contrived but very silly.

Let’s take a closer look.

Tribe: A number of species or genera having certain structural characteristics in common; as, a tribe of plants; a tribe of animals. A division, class or distinct portion of a people, from whatever cause that distinction may have originated;

I like this one: A nation of savages or uncivilized people; a body of rude people united under one leader or government.

Rock star/superstar: rock star; a famous singer of rock music. I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings but you probably don’t fit this definition. Superstar; a term used to refer to a celebrity who has great popular appeal and is widely-known. Possible but also unlikely.

Expert: having or showing knowledge and skill and aptitude; a person with special knowledge or ability who performs skillfully; someone widely recognized as a reliable source of or skill whose faculty for judging or deciding rightly, justly or wisely is accorded authority and status by their peers or the public in a specific well-distinguished domain.

While we often hear or read of expert opinions, the only expert about you IS you. You should value your own opinion over those of others.

Awareness. How often lately have you been made aware of a topic, concern or plight? Is anyone you know bringing awareness to others? While doing this are they aware that perhaps they are trampling over some other persons time and emotions while making them aware?

Innovation/Innovate: While the definitions for innovation have increased in recent years, the number of truly innovative ideas has not increased comparably. We are, to use an old standard, re-inventing the wheel. If everyone is doing it, it is not innovative.

Passion: a powerful emotion, such as love, joy, hatred, or anger. Synonyms: fervour, fire, zeal, ardour. Most agree that having passion for their business idea is a good thing but never forget the alternate meanings for the word. It is used so frequently, that, to quote an anonymous twenty-something, “I have lost my passion,” for the use of this word.

Now, getting back to the tribe. Let’s take a look at the definition of mob: an unruly group of people; a disorderly crowd of people; a group of people who are friends or who are similar in some way. An indiscriminate or loosely associated group of persons or things. Sound familiar? Mob is also: ordinary people, especially when thought of collectively as unintelligent or irrational.

Both tribes and mobs have the tendency to take on the characteristics of others but maybe we could start thinking of ourselves as a collective mob instead of a tribe, just to add a little distinction.

© Copyright 2010  All rights reserved.