Ever noticed...when loyalty is weaponized—usually used to pit something (or someone) against...something (or someone) else, not to mention unabashed retribution? It seems like there is a willingness to play the loyalty card at nearly any level—nationally, locally, and in inter-personal relationships.
A test for this is the level of genuine curiosity there is about the party whose loyalty is being maligned. Is there real interest in what another party is experiencing? Or, is it just too easy to broad-brush them with a label, like disloyalty?
Why wouldn't there be genuine interest in a possibility that is different than how the loyalty player is imagining or that someone is actually growing or changing? Don't we want that for people? Or, is that only good if it is subordinate to something else, like loyalty to 'our' group?
Lack of curiosity reveals the weapon that loyalty can become.
...it also reveals that there is another problem; one that exists long before the loyalty card actually gets played—one that is really about ego (power, control, and fear). Loyalty card plays are often just a pre-emptive disguise for these darker realities.
Perhaps talking about why loyalty card plays are so handy would be a good start toward disabusing its usefulness.
