This has a lot in common with the "Being Alone" topic that's trending on HN right now. Being alone fills you with anxiety, with isolation, and with uncertainty

This has a lot in common with the "Being Alone" topic that's trending on HN right now. Being alone fills you with anxiety, with isolation, and with uncertainty. By establishing hard lines, and an aggressive stance, you align yourself with a group and gain peers. You have allies, friends, and a social tribe that you can look out on the world with. Your anxiety lessens and you feel more secure. I'm not sure if we're hardwired for it, but we as humans have a strong tendency towards categorization and "ingroup" / "outgroup" classification of our peers. There's a deep rabbit hole at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anxiety/uncertainty_management http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anxiety/uncertainty_management Particularly relevant: "Axiom 20: An increase in perceiving that we share superordinate ingroup identities with strangers will produce a decrease in our anxiety and an increase in our ability to predict their behavior accurately."