"Really. What's that when it's at home?"
"Huh?"
"How do you express loyalty to something as big and abstract as 'humanity'?"
"Well, that comes down to morals, right? Not doing things that poison the world.
Paying taxes. Change to panhandlers. Supporting charities." Fede drummed his
fingers on his thighs. "Not murdering or raping, you know. Being a good person.
A moral person."
"OK, that's a good code of conduct. I'm all for not murdering and raping, and not just because it's *wrong*, but because a world where the social norms include murdering and raping is a bad one for me to live in."
"Exactly."
"That's the purpose of morals and loyalty, right? To create social norms that produce a world you want to live in."
"Right! And that's why *personal* loyalty is important."
Art smiled. Trap baited and sprung. "OK. So institutional loyalty — loyalty to a Tribe or a nation — that's not an important social norm. As far as you're concerned, we could abandon all pretense of institutional loyalty." Art dropped his voice. "You could go to work for the Jersey boys, sabotaging Virgin/Deutsche Telekom, just because they're willing to pay you to do it. Nothing to do with Tribal loyalty, just a job."
Fede looked uncomfortable, sensing the impending rhetorical headlock. He nodded cautiously.