Clan vs Family
According to answers.com, a clan originally was a traditional social unit in the Scottish Highlands, consisting of a number of families claiming a common ancestor and following the same hereditary chieftain. I do not like clans, for they work by exclusion, keeping out of the group those that do not share the same lineage. For all their romanticism — as best illustrated by The Godfather — clans cannot match the lasting power of families, which work by inclusion. If a friend is close enough, he becomes family, and I find that possibility to be quite nice. Most clans eventually disappear, degenerating through social interbreeding, but do so without the flamboyance of Francis Ford Coppola’s characters. It makes them very uninteresting communities, which I am glad not to be part of.
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