Xenophobia is an obsessive fear of unfamiliar faces; hatred, intolerance towards someone or something alien, unfamiliar, unusual. Xenophobia is also called any hostility towards a foreign object, be it the historical heritage of another ethnic group or the traditions of a non-native cultural group.
Xenophobia: what does this concept mean and why is this phenomenon considered one of the most dangerous problems of modern humanity? To answer this question, it is necessary to understand the very nature of this phenomenon.
Xenophobia is fear/intolerance of the unfamiliar/strange.
Hatred is the anger of weak people.
Alphonse Daudet
- 1.Why do people hate each other? 1.1.But is there any point in hatred?
- Xenophobia is fear/intolerance of the unfamiliar/strange.
- Anatidaephobia is the fear of being watched by a duck.
- Ergophobia is the fear of work
- Haptophobia - fear of being touched
- Social phobia - what is it, a disease of the mind or soul?
Why do people hate each other?
Unfortunately, hatred of each other always takes place in the life of society.
The reason for this may be that all people are different, individual and, accordingly, their actions and views on things are different. Often, differences of opinion lead to quarrels. Such a phenomenon as hatred of a person who is different in some way from all people was even given a name - xenophobia. Many people are accustomed to following stereotypes, thinking primitively and going with the flow of life. But in those moments when a person comes to such a team with his own fresh thoughts and tries to implement them, then all the other members of the team first of all begin to show a strong hostility towards the newcomer. It is possible that such activity by an employee will sooner or later cause hatred from his colleagues. After all, he does not behave the way they want. Here another human trait manifests itself - selfishness. And there is no escape from this, because essentially all people are born selfish. This is where people are programmed to envy and hate those who are doing better than themselves.
But is there any point in hatred?
It is unlikely that such a quality has ever helped anyone in life. Hatred can even ruin a person’s appearance, because a constant lack of mood and a sincere smile does not benefit the skin and nervous system. Is there anything that can be done to avoid the negative feeling of hatred?
To overcome hatred, you need to start loving. After all, how can you have time to enjoy life if you spend all your time on meaningless anger and hatred of others. You need to understand that by letting go of a negative attitude towards other people, you can establish good relationships with them and a lot of problems in life will immediately disappear. Going to work with a friendly team will be much more pleasant. If suddenly such a feeling appears towards a person who has done nothing wrong, you must first understand why hatred appeared towards him, what provoked it? Perhaps such thoughts will help control emotions and will not lead to conflict.
Of course, there is also justified hatred, when a person has actually done something terrible to another. There can be no talk of simple self-control here. A person must decide for himself what to do with the offender: punish him, or let life do it itself. After all, all actions in everyone’s life sooner or later return as a boomerang.
Is it possible to fight xenophobia while simultaneously inciting it? It turned out it was possible. This is exactly what state propaganda is doing now. It is difficult even to say whether the gentlemen are doing this with the best intentions, out of a passionate desire to serve the highest will, out of stupidity, or in pursuit of some deep provocative goals.
Every single day for some time now, as if on command, the average person began to be persistently informed in almost every television news: xenophobia, fascism and racial intolerance are growing in the country. They talk about xenophobia in talk shows, in everything from the respectable ones of Posner to the bastard ones of Malakhov. On this occasion, the televangelical Soloviev “calls to the barrier.” Moreover, each time it becomes more and more obvious: the average person, in cases where such action as voting is assumed in a talk show, votes more and more chauvinistically, illiberally and at the same time “patriotically”.
Meanwhile, reality gives more and more reasons for concern about the growth of xenophobia. Almost every day, here and there throughout our vast homeland, a foreign black student is killed, some guest worker or simply a “person of Caucasian nationality” is beaten half to death. This news is no longer pushed into the background, but is certainly reported in the first lines. The prosecutor's office is also diligent: instead of previous attempts to write off aggressive manifestations of racism and national hatred as simple hooliganism, it now “detects” xenophobia much more often. And he even demands that lower authorities reclassify already opened criminal cases as “nationalist”. That is, the authorities are doing everything to emphasize the presence of a serious problem in society. So, for example, the crazy dunce who carried out a massacre in a Moscow synagogue received an emphatically long sentence (13 years).
Is the media doing the right thing when every day they talk about all these murders, beatings, attacks, and simply even the existence of Nazism in Russia as a movement that is becoming more and more widespread?
Yes, right. And they must continue to do this in the future, not only because it is their professional duty, but also because society is really seriously ill, and this disease is really getting worse.
But this is only part of the truth. Quite obvious to all normal people.
There is another part that is not obvious. And it seems to me that the effect of such propaganda of the supposed fight against xenophobia, as it is being waged today, this effect can turn out to be in many cases the exact opposite. For example, is it reliably known that the sentence of the anti-Semite Koptsev at the age of 13 was clearly perceived in society exactly as it seemed to be intended? Are you sure that the number of xenophobes has decreased and not increased after this emphatically harsh sentence?
Are you sure that after the scandalous refusal of the jury to see a nationalist motive in a high-profile crime (the murder of a nine-year-old Tajik girl in St. Petersburg), which was repeatedly reported throughout the country, the number of those who think that “serves them right, Asian drug dealers?” , otherwise they’ve come in large numbers here,” has decreased?
Are you sure that repeated showing of skinheads, Nazi swastikas, quoting (even with muffled obscene expressions) their threats against foreigners has exactly the effect that state propagandists seem to be trying to achieve?
Are you sure that some young people somewhere in the hopelessly wretched Russian outback, drinking from the lack of any tomorrow in their lives, after seeing enough shots of “tough guys”, won’t think: “But they’re probably right, otherwise why is ours so wretched?” life"?
State propagandists today are trying to act in the spirit of almost exclusively negativity: skinheads are bad, nationalism is terrible, and those who incite ethnic hatred should not count on the leniency of the authorities, and they will receive full sentences.
And the more and more often they repeat all this, the more they not only attract attention to the problem itself (and they, of course, do), but also increase the number of those who sympathize with these skinheads and begin to be seriously interested in Nazi and nationalist ideology. Why?
For two reasons. The first is the ineffectiveness of the current state propaganda as such. They trust the officialdom less and less. Everything that comes today from above, from the authorities, cosmically divorced from the people in their rapturous theft and arrogance, is perceived as either an outright lie or a complete inadequacy to real human problems. Therefore, everything or almost everything that today is dressed up in official phrases regarding the same xenophobia is perceived by many as false. Accordingly, this every time gives rise to the desire to think and act in defiance of such falsehood. This was the case in late Soviet times, when for some time now everything that was said from above began to be perceived exactly the opposite or not perceived at all.
The second reason is that any propaganda based solely on denial, on the negative, is doomed to failure. For example, in relation to American election campaigns, the approximate amount of negativity (negative advertising) was once calculated, after exceeding which political advertising begins to work counterproductively - this is 40%. After this, the person who stigmatizes and criticizes begins to lose, and not the one against whom this negativity is directed.
So it is with Russian xenophobia. We are constantly told only one thing: xenophobia is bad, skinheads are bandits, manifestations of nationalism will be punished with extreme cruelty. Yes it is. But let it be the same 40%. But no more. Where is the other 60%? What's good? What is the right thing to eat? And from what (who) should we take an example? And where are those ideas, ethical, moral, civic guidelines that can be opposed to fascism that is raising its head? And where, finally, is there a normal, human conversation with one’s own people? Not in the official birdlike and completely false language of officialdom (or in the form of “staged skits” broadcast from government meetings or high-ranking meetings of senior officials among themselves, during which they communicate with each other like stilted Fonvizin characters uttering edifying and boring platitudes), but in the ordinary , the normal language spoken by the rest of the country. In the meantime, it turns out that in terms of the form of linguistic communication, in the form of the “solutions” proposed that are simple and understandable to the average person, skinheads, Limonovites, Rodinta nationalists today sometimes turn out to be much closer to the average person on the street than the eloquent gentlemen from the Public Chamber and other civil propaganda structures, not to mention already about the main directors of ideological work.
Or maybe this is just some kind of secret cunning plan? Maybe by doing such clumsy, deliberately failed ideological work, they really want to bring the fascists to power? Or do they just want to scare them, so that in 2008 everything will be all right and the frightened average person will vote as they should?
How, however, not to get too carried away...
What is xenophobia: definition
Xenophobia is FEAR
. Exactly like that, with a capital “I” – irrational, inexplicable and poorly controlled. This is panicky rejection, rejection, hostility, hatred, the whole spectrum of negative emotions towards everything that falls under the category of “alien”.
The victim of this definition may be a representative of national minorities, a visiting foreign tourist, or just a stranger on the street - the reaction of a xenophobe will be unpredictable, from an attempt to avoid contact and gloomy withdrawal to open manifestations of aggression towards a stranger.
A xenophobe is a person who is afraid, and therefore does not accept, everyone and everything that is alien to him.
Xenophobia in a person arises at the personal level and when interacting with other people in small groups, but the results and consequences of its spread can be costly for the entire state. Unlike other common phobias, such as, for example, fear of spiders or closed spaces, xenophobia is a fear that brings discomfort not so much to the subject as to the external object at which it is directed.
The concept of “xenophobia” should be divided into medical and social aspects. In the first case, it can be manifested in the form of stupor, anxiety or a panic attack that occurs in a xenophobe when it is necessary to interact with strangers. Such people feel uncomfortable in a crowd, in a strange company, in a new city or place; even in a critical situation, a xenophobe most likely will not be able to turn to a stranger for help.
The second case is when interacting exclusively with social strata and groups, xenophobia is expressed in terms of wariness and mistrust to extremist aggression towards representatives of another race, ethnic group, subculture, etc.
Show/Hide text
Do you know that:
If you delve deeper into the meaning of the ancient Greek terms that underlie the word “xenophobia,” you will find that xenophobic people, literally, are “fearful of strangers.”
The word "xenophobia", an elegant term for aversion to strangers, comes from two Greek terms: Xenos
, which can be translated as either "stranger" or "guest", and
Phobos
, which means either "fear" or "flight". The word "Phobos" is the basic root for all English -phobia terms, but many of the definitions of phobias were actually coined in English or New Latin, using the combination of the new word with the prefix -phobia. The term “xenophobia” itself originated in New Latin and first appeared in print in English in 1903.
Xenophobes in our country
Even in a state where internationalism was elevated to the rank of official ideology, xenophobia (as well as nationalism) was and remains a hot topic.
During the Soviet era, the image of an external enemy and distrust of everything alien was cultivated. At different periods these were merchants, nobles, “kulaks”, clergy, representatives of objectionable parties and movements.
The idea that there are strangers around has been instilled into the mass consciousness since childhood. A striking illustration of such “education” is a poem by Sergei Mikhalkov about a Soviet pioneer who had a nightmare: he is on the deck of a foreign ship sailing to another country, and there are Americans around him.
The pioneer is scared, he tries to run away, dreaming of one thing: to return to the USSR. The alarm ringing saves him from the nightmare.
Contacts with foreigners were limited, marriages with them were undesirable. Not everything went well with the declared friendship of peoples either. Anti-Semitism, “unreliable” and therefore resettled peoples (Crimean Tatars), titular and non-titular nations - this gave rise to manifestations of xenophobia.
After the collapse of the USSR, hostility to outsiders intensified, and the No. 1 object of dislike in the post-Soviet space became the “big brother” - the Russian population, which was held responsible for past and present difficulties. This was especially evident in the Baltic countries, Ukraine, Moldova, and Transcaucasia.
A powerful impetus to xenophobia was given by the war in Chechnya and the increased danger of international terrorism. Gradually, migrants became objects of hostility, perceived as carriers of an alien culture and unwanted competitors.
Types of xenophobia
The presence of a tendency towards this phenomenon is not necessary and is not clearly expressed in every case.
Aggressive legal xenophobia is the propaganda of discrimination, extremism and violent methods of struggle. However, its hidden form, expressed in rejection based on persistent prejudices in relation to certain objects, is much more common. Depending on the orientation, these types of xenophobia
How:
- Racial/ethnic
. This includes racism, ethnophobia, anti-Semitism, Sinophobia, etc. - Religious
. A striking example is both the medieval Crusades and modern conflicts between representatives of Christian, Jewish and Islamic religious movements. - Territorial
. There can be both hostility towards foreigners in general and local divisions, for example, enmity between teenagers from neighboring streets or groups from different parts of the city. - Social
. This implies a division of society along any basis: from financial status to cultural preferences and appearance, the most common being sexism and homophobia.
What is the danger of xenophobia and how to combat it
All types of xenophobia have a destructive beginning . They provoke division according to different criteria and criteria, giving rise to hostility, because hostility towards strangers is manifested not only in words.
Aggression (even murder) towards foreign students and migrants, armed clashes on religious grounds, Nazi appeals - these are the consequences of this phenomenon.
Extremism can arise from open xenophobia - this is a commitment to extreme measures in solving problems with experienced hostility and fear.
Xenophobia is cultivated by extremist ultranationalist groups, and political forces are often behind its supposedly spontaneous manifestations.
How to deal with this “disease” that most people are susceptible to?
- Study the unknown - the culture and characteristics of other peoples, groups of people, etc. To get rid of fear and hostility, you need to know the “enemy in person.”
- From an early age, cultivate tolerance (what is this?) and an understanding that people are different - in skin color, weight, interests and beliefs.
- Explain the destructive nature of xenophobia, condemning its manifestations.
- Uncontrollable panic attacks and severe discomfort when interacting with strangers require the help of a psychotherapist and psychologist.
It is impossible to prohibit hating people with different habits, religion, and skin color. Prevention of xenophobia is designed to smooth out irrational fear, preventing it from transforming into extreme forms.
Study of the level of xenophobia in the modern world
The University of Bielefeld (Bielefeld, Germany) conducted a study among 650 respondents from the country between 2015 and 2021.
regarding the level of goodwill, or, conversely, hostility towards immigrants constantly arriving in the country. The PsyMod.ru portal has translated and adapted interesting and, at the same time, shocking data on xenophobia, which you can see in the infographic below.
Treatment
Many people suffering from body dysmorphic disorder are critical of their condition, but cannot cope with it on their own. This is hampered by the irresistible fear that grips the patient, although he is well aware of its meaninglessness.
To understand whether a person needs outside help, and to help himself understand his own feelings, the patient can take a test for body dysmorphic disorder. This can be found on the Internet - it is freely available.
The pathology is treated by a psychiatrist. Taking psychotropic medications, in particular antidepressants, as well as cognitive behavioral psychotherapy has a positive effect on the patient.
A very important aspect that must be taken into account during therapy is the presence of another disorder. Then dysmorphophobia becomes only a syndrome within the framework of this psychopathology. The underlying disorder is treated first. And only then, if BDD does not go away as part of the treatment of the underlying disease, do they begin to eliminate it.
Causes of xenophobia
Essentially, every person is a xenophobe.
This is inherent in us by nature: it is believed that primary socialization causes the need to unite on the basis of a common characteristic, to draw the line “We” - “They”. Xenophobia in the modern world is no less tenacious than hundreds and thousands of years ago. Massive trends towards multiculturalism and multinationality in modern states lead to the manifestation of natural instincts of protection, group self-identification, and fear of dissolving in the growing ethnic and cultural diversity. The threat to social identity is an important, but not the only reason for the manifestation of xenophobia among the population. It is generated by:
- an ideology that is fashionable and widespread in certain circles; upbringing;
- lack of education leading to fear of the unknown;
- as well as personal experience based on negative experiences and associations.
Story
Global mass phobias based on xenophobia arise in the modern era. The “great xenophobias” were formed in Europe, but took on a global character and spread not only to the countries of the “European world.” By the beginning of the 20th century, the “great xenophobia” included the concepts of the “world Jewish conspiracy” and the “yellow peril.” Moreover, these two phobias could merge into one world conspiracy theory. Thus, the far-right Russian politician Vladimir Purishkevich stated that Jews are deliberately sabotaging the fight against the looming “yellow danger” in order to undermine the power of Russia, and Mikhail Menshikov stated that Jews and Chinese are united by “economic parasitism” and “the ancient claim of Asia to own us.”
At the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, they were replaced by the concepts of “Islamic threat” and “invasion of migrants”. However, there are also other options for using the concepts of “great xenophobia”, for example, statements that “Western civilization” led by Jews pursues the goal of suppressing the “Islamic world” before further confrontation with the “yellow civilization”.
How to get rid of xenophobia
If we consider the situation as a clinical phobia, then its treatment directly depends on the degree of involvement and voluntary consent of the patient.
If a person is aware of the need to overcome, the origins of it and is ready for change, then a series of sessions with a psychologist or psychiatrist (depending on the complexity of the case) is quite capable of solving the problem. Sometimes during therapy, medication is used to help the patient reduce anxiety and get rid of panic attacks in the presence of strangers. Less common, but no less effective, is the use of hypnotic suggestion.
Contact with the outside world
The feeling of one’s own inferiority and inferiority is reflected in the patient’s mood, worldview, and relationships with others. Dysmorphophobia, as a rule, is depressed, taciturn, anxious, and shows some nervousness.
People with BDD are embarrassed by a perceived flaw. When they appear in a crowded place, they think that the attention of others is directed exclusively at them. Because of this, patients try to limit contacts. Strangers do not suspect that a person has a disorder, so they perceive him as arrogant or unsociable, closed, sometimes strange, called a snob or a rebel.
The girl came to school with a bag over her head to hide her “scary face.” The teacher, naturally, misunderstood her. He decided that she wanted to disrupt the lesson and kicked her out of class.
People with dysmorphophobia have difficulty building relationships with people: making friends, forming romantic relationships. Due to constant concentration on the deficiency, absent-mindedness and loss of self-control appear. Academic performance decreases and productivity decreases.
Constant companions of patients with dysmorphophobia are depression, low self-esteem, panic attacks, and anxiety. They often suffer from addictions: alcohol, drugs.
Constant nervous tension, negative emotions, and anxiety exhaust the patient. Unable to withstand the pressure, the patient resorts to suicide attempts. Suicide in BDD is common and natural.
Prevention of xenophobia
In modern society, the concepts of “youth” and “xenophobia” are often linked through various extremist movements, such as neo-fascism, neo-Nazism, skinheads, etc. This type of xenophobia is, first of all, the result of ideology and education, and therefore requires mass prevention at the state level .
To prevent the emergence of xenophobic ideas among the younger generation, the following means are needed:
- Condemnation of xenophobia as an ideology.
- Promoting the principles of tolerance and tolerance.
- Replacing fear with curiosity through the study of the unknown, familiarization with foreign cultures, religions, nationalities through mass events.
- Timely identification of extremist tendencies and neutralization of groups supporting socially dangerous movements.
- Fostering the ideas of equality and respect at the level of the family, mass media, educational and educational institutions.
One of the clearest examples of xenophobia
A teacher at a Jewish school in Arizona (USA) was fired after a series of comments she made on the microblogging service Twitter.
In one of the correspondences on the microblog, Bonnie Vern spoke insultingly and aggressively about immigrants in the United States, suggesting that they simply kill them all.
After such statements from the school teacher, students, their parents and relatives bombarded the school principal with condemning messages, arguing that a person with xenophobic and racist tendencies could not and should not be a teacher.
The wave of indignation and condemnation did its job - the teacher was fired, and her profile on the social network was immediately deleted with all her messages.
