Xenophobia: causes, modern world and intolerance

• Definition of the concept
• Behavior patterns
• Causes
• Varieties
• Fighting a phobia
• Preventive measures
• Final part

Many of us do not know what xenophobia is. Its brief definition means an obsessive fear in a person of unfamiliar faces and people who cause fear. Often, xenophobia refers to absolutely any hostility towards an alien object, which is the cultural heritage of another ethnic group or another cultural group, far from our nationality.

Xenophobia - fear of people of a different nationality

Definition of the concept

Xenophobia is quite common in the modern world. In a broad sense, this word means fear that is associated with people of a different nationality. On a subconscious level, a person is afraid not of the person himself, but of the possibility of losing cultural identity and individuality. This is not a fear of a certain other nationality, but the desire of the people to provide their loved ones with safe living conditions without losing their individual characteristics.

This phobia usually carries with it some special consequences. Such a person does not receive appropriate legislative and public support. Any activity, culture, or spending free time that differs from the norm can cause real fear in a person.

As a rule, xenophobia deals an irreparable blow to the human psyche. Such a patient perceives everything new and unusual quite hostilely. A xenophobe can present any innovations by strangers as an attempt at hostile behavior towards his ethnic group. Such a pathology not only has a detrimental effect on the human psyche, but also exposes all alien people as potential enemies who can harm a particular ethnic group.

Definition of the concept

Behavior patterns

In the process of numerous studies, professionals were able to identify several models of behavior and thinking of a xenophobe with a possible object of fear:

• “I clearly see him - he is a person of a different nationality, he is a stranger”;
• “he’s not like me, which means it’s dangerous: it’s unknown what kind of troubles should be expected from him, I’m sure that nothing good will come from our contact”;
• “I’m scared, but I have an obligation to protect myself and my loved ones.”

In the first model of behavior, it does not matter what distinctive features a person has. This could be race or some non-specific figure, height, facial features, etc. A xenophobe can be frightened by any sign of a stranger that he himself does not possess.

The second model of behavior is distinguished by the fact that the patient exhibits an insurmountable fear of persons who are different from those people who surround him every day and do not cause him any harm. Patients with this model of behavior are convinced that a stranger will show sadism and, possibly, terrorism towards the close people of the xenophobe.

Experts compare the third model of behavior with the behavior of a mother who takes care of her children. The patient not only makes sure that his loved ones are not in danger, but also tries to significantly narrow their contact so that a stranger cannot cause harm.

The essence of fear is the dislike of any differences, because they can become the causes of subsequent problems. Such fear deprives a person of the opportunity to solve this problem. On the contrary, it increases panic and makes it impossible to get rid of the fear of strangers. Another feature of xenophobes is pronounced ethnocentrism. Such people see the only ideal of people. Anyone who is not like him automatically belongs to a group called “enemies.”

Signs of fear in a xenophobe

Recognizing a xenophobe or xenophobe in yourself or in another is not so difficult. To do this, you need to track several signs:

1. 
   A person does not want to go out, fearing manifestations of extremism.

2. He feels uncomfortable when anyone looks at him. For example, in public transport.
3. In the most difficult and incomprehensible situations, a xenophobe is unable to turn to others for help .
4. Excitement or panic can occur even from simple phone calls.
5. Unexpected panic attacks when confronted with strangers, foreigners, etc.

The xenophobic mechanism and tolerance are two mutually exclusive phenomena. In modern society, intolerance is not welcomed. Therefore, people susceptible to radical conclusions and views try not to show their aggression or fear too clearly.

Causes

Experts say that xenophobia is a disease that can be inherent in a person historically. As a rule, aliens came to the territory of one state for a reason. Usually they came with the goal of conquering new territories, resources, and even prisoners.

In the modern world, this is quite rare.

Many professionals call the biological basis of xenophobia not just the fear of foreigners, but also the need to protect themselves and their loved ones from possible danger. It's not just about family and friends. In this case, we are talking about entire peoples, tribes and nations. Protection can also be very different:

• physical;
• moral;
• ideological, etc.

This obsessive fear of strangers can be inherited and arise under the influence of the surrounding society. If others are afraid of foreigners, then the phobia will automatically transfer to this person. The fact is that the proven principle of “in-group favoritism” forces each person to give preference to those people who are members of the closest social group. In one case, we treat our neighbors with respect and communicate well with strangers. But if we have even the slightest signs of xenophobia, then we treat only representatives of our social group with respect. The rest of the surrounding people do not carry any cultural value for us. Moreover, they serve as enemies for us, against whom we constantly try to go in order to protect our people.

Quite obvious reasons for the emergence of fear of a representative of a foreign people are often recorded. As such a reason, we can name the history of unfavorable relationships of a particular nationality.

Many Russian women have been diagnosed with Caucasian phobia. Typically, such women have bitter experience in relationships with hot-tempered Caucasian men.

Often the cause of fear of foreigners, especially representatives of eastern countries, is terrorism. Every day more and more cases of terrorist attacks in public places are being recorded. Such a danger can cause panic and severe fear. This phobia is usually passed down from generation to generation. The reasons for the emergence of xenophobia may lie in the predominance of foreigners on the territory of the state. Any alien and large ethnic group on the territory of the country leads to the fact that the indigenous population will develop hostility towards migrants.

The last reason for the emergence of xenophobia is a lack of understanding of the terrible customs of this people. It can be scary that many peoples worship dark forces. In their homes they keep the skulls of loved ones and relatives. All this in the modern world can cause shock and hostility not only to customs, but also to the ethnic group as a whole. The reasons for the appearance of a psychological phobia of this nature can be very different.

Varieties

It is a mistaken belief that xenophobia is synonymous with racism. Racism is a manifestation of hostility towards other nationalities. An obsessive fear of unfamiliar faces that are different from a person is completely different.

It also cannot be said that the description of xenophobia completely coincides with nationalism. If in the second case people are frightened by representatives of other nationalities, religions and cultures, then the meaning of xenophobia suggests that the patient can be frightened even by external distinctive characteristics.

There are different types of xenophobia, which are classified according to different criteria. There are 2 main forms of pathology, which are determined by their manifestations.

1. Hidden form.
2. Aggressive form.

In the first case, a person trusts the stereotypes that all gypsies are thieves, but reacts adequately to the appearance of this nationality nearby.

The second variety is quite dangerous. The xenophobe in this case can physically deal with Jews, blacks, Muslims and all those people who differ from him both externally and internally. Extremism often develops on the basis of excessive aggression - fighting a problem using the most extreme methods of solving it. Extremism is manifested by real legal discrimination against all migrants.

Another criterion for classifying xenophobia is the ethnic group towards which all aggression is directed. Racism is clearly identified aggression towards other races. Anti-Semitism in the modern world is called hatred of Jews. Sinophobia is a pathological fear of the Chinese and other “narrow-eyed” peoples. Xenophobia can be classified according to the orientation of the group in society.

1. Sexism is discrimination based on gender.
2. Handicapism is hatred of people with disabilities.
3. Ageism means discrimination based on age.

There are other types of xenophobia, classified according to other criteria, but the most famous and common types are listed above.

Sexism often accompanies xenophobia

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

FUNDAMENTALS OF SCIENTIFIC ANTI-SEMITISM

INDEPENDENT PHILOSOPHICAL STUDY OF THE JEWISH QUESTION

Anti-Semite

– opponent of Jewry as a criminal organization.

Antisemitism

– attitude towards Jewry as a criminal organization or as a criminal ideology. (Below we present a collection of alternative definitions from the website of the Public Opinion Foundation.

Anti-Zionism

- rejection of Jewish nationalism, in most cases the same as anti-Semitism.

Globalism

– world domination of one of the civilizations

Goy

- a person who does not have chosen status, who is spiritually or physically discriminated against by Jewry.

Goyishness

- a subject of conflict in the Jewish question, opposing Jewry as an organization.

Discrimination

– inequality in the rights of certain subjects with their equal merits.

Discourse

– a political language that organizes the thinking of the masses in the right direction.

Dichotomy

– dividing a concept into two contradictory classes, completely exhausting the scope of the dividing concept, when the second class includes everything that is not included in the first. For example: all of humanity is divided into cyclists and non-cyclists.

Jew abstract

- a subject belonging to Jewry in the first sense.

Jewish question

– the relationship between Jewry and goyism, giving rise to conflict and mutual hostility.

Jewry

(in the first sense) - a community of people organized according to racial-ideological principles, implying for all its members the status of being chosen, giving them the right to enjoy special protection from their fellows.

Jewry

(in the second sense) - a paradigm, ideology, a set of principles by which Jewry lives and acts as an organization.

Judonazism

- an extreme form of Zionism, which involves the physical liquidation of peoples and nations that stand in the way of Jewish interests.

Class

- a social group that has a certain status of social hierarchy differs from an estate or caste only in that it does not have any legally secured privileges, but has real opportunities to dominate or, conversely, does not have them, which forces them to be subordinate and in depending on the will of the former. Based on these capabilities, they distinguish: capitalists, workers, officials, lumpen, etc. but they often say more simply and more precisely: “tops” and “bottoms”; "haves" and "have-nots".

Xenophobia

- intolerance towards others.

Mondialism

(from the French mondial - world, worldwide) - a political doctrine that seeks to unite the world and subordinate it to a single world government (under the auspices of the West).

People

- a community of people united by a common history, culture and mental make-up.

The science

– a research method based on identifying the necessary connections between phenomena.

Nazism

- an extreme form of nationalism, which involves the complete cleansing of one’s living space (territory) from subjects of other nations, for example: Judenfrei - a territory free of Jews.

Nationalism

– dividing people into “nationalities” for discriminatory purposes

Nation

- a community of people united by nationalist interests.

An object

- an object, everything that is in one way or another under the influence or to which the subject’s attention can be directed.

Objects of conflict

- subjects of conflict

Paradigm

- a standard of thinking and behavior generally accepted in a particular social group.

Predicate

- a term that makes up the predicate of a judgment, everything that is attributed to the subject (subject)

Item

- everything about which a judgment can be formed, the same as the object, the same as the subject as the subject of judgment.

Race

– a subject of a conflict that arose on racist grounds

Racism

- dividing people into “higher” and “lower” races (breeds) based on the quality of their ancestors or even the qualities falsely attributed to their race by racist prejudices.

Simulacrum

(simulacra) is a term of postmodern philosophy denoting objects that have become signs of non-existent entities.

Zionism –

Jewish nationalism.

Subject

- a term that makes up the subject of judgment, everything about which something is expressed.

Subject

- an individual or community that has a specific impact on or interest in an object.

Subjects of the conflict

– parties to the conflict

Tautology

- the definition of a particular concept by its own scope or through synonymous words that are identical to the defined concept in meaning and content.

Term

- an integral part of judgment.

Shabesgoy

- a goy who serves the interests of Jewry or accepts Jewish ideology.

Phobia

– psychological intolerance, a feeling of fear or hostility towards something.

Civilization

- a geopolitical union of nations with common political interests, as well as common historical, religious and cultural roots.

Existentialism

– (from Latin exsistentia - existence) a method of cognition of objective reality as existing independently of the concepts and categories accepted in a particular discourse, which, in turn, are derived from existence. In other words, according to Sartre’s definition: “existence precedes essence.”

Essentialism

- (from Latin essentia - essence) - a method of knowing objective reality through a system of pre-prescribed concepts (categories) that determine the nature of an existing object. In other words: Essence precedes existence.

Judeophobia

– racial, biological rejection of Jews.

Argumentum ad hominem

(argument to a person) - an argument in a discussion that is not directly related to the thesis under discussion, and therefore does not prove or refute it in any way. Its only goal is to shift attention from the issue under discussion to the personal merits or demerits of the particular person who raised this issue.

Contradictio in projecto

(contradiction in term) - a logical error that attributes incompatible qualities to an object.

Petitio principi

(anticipation of the basis) - a logical error when a thesis is introduced in advance that needs to be proven later.

The website of the Public Opinion Foundation provides interesting statistics on how Russians understand the word “anti-Semitism” dated November 25, 1998. Let us quote a collection of definitions of anti-Semitism, among which, note, there is not a single one that even comes close to ours. The ignorance of the public on the Jewish question is simply amazing:

“An all-Russian population survey based on a representative sample in 56 settlements in 29 regions, territories and republics of all economic and geographical zones of Russia. Interview at the place of residence. Sample size: 1500 respondents. The survey was conducted on November 14-15, 1998.

RESULTS

Respondents were asked to briefly explain in free form how they understood the word “anti-Semitism.” (The interviewers read the following text to the respondents: “On television, on the radio, in the press they sometimes talk about anti-Semitism. Could you briefly explain what this word means?”).

51% of respondents found it difficult to give any definition, avoided answering, or stated that they were hearing this word for the first time. The rest – 49% – gave meaningful answers.

For 31% of respondents, anti-Semitism is a negative attitude towards Jews, manifested both in the moods, statements, behavior of individuals or groups of society, and in government policy in general::

“dislike for Jews”; “anti-Jewish protests”; "persecution of Jews"; "the fight against the Jews"; “the humiliation of the Jewish nation”; “national policy directed against Jews”; “fascist policy against Jews”; "extermination of the Jews"; “bad attitude towards Jews”; “this is when they call Jews names”; “dislike for Jews”; “hatred of the Jewish people”; “this is a humiliation of the Jewish nation at any level”; "diminution of Jewish rights"; “anti-Jewish sentiments in certain groups of society”; “non-recognition of Jews”; "hatred of Jews"; “insulting Jews”; “this is an attitude towards the Jewish nation”; "enmity with Jews"; “special attitude towards Jews”; "persecution of the Jews"; “intransigence, hostility towards Jews”; “something to do with religions and Jews”; "movement against Jews"; "Jewish disease"; “passion for the Jews”; "anti-Jewish policy"; "label on the Jews"; “preventing Jews from coming to power”; “political direction against persons of Jewish nationality”; “inciting hatred towards Jews”; “bad attitude towards Jews”; “this is when people oppose Jews, do not accept not only religious differences, but generally oppose people of this nationality”; “teaching against Jews”; “this is the persecution of people of Jewish nationality, overtly or covertly”; “nationalism towards Jews”; “when individuals want power and humiliate Jews”; “aggressive attitude towards Jews”; "oppression of the Jews."

About a sixth of respondents (15%) defined anti-Semitism broadly, generally as nationalism, chauvinism, racism, fascism, without specifically linking it with attitudes towards Jews:

“This is what the National Socialists say about people of an inferior race”; “infringement of the rights of people of another nationality”; “negative attitude towards “people of color”, towards people of Caucasian nationality”; “speaking against people of other nations”; "national intolerance"; “attitude towards a person depending on the nation”; “the same nationalism”; “rejection of a foreign nation, foreign habits”; "fascism"; “hatred of other nations”; “the same racism”; “hostility towards other peoples and religions”; "national question"; "enmity between nations"; "chauvinism and racism"; "nationalism"; “in Eastern countries there is persecution of people of other nationalities”; “persecution of people of other faiths”; “politics of nationalism”; “superiority of one nation over another”; "Nazi policy"; "Nazism"; "politics of fascism"; “against all nationalities”; “this is when nations collide”; “infringement of rights depending on the nation”; “this is when only Russians are people, and the rest are not”; “racial prejudice”; “one of the forms of racial chauvinism”; “policy of inciting national hatred”; “insulting people of other nationalities”; “racial suppression, hatred of another race”; “inciting hostility towards other nations”; “when people are divided by race or nationality”; “like Nazism”; “extreme degree of nationalism”; “one nation is better than others”; “inciting national hatred”; “the fight against blacks, blacks”; “this is a negative attitude towards any nationality - Jews, Chinese, blacks”; “anti-Semitism is nationalism, it is a privilege for one nation”; “hatred of other nations”; “discrediting other nationalities”; “similar to fascism”; “the primacy of the Russian nation”; "national discord".

An even more broad interpretation of anti-Semitism as a generally negative phenomenon associated with inciting any hostility was given by 1% of respondents:

“the fight against dissent”; “politics of hostility”; "politics of war"; “violation of rights, oppression of people”; “these are political games”; "it's a mess"; “something anti-government”; “this is hostility towards some position”; “this is a negative attitude against some group of people”; “this is bad, I am always for the friendship of peoples”; “this is incitement to civil war”; "violation of an individual's rights"; “this is incitement to hostility of any type, not only on national grounds”; “aggression of some people towards others is a contagious disease”; "dislike of humanity."

Among respondents, 1.5% gave openly anti-Semitic answers. At the same time, the respondents approved of anti-Semitism or explained the reason for such sentiments: “against the dominance of the Jews”; “this is a Jewish invention!”; “the dominance of Jews in all spheres of activity”; “the fight against that Jewish organization that has set the goal of conquering the whole world”; “all Jews – to their homeland”; “the predominance of Jews in the country”; “this is that the Jews want to take over the whole world”; “this is a movement against the dominance of the Jews”; “This is an invasion of Jews, because Jews now mostly occupy leadership positions”; “there are no Russians left, it will be even worse”; “a defensive reaction to the general Jewish dominance”; “beat the Jews, save Russia”; “this is a Jewish question, only one nation claims to be oppressed”; "progressive phenomenon".

Another small proportion of respondents (2%) gave rather unique interpretations:

“probably it’s something so strong – faith in the future”; “this is a political movement”; "Faith in God"; “like destruction, like “anti-fascism”; “movement against religion”; “this means complete impotence of Russia”; “against Soviet power”; “maybe these are the ones who wear crosses? I do not understand"; “persecution of any religion”; “the fight against the religious peoples inhabiting Russia.”

Fighting a phobia

The current situation in the states that are part of the CIS allows us to talk about the active development of national intolerance.

The main manifestation of xenophobia in the modern world is the presence of physical injuries inflicted on representatives of other nationalities. Quite often it comes to the point that after serious beatings, foreigners have to undergo treatment for a long time. Sometimes people even kill representatives of nationalities that differ in culture, appearance, etc.

In order to quickly eliminate extremism, it is necessary to introduce special classes in all educational institutions that will foster national tolerance. The Danish school has been practicing similar lessons for a long time, xenophobia has disappeared, studies have shown that this happened within a couple of years after the introduction of the discipline.

A phobia is dangerous because sometimes it often develops into a more aggressive phenomenon - physical violence. The state must fight this process regularly.

The fight against xenophobia also involves self-education. Educational institutions should always contribute to this in every possible way in order to eliminate various types of pathology in the country.

In order to convince a child that another nationality is no different from ours, you should familiarize him in detail with the culture of other nations. Only the positive aspects should always be revealed. Knowledge about a particular ethnic group brings all people closer together. And even if the phenomenon of xenophobia does not disappear, its intensity decreases significantly.

Causes of fear

It is almost impossible to completely abandon hatred of each other. It will arise as long as people have individuality and different views on the same events. Accordingly, their actions and opinions are always different from each other and cause different reactions.

Most people prefer to use stereotypes and calmly swim along the already explored channel of life. And if someone appears in their life who looks at the established situation from the other side, is full of new plans and makes an appropriate proposal, then they immediately begin to experience mistrust, fear, and later this develops into full-fledged conflicts.

Another important human trait that fuels xenophobia is selfishness. Someone is not behaving the way you want them to. An excellent reason to become infected with xenophobic ideas. It is very difficult to avoid all this, since we are born selfish. Freeing oneself from such psychological mechanisms can take years, or even the entire human life.

Preventive measures

Prevention of xenophobia should also be unique. The authorities of a particular country must explain that this or that nationality is not dangerous and differs little from the local population. The government must eliminate even the smallest artificial rally directed against other nationalities. The concept of this pathology will gradually fade into the background.

Prevention of phobias should be carried out by parents in the process of raising a child. The parent's word gives the child instructions for future attitude towards other people.

Correct behavior of parents is the best prevention of xenophobia in a child