Xenophobia is an irrational fear and dislike of the “other.” But when is it at its strongest?
This is a term that I’ve seen being tossed around a lot lately. I see it on social media posts and on titles of news articles. So what is xenophobia?
Xenophobia is a fear or dislike of the “other.” It’s a prejudice against people from other countries.
But when is it at its strongest?
Society has a tendency of ramping up xenophobia when there is a crisis going on. When the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers happened, non-Middle Eastern people automatically felt a need to blame Middle Eastern people and to fear all of them. Despite it being a terrorist group that did the attacks, anyone who had a brown complexion and followed a certain religion was prejudged.
Xenophobia also rises when there is an illness outbreak.
In 2020, there was an outbreak of the coronavirus flu. The flu, which originated in China, has caused many people to fear Asian people. And through this fear, many Asians are facing racist abuse.
And it’s not just from white people. I recognize myself also pre-judging Asians. If I walk around and I’m near an Asian person who starts to cough aggressively, I’m going to try to get away from that person as quickly as possible.
I also realized that I don’t want other people to think that I have it.
I was waiting in line one time… there were two white people behind me, and my nose started to stuff up. I had allergies and it was bothering me. But since I didn’t want to be prejudged, I just tried my best to discretely wipe it.
And this is terrible!
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I shouldn’t be adding to the racism that already exists. But since I was born and raised in a western nation, I have xenophobia in myself as well. There’s not much I could about it. All I could really do is recognize when I am falling prey and check myself.