According to the dictionary, xenophobia is an unreasonable fear, distrust, or hatred of strangers, foreigners, or anything perceived as foreign or different. For xenophobia there are two main objects of the phobia. The first is a population group present within a society, which is not considered part of that society. Often they are recent immigrants, but xenophobia may be directed against a group which has been present for centuries. This form of xenophobia can elicit or facilitate hostile and violent reactions, such as mass expulsion of immigrants, or in the worst case, genocide.
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I always feel good to talk to strangers. I am from Pakistan and there are a lot of tourists during winter. I take initiative and talk to them. Generally they are nice people and smile back if you give them a smile. I learned a lot from them. All of them are from different cultures and they can teach a lot.
Once I met a Japense and asked him that why he was travelling. And he started thinking and ultimately he replied that he didn’t know. And once I met a Dutch photographer who was very old. He enjoyed the ride on my bike and believe me he was so alive that I was ashamed of my youth. He was a wonderful photographer and the you can see the passion with which he was taking the photos only in children when they are playing.
Now I am residing in Gulf but the people are suspicious of each other. They don’t smile. They don’t talk to each other.
Two thumbs up to nophobia at Discuss in regards to Dress flower girl white! Wednesday I was thinking the exact same thing. This is a VERY interesting line of thought.
( Disuclpas: Esta computadora no tiene tildes)
La xenofobia, entre muchos otros conceptos, es un estado de mente que destruye al individuo y a su sociedad en general. Este estado, sin emabargo, es el resultado de varios factores. Uno de ellos es la inseguridad que uno y/o la comunidad siente al no saber reaccionar a un cambio, a lo diferente, a lo nuevo. Otro, es la educacion que se recibe. En Hispanoamerica, “los conquistadores” instauraron un rechazo fatal encontra de los extranjeros. Mas de 500 anios despues este rechazo sigue en practica rebosante. Pero esta xenofobia en latinoamerica, como en muchas partes del mundo, es selectiva y va ligada a eventos y comportamientos contemporaneos, ya sean estos negativos o positivos (depende como lo vea). Es selectiva pues, en muchos de los casos, cuando se ve a un extrangero/a blanco, rubio y con ojos azules es aceptado/a y lo tratan de la mejor manera; pero si el extranjero es de descendencia africana, mayoritariamente es repudiado. Eventos mundiales, tales como la guerra en Irak o el genocidio en Sudan, hacen que mucha gente, especialmente la tradicional, reaccionen negativamente para con los ciudadanos involucrados en estas eventos.
Ironicamente, latinoamerica tiene unos de los indices mas altos de emigracion del mundo. Los mismos que repudian a uno u otro extrangero, en un momento dado seran tambien repudiados en otros paises. Lamentablemente, y debido que para muchos latinoamericanos la idiosincracia esta ya definida se les hace dificil apartarse de ella y muchas veces escojen transmitirla a sus futuras generaciones.
Afortunadamente, este mundo se esta internacionalizando a grandes pasos. Un gran numero de personas tiene ya una mayor oportunidad para visitar otros paises y sentir en carne propia lo que es ser foreneo. Esto poco a poco, segun la experiencia y el estado de mente del individuo, provocara un cambio positivo en si y eventualmente (cuando reqrese a su tierra) transmitira lo que ha aprendido a su comunidad para asi cambiarla en post de una sociedad libre de prejuicios y de negativas acciones.
De tal manera que, mientras las personas se sientan reaceas al cambio altruista, a lo nuevo, a la educacion de altiva moral y buen vivir, y no se expongan y aprendan de sus experiencias, y sobre todo, si la gente comprendiera que todos los seres humanos somos valiosos por ser simples humanos, entonces, solo entonces, la palabra “xenofobia” sera transladada del diccionario a un museo.
Quite frankly, it seems to me that nophobia at Discuss has more to do with blue dress flower girl Thursday than yesterday. The blue dress flower girl is just not as relevant to nophobia at Discuss as I had originally thought….
I actually have a very profound feeling about this subject. I for once feel total xenophbia against those who are xenophobics, not againts all of us who are equally different. I have never refused to speak to a person in my life until the day I met someone whose mental stability was perturb due to his lack of education concerning the human race and the beauty of its diversity. That day I died a little as there before me was the devil. The human race biggest treasure is in our cultural, religious and phisiological diversity.
Luckily there is no hope for us to become one.
hola! soy venezolana, y no hay fobia que me llame la atención que ésta, la xenofobia, siendo yo el resultado del mestizaje racial más complejo que jamás haya escuchado, no le encontraba sentido a este fénomeno, más sin embargo, considero que tooodo lo que ha hecho la sociedad es por temor a los otros, muchos tienen miedo a los extranjeros por temor a tomar rasgos ajenos a si mismos, por temor a perder terreno, o simplemente x temor a lo desconocido… Es allí donde está lo maravilloso de Dios, que aún teniendo el poder de hacernos toodos iguales, nos hizo a cada grupo racial diferente, para amarnos mas alla de un color o una cultura, para aprender el significado de la tolerancia y su mandamiento primordial:amar a tu projimo como a ti mismo…
I just got back from a trip to Beijing where my son, daughter in law and seven month old grandaughter lives. I wanted to bring a Chinese baby doll back to my two year old grandaughter in the United States. She has blond hair and blue eyes. My Chinese grandaughter has Black hair white skin and round eyes, a beautiful combination of east and west. I would love to have their pictures taken together.
I could not find any Chinese baby dolls in Beijing. I looked all over. I would even ask the clerks. They would all show me dolls with western looks. Blond hair and blue eyes. I did find one doll with black hair and round eyes that was dressed in Chinese costume. I asked if there were any dolls with Chinese eyes and the girl said no. I asked why and she said the others were more pretty. I said no Chinese people were beautiful. I thought that was very sad that she felt that way and wondered why.
I did finaly find some Barbie style dolls with Chinese features and black hair. I bought one for my American grandaughter. When I got back to the United States I looked in the toy stores for Chinese dolls and couldn’t find any. Then I went to a store called The Teachers Center where there were many dolls of different nationalities. I found a beautiful Chinese baby doll. I immediatly bought it and sent it to my grandaughter in China.
I think you’re right Walaa. I think in a way its what Paolo mentioned once before - where the devil’s most powerful tools are doubt and a feeling of inferiority.
I think people who feel inferior in some way, as you say not accepting of themselves, must always find someone they can trample over.
So many people think they are a superior race, superior class etc. when probably in actual fact they are not happy, fulfilled or at peace. They step on the backs of others to get themselves in a higher position (not well worded sorry, I’m no Paolo haha).
By picking on someone else it deflects away from yourself.
I’m an Arab Muslim girl, that was raised in the states for most of my childhood, and now i’m back home in Jordan..
I guess what i have to say here is that we as human beings should be more able to accept ourselves..our OWN differences..once we accept who we are, inside..not just if ur african american, arab, or watever..but who u truley are inside, then we would be more open to what other people are..
mostly i guess its people who aren’t comfortable with who they are, would want everyone else to be just like the image they show to the world of themselves
and its true, what someone else before me said, that fear is only normal, but its how u react to it is wat counts..
i don’t know if what i wrote is really relevant..but i just felt that this is what i had to write