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posted by
LaminatorX
on Thursday February 27 2014, @03:30AM
from the Xenophobia:-the-Universal-Language dept.
from the Xenophobia:-the-Universal-Language dept.
fx_68 writes:
"A sharp rise in the foreign population has ratcheted up racial tensions. Does Singapore have a problem with xenophobia? It seems that barely a month goes by these days without news reports highlighting friction between Singaporeans and foreign workers in the tiny multi-ethnic city-state."
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Can anyone remember when the times were not hard, and money not scarce?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Serial_Priest on Thursday February 27 2014, @05:29PM
Might xenophobia actually be a healthy response? Human history and recent research suggest that cultural and ethnic diversity lead to social problems (cf. Putnam, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467- 9477.2007.00176.x/full [wiley.com] - or refer to the fates of most "cultural crossroads" like the Balkans or Afghanistan.)
The self-critical tendency in the Western world has made many lose sight of human nature - that is, the natural rejection of emerging rival peoples/worldviews/cultures.
Of course, in the short term, and on the smaller scale, there are benefits to suppressed xenophobia (science, trade, etc.) - but in the longer term, culture is like Jean Larteguy's conception of love: "it is a war in which each side attempts to destroy the dream of the other, and replace it with his own."