XENOPHOBIA: A word to know, an attitude to avoid, eschew, and combat

The "Xenophobia" part of my previous waaaaaaaay too long post

A word to know, an attitude to avoid: Xenophobia!
the definition & etymology from the wiktionary.
Etymology From Greek ξένος (xénos, foreign) + φόβος (phobos, fear) + -ia. Noun
Singular xenophobia		Plural xenophobias

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I liked the responses and thought generated by my earlier post, but I'd like to introduce you to a word / concept which may help you see my point in comparing the treatment of the Japanese Americans in WWII to people of the Islamic faith or Middle Eastern descent today.

While Germany and the the Nazis were demonized during WWII, German-Americans were not (not generally.) The worst that happened to my Volk is that "sauerkraut" got renamed "liberty cabbage"- an appellation which stuck about as well as our renaming of "French fries" to "American Fries" now.

Why is that, when Germany had by far the superior military, and was routinely committing the worst of atrocities? Because the Germans looked and acted just like most other Americans, and indeed, made up a huge percentage of the populace. Even today, about 30% of Americans have some German ancestry, and if you limit it to just Caucasian Americans, the percentage is naturally much higher.

What happened to the Japanese and is sadly happening to people of Middle Eastern descent and the Islamic Faith in America can only happen when two conditions are met:

1. They are a minority, preferably an economically insignificant one.
2. The have physical or behavioral characteristics which are easily and readily identified.

If you look at the course of American history, you'll see that the most egregious acts of intolerance and hatred have occurred against groups which fit both these criteria.

Indeed, it is argued that sexual minorities (the "rainbow folk" as I call them, or the GLBTQ community ) are getting LESS harassment as their cultural distinction from the wider community is lessened both by people of those communities acting more "main stream" and by the wider community becoming gradually more explorative and imaginative in its own pursuits. (The vast "white bread" / "vanilla" world still has a long way to go though... give me a 7 grain or pumpernickel any day!)

Even so... in areas where GLBTQ people are not commonly "out", to be "out" is to put oneself at personal physical risk. And those groups within that community... especially the leather folk and the gender benders/blenders- whose visual appearance and behavior still and of necessity sticks out- are still subject to immense approbation and are often victims of hate crimes. (I heard once the percentage of out "T-folk" who had been physically attacked, beaten, etc... its some astoundingly high percentage.)

So our word of the day: XENOPHOBIA- the fear of the other, the stranger.

It is reasonable to identify evil behaviors and evil men and attack them. You'll notice I'm not taking issue with the anti-Nazi propaganda because... the Nazis had it coming, and more so. But the Japanese Americans then, as the Islamic Americans now, did not "have it coming," did not deserve the blow back, and our treatment of these groups was/is abominable and is as much a desecration of our constitution as if were to use it for toilet paper. This isn't fighting the enemy, its fearing the stranger, and making him the source of all your problems. Demagogues and propagandists have done this for time immemorial. Cats got the rap for the plague Hitler blamed the Jews for... everything America followed Hitler's example in far too many respects in our treatment of Japanese Americans. Televangelists have blamed everything from hurricanes to Carrot Top on GLBTQ behavior. And now... its "towel head" time. I (and probably a lot of you "Granville Girls" know a Palestinian American shopkeeper. His family fled the fighting over there in the 60s. Not that it matters or should, but they're even Christian. Doesn't matter in how they're treated here though... they look the look, and have names which sound suspicious. They're the modern day "Nips" of whom everything is suspected and on whom everything is blamed. If you haven't gotten my point yet, here's the definition & etymology from the wiktionary.

Etymology From Greek ξένος (xénos, foreign) + φόβος (phobos, fear) + -ia. Noun Singular xenophobia Plural xenophobias xenophobia (plural xenophobias) A pathological fear or hatred of strangers or foreigners.

So now that you know the word and the concept... what do you think of our treatment of...

• The Japanese Americans in WWII
• Sexual minorities
• Middle Eastern-Americans and people of the Islamic faith?

And how can this [Xenophobia how ever it is expressed] be anything but an offense against both our beloved Constitution and basic human dignity?

A personal account of how I grew up hating bigotry and hate

This is a slightly edited version of the section on my father and childhood I tacked on to the beginning of my "xenophobia" post last night, and then thought better of this morning.

click for full size

click for full size

So how does one escape the hate-trap? In my case, I inherited it and learned it from a great man- my father These are pictures of my father- the top one of him as a school boy (back) and with me when I was about 6, the bottom was taken about 4 years before he died. Its on a pier in Lk Superior, practically to the Canadian border. The town he grew up in, Frankenmuth Michigan, was essentially "occupied" by federal agents during WWII as they'd maintained their German identity through WWI. They still spoke German and exchanged letters with their families in Germany. I never heard a word of complaint from any of my relatives on that side about the scrutiny under which they lived. They were proud of their heritage- yes- but remember... they left Germany. They were pissed about what happened during Prohibition- I was still hearing them complain about that in the 70s as a little boy- but the federal agents... well, they just meant more customers for their famous restaurants, and they were glad to be able to legally sell them their authentic German beer! My [late] father [he died in '97] could have stayed out of the war. He was a machinist in a plant which produced parts for tanks and fighter aircraft. But he waved his deferment, became a Sea Bee, went through Marine basic training, and was sent to the Pacific theater... as most everyone from Frankenmuth or the other "Franken" colonies nearby was. Fortunately for me, he didn't see much action, but he was part of the occupation forces. It was the sight of the orphaned Japanese children which moved him to become an elementary school teacher. It was that background which guided how he raised me. He was the kindest, most loving, least bigoted soul who has ever lived... and if I keep talking about him, I'm going to short out my keyboard. But I thought it might be an apt illustration for this post of how I came to be SO passionately opposed to all forms of prejudice. So gute nacht, buenas noches

There's other things which went into it... I grew up in a neighborhood which went from majority white to majority black due to school busing induced "white flight" so I had an experience few caucasians have had but all soon will... I was a minority. But you get the point. We learn best by example, which is why its incumbent on every one of us to not just kiss up to the ideals of the Constitution and the Bill of rights, but live up to them as well.