It has phobia at the end of it.
Why do you think Xenophobia exists?

What is xenophobia?

Xenophobia is the excessive fear, dislike, and even hostility toward of anything “foreign” or to anything and anybody from outside one’s own social group, nation, or country

Ooooh

Yes kiwiman. A Facebook post on settling the Afghanistan refugees here has caused some Xenophobia to raise it's head. So wondering why it exists.

you are here for enjoying don't be so stressed

I am not stressed. But thank you for your concern. I like to make topics for people to think about, even if they do not post.

I just heard our PM on the news say we currently are not taking more ppl from Afghanistan. Me thinking, "The first good thing he has done in the 8+ yrs he's been PM."
For me nothing to do with xenophobia. It's that we have way too many refugees and non-Dutch draining our welfare system, many pretend to be refugee and only come for the good life. They get a house, income, free healthcare, clothes. They all drive cars and have posh smartphones, mothers have expensive prams only, etc. etc.

There is NO housing for us Dutch people, we pay a fortune for healthcare, -even me who's on the lowest income level-, I don't have an over the top expensive smartphone either, and so on and so forth.

Then there's the culture of all these people. They're all Muslim, all women wear these all-covering tents, women are a lesser species for them, etc.
They just do not fit in our society & culture and don't adept either.
Then you can absorb a specific number, but as it is we Dutch are overrun and our welfare exploited by them.

That's not xenophobia. That's thinking YOU too have the right to choose for your wellbeing, culture, society etc. to remain intact. Like first-aid: do NOT help when it endangers you. Only when you are safe can you help.

It's just been enough. There are plenty of countries that have not or barely taken on refugees. Let them sort it out. It's their turn.
And maybe NZ is one of those countries.

People are clannish by nature, especially when they think they are competing for limited resources. It's an "us vs them" thing. I remember when Hmong folks, (good people BTW), came here after the Viet Nam war. Folks were, "they do" this, "they" do that, "they" don't know whatever. Some still feel that way.
Having contact with "other" cultures can be a learning experience. Some folks just don't want to learn, and anything new scares them.

I must have opened a can of worms, when I got married then ...

- Not being Irish
- Not being a Catholic
- Not supporting a Conservative (political) party

Xenophobia is not confined to a race, but also includes political and religious beliefs.

yep,,,,its normal for most because we feel more comfortable about

what we know, it's the unknowns that can cause a lot problems and

misunderstandings ....

I agree with the new, but it's also a matter of respecting the host country and making an effort to learn the new language and habits if you want to live their.

When we go to for instance Saudi we also have to play by their rules. Meaning women have to cover themselves almost head to toe, including wrists etc.
And no one in their right mind would not do that as you get in serious chit when you ignore it.

Do things in Israel that they don't like and you're in serious chit too. Possibly worse even than breaking Saudi societal rules.

Just to illustrate we white people also have to adept and accept the other country's rules & regulations of what goes and what not.
With refugees that tends to be lacking. They expect us to accept whatever the hell they do. Including slaughter a lamb on a balcony with blood dripping down on the balcony of the person below them. That happened to my aunt & uncle...

When you make laws against that -which we never needed before- they whinge and whine and resist and play the religion card.
So their behaviour makes the entire integration process a battle.

For their kids it's also hard as they have to go to school and thus speak, read, write the new language. Since parents often don't themselves, and don't want their kids to learn, the kids lag behind at school and often get a diploma at a low level while they actually have the capacity for a very high education. Also has an effect on the type of kids they hang out.
I know this as I have been a teacher and came across this. Very sad, as then these kids are doomed to work lower-pay jobs while they have the brain to be for instance a manager with good pay. And I've seen pupils not having many friends as their fellow students aren't of their intelligence levels and don't match.
Had their parents made more of a real effort to integrate properly their kids would've been better off.

I'll say it, as a white male I'm swamped in it and I despise it.

It's just easier to blame your fear/anger on an easy, simple target.

Politicians use it to misdirect by pointing fingers at immigrants rather than their own policies to fault economic woes.

I came from Irish immigrants, my grandmother told us stories of her grandfather having to deal with ant-Irish hatred back in the late 1800's.

It was wrong then, it's still wrong.

is that the fear of the Aliens movies?

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime -Mark Twain

And how does that relate to being okay with refugees flooding your country?
Travel is going to other places, cultures etc. Totally different scenario.

I agree with you on that one. We in the USA see that all the time, it's aggravating.

I'm sort of used to seeing that in my country. But not from immigrants. Some african americans take advantage of our welfare system as well. It's exceptionally galling to see them dressed well, obese, buying groceries at a local grocery store, and paying with food stamps. Then follow them out the door, they load their trunks with their purchases. The cars they do that to, are usually new Cadillac's, Mercedes, or BMW's. I've seen that happening, for the better part of 45 years, so I'm used to it.

Or conditioned to it. A better term, and more appropriate.

Yes, fear of the Xenomorph, to be exact. Stay away from large, vertical egg-shaped objects on the ground, as Kane would now agree on.

If everyone was chill with other cultures and peoples, they could much better focus on issues and troublemakers -rather than labeling masses of people a threat due to cultural or other differences.

Offending masses of people gives you many more issues and troublemakers -and makes you unable to focus on the original ones, as even your own people become divided on human rights/racism issues, etc.

Refuge a nation can reasonably provide (which demonstrates respect) for people who will be respectful to the nation is the ideal. Any others are understandably not welcome.

There's a quote that I love, by Mark Twain.

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”

I think a lot of us were raised with stereotypes about foreign people. The media contributes a lot to this. But if we would spend time with these people, and keep an open mind, we'd likely realize that they aren't as we had originally thought.