Posted by: syncro
Posted by: Mic
Here is the rub though, the people who support right-wing or outright fascist and autoritarian ideas think of themselves in such a way as well. They think that they help society as well. In their opinion, the idea of different people with various cultural backgrounds enriching any given society is wrong, and not good for society. Add some other issues and, voila, they have the justification for their ideology. Just check out why the French people, especially in the Southern and Northern parts, almost made a neo fascist the new President. Totally crazy.
It's the idea of losing culture and identity that scares people, the fear of the "other". I think that's part of what makes modern Canada fairly good and less impervious to these sorts of things. As we are a relatively young country made up of many diverse people we don't have a unique culture/identity that has been established for centuries so it is harder for us as a nation to "other" other groups. Identity and belonging are inherently important to humans, so people/ideas that pose a threat to that identity are easy to hate. Same for ideas that people do not understand or are very different from their established norms. People want to belong to a group that shares similar ideals and values - tribalism.
Lunch break musings....
As an outsider looking in, I have to agree with what you say about Canada, although I could seriously disagree when it comes to FN and how all of this is being dealt with.
The last point is true as well, we all want to belong to a group, a tribe, and quite often have to show it by the way we dress, speak and all that. But since we are all oledr than the average pb user, I think you know what I mean.
Depending on upbringing, level of education and social and emotional intelligence of an individual, this fear of the "other" can result in open-minded dialogue and exchange, or outright xenophobia (which originally comes from a person not offering shelter to strangers). We all have prejudices and biases, the point is to be aware of them and work on them as often and honest as possible.
A life with as little fear as possible is definitely a more fulfilling and relaxed life, although some people might want to dispute that idea. There is of course that difference between self-awareness and self-perception than how my environment is seeing and experiencing me. And in my experience the people who are xenophobic can not understand or do not want to understand that point.
