Xenophobia

Source: bing.com via Janet on Pinterest

Xenophobia is defined as an unreasonable fear or hatred of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange. Who defines what is unreasonable? That is always my first question when I see terms like this being mixed into the cultural discourse of our lives.

Pseudo-intellectuals love to wield terms like this as a weapon when attempting to ascribe racism to certain actions. As if they have any idea what that might say about the person they are describing. It is a term that has begun to lose meaning because of using it in every situation, whether that is a valid assessment or not.

What is reasonable when a person feels they are losing their identity and feels the need to push back against the tide of animosity toward them. They have not acted violently or even used hateful words to create this contradicting argument. Yet, they are vilified by a majority that says to retain their identity is, by it's very nature, unreasonable. These individuals or groups are suddenly moved into the xenophobia tent without so much as a thought as to why this is a dangerous assumption.

In the United States of America we have a rule of law that is based on the rights of the individual to be protected from the mob mentality. However, this is being usurped daily by a media that chooses to prop individuals up in the court of public opinion with the flimsiest, if not downright fabricated, evidence. Tried and convicted before the angry mob they are virtually hung without anyone looking at the case against them as one of actually having values, or, as in George Zimmerman's case, actually defending himself.

Now, perhaps you think I am joking, or have now labeled me a racist for using George Zimmerman as an example, however, that is exactly what I am saying. Everyone has the right to an opinion. You may not like it, but it does not invalidate that voice.

As for my example, poor George Zimmerman, have you heard this guy's story? He only bought a gun as a last resort weapon because members of his family (wife & mother) were getting chased by pit bulls in their neighborhood. He was actually told by the police this was his best option. He and his wife had both completed training for the gun. He was by no means an experienced gun owner, though. From evidence that is coming out he was fighting for his life when the fatal shot was fired, and no one believes him. He is now in hiding because the media has made a spectacle of this situation. That poor man.

What happened to innocence until proven guilty, have we reverted back to the 1700s when one witness and an angry mob could whip a man or, worse, shoot him in cold blood without a trial?

There are reasons we have the laws we do, because those who made them witnessed the corruption and lawlessness of a time before they were enacted-- when a man could be whipped for crimes that were fabricated. He could be taken out into the street and hung. We have a bill of rights for a reason and we had better learn what those reasons were. We are at a crossroads and one way leads to freedom and the other leads to destruction.

If we don't figure out which one we are really following one day we may wake to find it is too late to change our course.