The Disease Theory of Xenophobia

[homersapien 12,842]

Fascinating article on the biological basis for fearing "the other".

http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/01/the-disease-theory-of-xenophobia/423975/

[AURaptor 1,137]

Has nothing to do with beheading vids, Jakarta, WTC attacks, Paris, San Bernardino , London, Madrid , Beslan Ft. Hood, Cologne rapes, hundreds of school girls kidnapped, James Foley, the Pentagon, ...?

Really ?

Huh.

[TheBlueVue 177]

Has nothing to do with beheading vids, Jakarta, WTC attacks, Paris, San Bernardino , London, Madrid , Beslan Ft. Hood, Cologne rapes, hundreds of school girls kidnapped, James Foley, the Pentagon, ...?

Really ?

Huh.

All democrat perspective can be wrapped up in their pointing fingers at homophobia, xenophobia, misogyny, racism, triggers and micro-aggressions then running to their safe spaces. It is what it is...absurd!

[homersapien 12,842]

....There are, of course, critics of this disease theory of nativism. As Ethan Watterswrote in Pacific Standard, some anthropologists argue that the correlation and causation issues within these studies are still too messy. And openness to strangers might be better explained by other factors, like strong government institutions that reduce the reliance on family ties. Because what people consider “foreign” changes over time and across borders, it’s impossible to know whether any given xenophobic rant is a product of latent germophobia.

And although the behavioral immune system helps explain the emotional appeal of xenophobia, it’s not destiny. It affects Democrats, Republicans, Syrians, and Europeans equally, after all, and it gets filtered through context and cognition.

Even Schaller doubts that the effect of the Ebola outbreak is still what weighs most heavily on the minds of anti-immigrant or anti-refugee advocates. More likely, he said, those fears are now motivated by terrorist attacks they see on the news.

“After all, the threat of disease is just one of several distinct kinds of threats that can have important implications for intergroup prejudice and political attitudes,” he said. “There is plenty of research showing that xenophobic responses to ‘outsiders’ are often motivated by fear of physical violence.”

Instead, the behavioral immune system works more subtly. As Murray found, even outbreaks that occurred a century ago can tweak cultures to be slightly less open and a tad more suspicious.....

[homersapien 12,842]

All democrat perspective can be wrapped up in their pointing fingers at homophobia, xenophobia, misogyny, racism, triggers and micro-aggressions then running to their safe spaces. It is what it is...absurd!

Yeah! Those things never really existed at all. They are all inventions of Democrats. :-\

Going through life without a shred of introspection must be an emotional roller coaster.

[AURaptor 1,137]

All democrat perspective can be wrapped up in their pointing fingers at homophobia, xenophobia, misogyny, racism, triggers and micro-aggressions then running to their safe spaces. It is what it is...absurd!

Yeah! Those things never really existed at all. They are all inventions of Democrats. :-\

Playing the 'racism, sexism, classism, homophobic, xenophobic , etc... card is ALL the Dems.

Going through life without a shred of introspection must be an emotional roller coaster.

Must it be ? Really ?