On Jan 23, 2008 10:28 PM, Venky TV <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Most of these questions would work just as well if you are talking > about the United States. I see your point about people being > naturally xenophobic. What really scares me though is a xenophobic > government. And of the countries I've visited, the most xenophobic is > quite definitely the United States right now.
To bring this back around to the start of the thread... it seems to me there would be a fair amount of selection bias in that. I don't know about you, but I tend to avoid countries with strongly xenophobic governments, being a xeno and all. What bothers me more than individually xeonophobia, is the apparent rise in isolationism globally. It seems much more apparent to me in traditionally liberal western democracies, perhaps because I had enjoyed the relative openness in the past. These days I find myself more comfortable in countries that are traditionally the source of immigrants than in the traditional destinations. To pick a recent example, when in Zurich recently we briefly saw a billboard with some cute sheep on it. I pointed it out to debbie saying "Look! Sheep!" It was only later when reflecting more on what I saw that I realized it had been three white sheep standing on a swiss flag, kicking a black sheep off of it. I did a little research and was saddened to discover it was a political ad by a right leaning political party, nominally against "criminal and anti-social elements of society." No one is fooled though... -- Charles (who still thinks the sheep were cute.) -- Charles
