what is xenophobia?
Xenophobia is the unreasonable fear of what is foreign or strange. Or a deep-rooted, irrational fear towards foreigners, as defined by the Oxford Dictionary.
The word itself originated from the Greek words ξένος (xenos), meaning "strange", "foreigner", and φόβος (phobos), meaning "fear".
Singapore is heavily reliant on foreigners in its various aspects, and these foreigners have created an impact on the locals. How is this relevant to you? Read on to find out.
What are the effects of xenophobia?
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First of all, it breeds an atmosphere of hostility and distrust in our society, as people fear and dislike people who are different from them.
Because of the irrational fear and dislike of foreigners, other people may feel threatened and unwelcome in Singapore, which will have a drastic negative impact on our economy as Singapore's main source of revenue is from tourism and trading.
It also often leads to violence, examples such as Singapore's racial riots, the very recent Little India Riots. This may lead to fatalities and numerous injuries, and benefits no one.
Society is rapidly modernizing. More issues such as migration are coming into hand. In Singapore’s multi-racial society, it is especially important for the people in Singapore to be one united people, regardless of race, language or religion. Singapore sees more and more foreigners arriving from various parts of the world onto our sunny shores. We see people from China, India, South Korea, USA, etc. always arriving.
There is no doubt then that one day Singapore will become too overcrowded. Even now, many locals are starting to feel the impact of foreigners and are starting to fear and hate, or feel xenophobic, towards foreigners.