Xenophobia

Xenophobia

(An intense or irrational dislike or fear of people from other countries)

As the result of a recent royal visit the Chinese government will be sending two giant pandas to The Netherlands next year...

Hartlepool is a town on the north east coast of England. The story goes that during the Napoleonic Wars a monkey was washed ashore. It was the only survivor of a ship wreck and was dressed in a military uniform, presumably to amuse the crew. Under  interrogation it refused to answer any questions so the citizens of Hartlepool concluded that the monkey must be a French spy and it was summarily sentenced to death by hanging. Easy mistake to make, they had almost certainly never seen a monkey or a Frenchman before.

There is a long history of societies, rulers and citizens, blaming outsiders for local problems. Even more so if the outsiders have a different language, skin colour and religion! It is an easy way of covering up ones own short comings or relieving frustrations. Foreigners are apparently born with an overwhelming desire to take our jobs,our money, ravish our wives and kidnap our children. Currently there is a loud and vocal coalition of xenophobes, racists and nimbies who have decided to target the most vulnerable of all foreigners; refugees. As far as they are concerned refugees risk 

their lives crossing oceans on small unseaworthy boats, walk all the way across Europe in all weather, suffer hunger, thirst and indignity as they are shunted from one border crossing to another, just to annoy us! Alongside threatening the safety of our wives and children they are profiting from our welfare and health systems and taking our jobs. And that is not all: a British politician recently blamed motorway traffic congestion on asylum seekers and a here in The Netherlands a local lobby group seriously claimed that accepting refugees in our town would create a parking problem! It is surprising that they have not blamed asylum seekers and refugees for the poor performances of the national football team and the recent grey, dull, depressing weather!
Attempts to provide accommodation for refugees are frequently met with loud protests and these protests are often supported by an aggressive and violent lunatic fringe who are a greater threat to public safety than any group of refugees will ever be!

The really worrying thing is that despite the invention of radio, film, TV and the internet things have not improved much since that monkey incident. There is so much information available but the protesters can't or won't be bothered with it. They are almost as uninformed as those inhabitants of Hartlepool 200 years ago. They are either unable or unwilling to read and understand a few simple facts.

I could go on but I really don't think any of the people who need the facts explained will be reading this!

...let's just hope that when the Chinese pandas eventually arrive in Rhenen, a small town in the centre of The Netherlands they will not be greeted by angry protesting mobs claiming that the Pandas are taking up cage space that should be used for indigenous species and that their fields are being filled with foreign crops in order to feed them! 

Ah well....at least these days they won't be mistaken for foreign spies, arrested and executed.........….will they?