Xenophobiaphobia

Audrey Rae and Braxton-

As I’m writing this, we are watching Jake and the Neverland Pirates. Raesin, you’re the one that loves this show and insists we watch the “Pirate Princess” episode over and over again. Braxton, you’ll watch just about anything with a lot of colors.

On the rare occasions that we actually watch TV, the two of you dominate our TV time, but last night I was able to squeeze in a movie all to myself while you two and your mother were at your grandma and grandpa’s.

I watched a movie called “Red Dawn”. It was a remake of an 80’s movie by the same name, but the way that Hollywood is going, there will likely be a remake of the remake by the time you read this.

The premise of the movie is that the good ’ol US of A is invaded by a foreign aggressor that has its eye on uniting our states with theirs, or something like that. There’s a character in the movie that keeps calling the others “motards”, and while trying to find out what the crap a “motard” is on Google, I happened upon this article, and several others like it.

If you don’t know what xenophobia is, kids, it’s basically the genuine fear of anyone foreign. The writer of the linked article, Jeff Yang, boils the movie down to one thing: xenophobia.

What?! Having foreign antagonists in a movie about a foreign invasion is xenophobia? Jeff Yang, go to jail.

A long time ago, in this galaxy, not one far, far away, I wrote a note with a similar premise, but I think, now that I’m older and (hopefully) a bit wiser, that I’ll revisit the subject.

Kids, don’t be racists. If you become a racist, you’re grounded. I think that’s a pretty good rule.

But I also want to make sure you’re aware of something that’s been slowly happening over the past few decades, and may still be progressing when you’re reading this. There is xenophobia, but there is also xenophobiaphobia, a word that I totally didn’t just make up.

Xenophobiaphobia is the fear that you may be considered xenophobic/racist. There is a chunk of our society that is paralyzed by this. Some people are so scared of being labeled as politically incorrect, that even suggesting that in a completely fictitious world where the US is invaded, the invaders might be North Korean, is absolutely unacceptable and should be labeled as xenophobic. Let me make this clear: the North Korean invaders didn’t shout anything like “heil Kim Jong!” or all know Tae Kwon Do or anything like that. They were soldiers fighting for their cause, and they also happened to be North Korean.

Jeff Yang even goes so far as to suggest that the invader shouldn’t even be human. He suggests aliens. I guess there are zero acceptable scenarios for foreign invaders in a fictitious earth, unless you want to be xenophobic.

Okay, I’ve been ranting, but here’s my point: the more that we make a point to say what is and is not acceptable for people to say about other races and nationalities, the more we point out the fact that they’re different. The more we suggest things like “you can’t say that about Mexicans/Jews/North Koreans”, the more we point out their race/religion/nationality.

Kids, try and come to a point where all people are just people. And while you’re working on that, remember that all people deserve to be treated with the love of Christ.

Someday you may offend someone by saying “Merry Christmas” or saying “Indian” instead of “Native American”.  Apologize, note that one person’s preference, and move on with your life. Don’t allow yourself to get to a place where you’re so afraid of offending that nothing can have the designation of a people group.

When you eat food from China, I think it’s safe to call it Chinese food.
Oh, and I guess that guy was totally misusing the word “motard”, it’s actually a motorcycle term.

1 Corinthians 1:4

            Dad