> Well maybe we should stop backing people into a corner then?
I agree with you thus far...
> For example, why don't back down on immigration?
But why this? I would ask for one thing: Rationality and existence of a connection.
For example, if my country Germany is any guide, the parts of the country with the most fear of immigration are the ones least affected by it! Given that missing connection, how would it solve anything to listen to the demand of people in those regions to limit immigration?
I agree with you - but only if the people demanding something are actually affected by it, both ways (i.e. by the thing itself as well as by what they demand).
In Czech Republic, it's even more pronounced. The government accepted in total about 20 immigrants from Syria so far and if you read comments on the internet, or watch demonstrations, it's like the end of the world is coming.
Also some of the fear might be quite shallow. There was a report of some old lady in the village that accepted some refugees. She was first afraid when asked about newcomers, stating fears that are commonly represented in the media. Then when she was told that they have children, and lack some stuff, she went there and donated some clothes.
Hardliners that join fringe political parties are probably quite different. But also less open to reason. But I suspect that most people's fears can be quite easily ameliorated.
If all refugees behaved like that, with a willingness to integrate and understand our ways, I think there would be much less fear going around.
The people start being afraid when they see that some of the so-called refugees are violent, look down on women / homosexuals / Christians / Jews / etc., try to live by their own law, and so on. In a word, we are tolerant and have to accept their intolerance.
Don't believe me? Just look at the reports of Christian refugees being mobbed by Muslim refugees in asylums in Germany. I don't understand why in such a situation the Christian refugees have no right to be protected, while the Muslims have to be shown "tolerance" for their "religious beliefs".
Or Muslim refugees openly declaring in German newspaper interviews that Hitler was a great man and Jews should be eradicated. Do we really want such people in Western countries?
This is what makes people afraid, not the fact that someone has a different skin colour or a different religion.
Sure there are some lunatic "white supremacists" / bona fide racists, but most people's fears are legitimate and not born out of xenophobia or racism. And this is the obstacle to a reasonable discussion: usually, any such fears are dismissed with the "you're racist" comment. Sorry, I don't think I'm racist just because I don't subscribe to the idea that Jews should be exterminated.
So what now: people are not allowed anymore to be afraid of something they have not experienced themselves? Haven't been hit by a car / experienced a nuclear strike / had cancer, but I am not allowed to fear them on principle?
By the way, the ability to see a potentially dangerous situation happening to someone else and deciding you don't want to be in that situation yourself is a sign of a correctly functioning cognitive system.
For example, if my country Germany is any guide, the parts of the country with the most fear of immigration are the ones least affected by it! Given that missing connection, how would it solve anything to listen to the demand of people in those regions to limit immigration?
I agree with you - but only if the people demanding something are actually affected by it, both ways (i.e. by the thing itself as well as by what they demand).