U.S. Xenophobia Intensifies

Amidst the media speculation and sensationalism, all levels of American society, from the White House officials and members of Congress to ordinary citizens, have been blaming others for America’s recent problems. Slipping confidence in the dollar is the fault of Europeans, who threatened their currency dominance by creating the euro; rising unemployment is the fault of China and India, whose products are stealing the livelihood of Americans; increasing anti-American sentiment in Latin America is the fault of Russia, who is instigating and supporting an anti-U.S. front in countries such Cuba and Venezuela; the auto industry slump is the fault of large-scale imports from Japan, Korea and Germany. Muslim powers and even Russia and China are threatening their national security. These distorted attitudes are exacerbating xenophobia and causing a vicious cycle of groundless charges against immigrants coupled with growing dissatisfaction toward the U.S. among people of other nations.

A Proliferation of Anti-Foreign Movements

In 2001, following the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks, the White House launched a full-scale invasion of Afghanistan to catch Osama Bin Laden; in 2003, they bypassed the U.N. in order to start a war in Iraq, hoping to control its oil supplies; in 2007, a number of economic problems began to surface as the subprime mortgage crisis set off the worst financial disaster of the century and a series of events plunged the nation into an unprecedented economic crisis. The latest statistics show that national debt has reached a record high of $13 trillion. These days, Americans are worried about the future, anti-Americanism is spiraling out of control in Latin America and the White House faces a potential crisis in both foreign and domestic policy. But instead of trying to understand the cause of this decline by reviewing the system or mistaken policies, the media and politicians blame other countries. Finally, media exaggeration and sensationalism have exacerbated these sentiments and caused a growing number of people to blame other nations for America’s problems, leading to shocking anti-foreign movements.

During the disintegration of the former Soviet Union, a large number of top scientists unhappy with their former lives came to the U.S. embassy in search of political asylum. They were welcomed with open arms and over 100,000 technological elites joined America’s ranks. But when Russia profited from the world energy crisis, consolidated and regained national power and started wielding a greater influence on the international stage, the U.S. labeled its recovery a threat to national security, began suspecting professionals who had sought refuge in Washington of serving as Russian spies and subjected them to discrimination and “security lines.”

A generation ago, the U.S. emerged badly battered from the Vietnam War and decided to take a big risk by ignoring existing agreements in order to manipulate and devaluate the dollar, taking advantage of the fact that it was common choice of currency for foreign trade settlements or reserves. This spurred the development of the euro and in effect hurt other nations without benefiting the U.S. When the euro was introduced, it was both adopted by the European nations as well as bought for foreign reserves by other nations. Nations using the euro are now an eyesore to America, and over the last decade, the media and politicians have stirred up even more anti-European sentiment among the people.

Xenophobia is also deteriorating social order. On April 17th, a group of nearly 200 white power extremists clad in black and calling themselves the National Socialist Movement started public demonstrations, trying to revive the spirit of racism. Gathered at the south square of the Los Angeles City Hall, they waved outdated Nazi flags and chanted anti-foreign slogans such “Get out of our country!” rehashing racist notions of white supremacy that have already been widely rejected by society as a whole. Eventually, the neo-Nazi demonstration provoked protests from nearly 500 decent citizens, leading to an uncharacteristically violent conflict that continued with rocks and loudspeakers for over two hours even after police had sealed off the area and separated both sides. Such events show that xenophobia has become a catalyst for social unrest.

Employment Difficulties for Chinese College Graduates

Obama has said that “American families need to educate children to help them compete with Chinese children for jobs,”* and “If over a billion Chinese citizens have the same living patterns as Australians and Americans do right now then all of us are in for a very miserable time, the planet just can’t sustain it.” These statements come across as being rather provocative and inclined to incite anti-Chinese sentiment. Over the last three decades, China’s rapid economic development and the disintegration of the former Soviet Union has caused the U.S. to focus its military strategy on China, a nation with increasing international influence. American media and politicians have raised numerous “China threat” theories, including the “Chinese military threat,” which is an exaggeration, the “Chinese economic threat,” “Chinese development model threat,” “Chinese financial threat,” “Chinese energy threat,” which relates to China’s rapid economic development, and the “Chinese population threat,” which makes the least sense of all. Unfortunately, these distorted theories cast a shadow over China-U.S. relations.

The financial crisis has made it increasingly difficult for American college graduates to find work and every year, 1 million are unable to do so. Even graduates with a Harvard MBA are struggling. A lack of jobs for recent graduates is also indirectly responsible for anti-foreign attitudes among young students. The endless “China threat” theories are overtly political, and have led many Americans who are unaware of the facts to join the anti-Chinese movement. American extremists use film and television to misrepresent the Chinese. Media and politicians are arousing anti-Chinese sentiment by spreading rumors that Chinese people are stealing American technology secrets or that Chinese scientists are spies, making it very difficult for them to live and work in the U.S. These days, it’s rather difficult for Chinese university graduates in the U.S. to find work.

*Editor’s Note: This quote, accurately translated, could not be verified.