Cultural hatred stems from humanity’s inability to reconcile what it does not understand or what is different. This comes from the very beginning of human history, where our society was broken up into small tribes, all competing for the scarce resources on offer. Our ancestors saw other tribes as a threat, as competition, and so feared them. Take this idea into the 20th century and the Cold War, and a similar theme emerges. Two different social systems, both afraid of each others potential. Americans who are old enough can remember McCarthyism and the resulting witch-hunts that ensued. What these examples serve to show is that cultural hatred has been a feature of the human existence since the beginning of our history.

However, does that mean to say that xenophobia will be a feature of the rest of human history?

I would tend to think not. One of the most beneficial factors that has led to decreased racial hatred is an increase in global travel. Our world has become “smaller”. It is now far easier to travel the world and learn more about other peoples cultures. By understanding them, we realize they are not much different to you and I. Immigration has also helped.

Many countries are becoming more ethnically diverse and our children are meeting people from different cultures in their schools. At their age they are generally unaware of ideas of racial discrimination and by meeting these people early they are likely to feel less threatened by their existence in the future. This bodes well for the future, as our world will only become smaller as transport improves. Idealists would see this as the light at the end of the tunnel, a signal of hope for racial and cultural equality the world over.

However, I don’t feel that cultural hatred will ever be completely eliminated. As the recent recession has shown, times of hardship tend to increase feelings of racial tension. This has been shown in the UK where the BNP (a right wing racist party) greatly increased its popularity despite its racist views. Perhaps the problem is that in good economic times, people are prepared to share around prosperity to all, but in a recession these same people will scramble to snatch prosperity from others.

Therefore, as long as our economy goes through booms and busts, there will always be a certain rogue element of cultural hatred. The remedy for society must be attempts to alienate such groups as the BNP, and make them understand that they are in a very small minority.