Talk:ethnophobia

Wikipedia Edit History

   * (cur) (last)  10:19, 1 December 2005 Feydey m (move to wiktionary) [rollback] [proxycheck]
   * (cur) (last) 10:01, 1 December 2005 206.78.45.94
   * (cur) (last) 09:59, 1 December 2005 206.78.45.94

Comment from User:Idedwards

This definition of ethnophobia appears ill thought out to me, and a new word too, not found on the Oxford or Collin online dictionaries so therefore perhaps still in early stages of final definition? (1) A phobia is an irrational fear, not a hatred (associated with 'ist', e.g. misogynist)so 'hatred' of one's own nation and hatred of other races and ethnicities cannot be covered under phobia. (2) So this leaves 'fear of one's own nation' as the true definition, as given. (3) However, was the originator of the original definition also alluding to hatred and 'fear' of 'races and ethnicities not to one's own' and just omitted to include it by mistake? If so, that would surely be anthropophobia - fear of everyone - so point (2) still stands. (4) Yet fear of 'nations' is problematic in the range of societal groups mentoned: nation, race and ethnicity. Nations may comprise multiple races, and races may have multiple ethnic groups within them. Take the UK, it's a 'nation' with ethnic groups, English, Scots, Irish, Welsh, broadly of the same European race with and today many other ethnic groups and races. So the definition at (2) as originally defined has targeted 'nation' and it is unclear whether this is an 'ethnic nation' (e.g. The Sioux in the USA) or a 'political nation' (e.g. UK, as mentioned, or say Belgium, containing both French Wallons and Dutch Flanderians, and Nigeria takes multiple ethic groups and sub-nations and religio-divides to a whole new level). However, if the definition is 'Ethno' it must refer to 'ethnic' and not 'nation'. So the better definition to (2) becomes: 'fear of one's own ethnic group' or 'fear of one's own race'. (5) Yet I do not know of anyone in this category outside of anthropophobes. So is ethnophobic a false word, lacking real meaning? Ethnophobic - not found in the mainstream dictionaries - as described currently by Wikip - is both inconsistent and vague, and needs re-working to add value to the language and communication if it actually means anything at all.