Xenophobia is defined as the fear of foreigners. In other terms, xenophobia is a way of saying people whom you could assume might be from another part of the world could be dangerous. In most if not all cases the spread of xenophobia comes in waves based on global events. With problems arising between different countries and problems that all countries face there always seems to be someone to blame. With the devastating covid pandemic the finger was pointed mainly at “mandarin speakers” as Serhan said, the problem originated in hong kong, and because of that people from Asia were looked at differently. Many countries implemented travel restrictions and many businesses have refused to serve people based on their race. 

Politically people use fear to achieve something, trump used it to implement his travel bans and bring his wall out of the ground. Italy’s leader Matteo Salvini closed the borders keeping people from Africa from entering the country from the south. These leaders also use their bans and restrictions to control panic, if people are afraid and stay safe in their houses they are not on the streets spreading the virus. On a personal level, people are segregated based on their race and in this case where the virus comes from. Every time there’s a global outbreak xenophobia rises everywhere, this leads to dangerous situations even for students such as Jonathan Mok from Singapore who was brutally beaten. 

Serhan shows that based on who you are and where you are you could be treated differently. Based on the world around us, people from different walks of life might be hesitant to interact with each other. It also relates to Cadogan because racism was being influenced systemically, the government and different government agencies enforce the rules, and sometimes they’re unfair. 

I believe based on the past two years of my life and Serhan’s story travel bans are a complete waste of time. Resources could be implemented so much better. You can delay the outbreak which would be ideal for a short amount of time. Each country could fend for itself for some time but eventually, prices on average consumer goods would begin to rise exponentially. No country can produce every commodity to the rate at which its inhabitants can consume it. It’s ineffective and tends to cause more problems. For a nation to cut off another part of the world it has to be serious and many people take that to the extreme and it causes panic. Fear is the ultimate deciding factor in our society sometimes the way we think will best benefit the whole might result in major problems for minorities and internal problems within the country.