Skip to main content

What is xenophilia?

When I was going to university (in the late 90's) here in Finland, I had a friend there who was almost hilariously xenophilic. (Of course back then I didn't think much of it, or even knew the concept, but in retrospect it's a bit hilarious.)

He quite often gushed about transfer students, for some reason. In fact, he quite quickly (during his first or second year, don't remember exactly anymore) volunteered as a tutor for transfer students. He loved to hang out with them, especially ones from South America and the southest European countries. (Back in the 90's Arabic and African transfer students were pretty much non-existent here, but I'm certain that if there had been any, he would have been in love with them as well.)

Worker's Day is something of a deal in Finland, but it has for some reason become a huge deal in Finnish universities, where it's not only a day, but a longish period of time of all kinds of special activities. Among many, many other activities, one tradition in this university (and many others) is for first-year students to go to the streets in groups and perform all kinds of public activities, such as pranking people (preferably harmless fun pranks). Needless to say, this friend of mine would be seen every year with transfer students under his tutelage engaging in these activities.

In retrospect, I actually never remember him tutoring and hanging out with transfer students that didn't have a distinct foreign look (ie. not a typical white European look). Always people who looked distinctly and clearly foreign. He often just loved to talk about them. As said, at the time I didn't really pay much attention to it, but now in retrospect I find it curious. It was a quite clear case of xenophilia. An almost irrational love of people from foreign countries. The more foreign they look, sound and behave, the better. In fact, I remember him back then sometimes showing early signs of what has now become the social justice ideology, in some things he said. Not only in terms of worship of multiculturalism, but other things as well. (I haven't met him in a really long time, but I wouldn't be surprised if he weren't a full social justice warrior today. Unless he has wisened up with age.)

Even given all that, I'd say that he was one of the milder cases of pathological xenophilia. Especially nowadays you can often find much worse cases. Even when there is no sociopolitical agenda and anti-western sentiments per se behind it, some people just love the foreign and the exotic, especially foreign people, to almost a fault.

It's one thing to be interested in foreign cultures and foreign people. Hell, I am interested in some foreign cultures quite a lot (such as Japanese culture). However, there becomes a point where, I'd say, it stops being normal and starts becoming borderline pathological.

Of course the current social justice ideology has taken this to its absolute extreme, with some people (a frighteningly large amount of people) not only considering the foreign to be the absolute ideal, but moreover considering western culture to be completely worthless, dangerous, and to be completely demolished and destroyed. Their love of the foreign goes beyond reasonable, and they will refuse to see any fault in these foreign cultures, but will in fact furiously attack anybody who presents any criticism (most of the time as a tool to gain power and control over people and society).

Comments