Why do people hate people who are different than them?

[Temprano26]

There is no one exact moment when I soured on the United States. It was just a series of unfortunate events that led me to travel to Costa Rica.

At the start of 2009 I was suffering from a depression that had gone on for over a year and a half. I met a girl from Bangladesh in my sociology class and felt this undeniable pull towards her. She was really soft spoken, polite and uncorrupted by the whole one-night stand culture that pervades the US.
I knew her only a few months but I was in love with her because there was nobody else like her out there. She was exotic to me and I was exotic to her because apparently she had never known a white guy in her life.

We couldn't be together because her family in the Middle East are too conservative and rigid to even look a Western man in the eye. Ultimately she had to go back to her country and get married. We couldn't even be friends anymore. At first I let it go but then it started to eat away at me from the inside. It was not just one girl; it was the fact that I had to face one more lonely summertime because of how lonesome the US really is. If I had a solid foundation of community built on real human bonds I would not have invested so much in that relationship that it crashed my world. I wanted to love her family, to open my mind to them but they hated me first and soon I just hated them right back. It is not fun being hated by people for their preconceived notions based on where I come from. I found a lot of people from the Middle East were the same way - living in America for business purposes but never talking to anyone outside of their own race and segregating themselves behind their cryptic languages. If America is a better place than where you came from, you can at least look us in the eye and not treat us like we have a disease. The discrimination doesn't stop there though.
I found the same hate in Americans that just didn't like me because I was not a part of their clique of about four people. Or they hated me because I am a loner and they always have to attach their preconceived notions onto loners. The only exception was at gay bars in Longbeach full of friendly people. Being gay or straight doesn't even matter if people are good to you and that is why I don't live my life by such limits. Hell, it was a lesbian that told me what a handsome guy I am. I have always resonated more with people who are outcast from mainstream society because I can look at people with an open mind. I acknowledge they are human beings who want to be loved as I do. When I got to Costa Rica, I found there was no mainstream society and that I was included in a real melting pot of Americans, Europeans and Costa Ricans. There were gay people in Costa Rica too but nobody was filled with hatred and anger for them like I have seen in the US.

Don't let America tell you anything is wrong with you.

[tre]

Americans aren't the only country of people where the majority is brainwashed. People simply believe what they are told or taught instead of questioning everything. Since people typically stay in their clique or "life box" they never learn anything other than what they've been poisoned with. Most people seen extremely resistant to change and they don't want to believe that everything they've known/thought about life is complete BS. Getting out of the country and interacting with those from other countries is a great way to de-program oneself. Unfortunately, most people don't/won't do it....happy to remain ignorant.

There are also MANY immigrants now flowing into the USA that couldn't give a shit about America or it's citizens. Even if they become citizens, they will not even identify themselves as American...unless they HAVE to. They are here to take advantage of what they can get their hands on and then go back to their home country with their savings. I've worked with many that plainly state this as their plan. Some absolutely do despise us...they've been brainwashed their entire lives to feel this way toward us. Their brainwashing isn't any easier to overcome than our brainwashing....and here we are.

If you can cause just a few people to QUESTION themselves and what they THINK they know....you've done some good. However, as far as serious dating goes...best to go to outside of the USA to countries that don't hate Americans. Unfortunately, there could be drastic negative changes in that regard in the near future due to the upcoming economic "correction".

[HouseMD]

Because we evolved to recognize members of our tribe as "us" and everyone else as "them," which has left us completely unprepared for the level of interaction we encounter with those that are different than us in a global society. Think about it- back in the day, any tribe that would just be nice to whomever would get wiped out by a tribe that was more cutthroat than they were. Look at what we did to the Native Americans- their initial trust of outsiders was their undoing. Due to modern society keeping basically everyone alive long enough to breed, it is likely that such biases will persist so long as modern society does.