Some people live very narrow lives, where they rarely meet people very different from themselves. Sometimes these people do not feel confident in their ability to take care of themselves from day to day, and feel their safety easily threatened. Someone who is too far outside of their regular experience might seem as frightening as a space alien about to run off with them in their flying saucer. The stranger might then be mistreated in order to push them away to a seemingly safer distance. This is called intolerance expressed through suspicion, where one person suspects another person of being dangerous because of their difference.
Copyright © 2002 March 08, Katherine Phelps