Considering my friend is a political scientist, how does a historian fit in to all of this? I am inclined to believe that historians need to be just as political aware are our political scientist counterparts. Xenophobia transcends much of American, if not world, history. So it is no surprise that current fears of all things foreign is still used to get people to rally against anything perceived as different and new.  More critical, however, is the idea that maybe mankind is inclined to fear what it cannot fully understand. Maybe this is a mark of intelligence, or just some deep seeded primordial function that we have yet to evolve away from.