re: #13 CuriousLurker

The same could be said for homophobia—i.e. I don’t think those who hate LGBT people are necessarily afraid of them. That said, fear & hatred aren’t that far apart as we tend to hate what we fear. Those who would spread hate usually start by spreading fear:

• “They” (liberals) are coming for your guns, hate God, hate America, are socialists/communists who redistribute everyone’s wealth, etc.

• “They” (LGBT people) are pedophiles, promiscuous, will turn your kids gay, etc.

• “They” (Jews) are different form us, think they’re better than non-Jews, killed Jesus, control the media, the banks, the government, want to create a NWO etc.

• “They” (Muslims) are different form us, don’t share our values, are violent. hate Jews, hate non-Muslims, have formed a 5th column with the intention of subverting our Constitution & way of life and replacing it with a Global Caliphate which will implement Sharia and turn all non-Muslims into dhimmis, etc.

Come to think of it, something I ran across the other day when responding to D_F in another thread provides an example of the above:

Fear them.
Yes, those liberals, gays, Jews, Muslims scare me and I hate them for that.

The terms homophobia and islamaphobia, etc. were not coined by psychologists, so just as common use of the word theory is different and inaccurate compared to the scientific use, the word phobia has been distorted to send a specific narrative.