Proximate outsiders provoke more anxiety than radically distant ones

Evidence

As Jonathan Smith remarks, “The radically ‘other’ is merely ‘other’; the proximate ‘other’ is problematic, and hence, of supreme interest” (Jonathan Smith, “What a Difference a Difference Makes,” in Neusner and Frerichs, eds. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1444

Categorization

• XREF: This is precisely the dynamic behind how medieval (and modern) Christian anti-Islamic polemic frames Islam — a rival Abrahamic sibling, not a pagan stranger, and links to Anidjar’s theme of Islam as the proximate theological enemy.
• DEEPTHINKING: Smith’s distinction explains why sibling religions generate the fiercest polemic while distant pagans invite mere curiosity — a lens for reading the whole genealogy of Islamophobia.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1444