Sympathetic Absolute Xenophobe

For a group to be an absolute xenophobe, it must have an intense fear of outsiders that can only be alleviated by exterminating every outsider they find. How could I make something like this look sympathetic within the context of a narrative?

edited 22nd Jan '12 3:59:21 PM by goldenerasuburb

You either make it a point of comedy, you go the way of Lolita, or you show him a good person despite it, or a tragic person despite it, or something else someone might suggest.

Well, if the character were raised by absolute xenophobes, it wouldn't be his fault, especially if he got over it a little over the course of the story.

Also, what AHR said.

edited 22nd Jan '12 3:57:01 PM by INUH

Two Words: Sympathetic P.O.V. (well, one word and an abbreviation). Just telling the story from his perspective might help.

Also, some more details would be nice.

They could be right.

Which is ugly, but possible.

edited 22nd Jan '12 4:08:24 PM by Night

Play up their devotion to each other, and their desire to protect each other from the strange and fearsome outsiders.

All good suggestions so far, though I am a little confused as to what is meant by going the route of Lolita. Anyone mind filling me in on that?

Main character is a pedo. He narrates. He is very likable, and basically tries to convince the audience that it wasn't his fault that the little girl came on to him and blah blah blah

Basically, unreliable narrator.

Perhaps by showing the motivation to be an irrational terror, not 'hatred' as such? They genuinely believe that the outsiders will do them serious harm.

Make the "outsiders" a group they have genuine reason to be afraid of (although not as much as the Absolute Xenophobe thinks). The more trivial the reason for their being "outsiders", the harder it is to make someone who hates "outsiders" sympathetic.

Give them a reason to think that. They've been raised to believe it. They haven't seen any good outsiders, only bad ones. How common are the good outsiders where they live? Rare enough for the xenophobe to be afraid? Like someone said, maybe they're right. Make sure that to anyone who isn't an outsider, they're not a bad person. Or if that fails, use their flaw for comedy, like Mr AHR said. The less serious your writing sounds, the easier it is to make a sympathetic character with characteristics that should make people like him much less.