Is there a better term?

[Joanne M. Despres]

I take your point about the difference in the scope between a
personal situation and a government policy.  But I did see
something analogous between this little exchange and the global
problem we're facing now, in that it involved a clash between two
completely legitimate concerns:  on the one hand, the need to
ensure safety by reacting defensively to a previously-experienced
pattern of danger;  on the other hand, the need to respect the
dignity of persons who might mistakenly be perceived as
dangerous.  It seems inevitable to me that one concern will trump
the other, at least some of the time, and not because any one
group has a monopoly on prejudice and stupidity:  forgive my
cynicism, but think it's pretty universally distributed.

Joanne