Objectives The basic research problem in this article is whether hostility toward out‐groups is a product of events or whether the degree of hostility toward out‐groups exists independently of such events in the form of a generalized bigotry. Methods We examine two countries that experienced threatening violent events from an unassimilated minority in order to determine if their levels of intolerance increased in the period between two runs of the World Values Survey when these violent events occurred. This article also examines six additional EU countries that did not experience such violent events. Results In the six countries that did not experience violent events, the level of tolerance increased between the two waves of the World Values Survey while tolerance decreased in the two countries that experienced violent events. Conclusions The strongest factor in fostering intolerance toward out‐groups is a perception of a violent, existential threat to one's way of life. Our analyses tentatively suggest the following factor may exacerbate levels of intolerance: the presence and strength of a nativist or populist party of identity mobilizing a rejection of out‐groups.