Dehumanizing other human beings: Denying the essential humanity of other people, is ethically wrong and immoral at a basic level. It is also dangerous, because people who view other human beings as sub-human or “inhuman” are capable of horrific atrocities.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights embodies the aspirational values of our founding documents in the United States, our Constitution and Declaration of Independence. The UDHR was adopted in 1948 following the end of World War II, articulating aspirational values which the United States (as well as other nations) have (inconsistently) moved closer to legally and fully supporting. Slavery before the U.S. Civil War, Jim Crow laws, the 19th Amendment granting white women the right to vote, The Voting Rights Act of 1965, etc. demonstrate the ongoing journey to realize these aspirational values in the USA since 1776. Historically the United States has struggled to recognize universal human rights, but on balance, our trajectory as a nation and society has been toward a wider respect for human rights rather than their outright rejection and an embrace of fascism.
I do think a case can be made that “history has an arc,” and as Dr. King noted, I want that arc to be toward justice and human rights.
We have a number of vocal people and groups in the United States today, however, who present themselves as “patriots,” but demonstrate in both their words and actions that they do not share a commitment to these universal values which undergird our Republic.
We also have a vocal group in politics who claim to be “Christians,” allegedly worshipping both God and His Son, Jesus Christ, but ignoring the Christian Biblical message that ALL people are children of God, created in God’s image and worthy of His love. As the apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans, we are all sinners, and in the acknowledgment of that equal condition, we can recognize both our universal need for forgiveness, as well as our UNIVERSAL humanity.
Nathan J. Robinson’s new article in Current Affairs highlights a terrifying and dangerous new book, which brings into sharp relief the very real fascist and anti-democratic threat which we face in 2024 U.S. politics. The book is “Unhumans: The Secret History of Communist Revolutions (and How to Crush Them)” by Jack Posobiec and Joshua Lisec. Robinson’s article is titled, “The Horrifying Fascist Manifesto Endorsed By J.D. Vance: A disturbing book plans a ruthless total war against the “unhuman” left.”
If we witness additional incidents of political violence in the weeks and months to come in the USA, it is likely that some of that violence could be motivated by people who view their political enemies as not human / sub-human / unhuman. This type of dehumanization can justify any type of violence, and even torture, and can literally know no bounds.
On the subject of dehumanization in the article, Robinson writes, “I recently spoke with one of the world’s leading experts on dehumanization, philosopher David Livingstone Smith, author of books like Less Than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave, and Exterminate Others, On Inhumanity: Dehumanization and How to Resist It, and Making Monsters: The Uncanny Power of Dehumanization. Smith warns that dehumanization has been a critical step toward the enactment of history’s worst atrocities, such as the Holocaust or the Rwandan genocide. When we see people as less than human, as monsters, it feels less wrong to do horrible things to them. This is a seemingly obvious point, but Smith argues that it’s not obvious, because perfectly normal, moral people don’t notice themselves doing it. Dehumanization is, Smith argues, one of the most dangerous tendencies there is, because of what it implicitly licenses.”
The fact that recent and “realistically prospective” top leaders in and of the executive branch of the United States, are supporting, endorsing and recommending the ideas in this book, “Unhuman,” is a warning sign we ignore at our own peril. We stand on the brink of fascism in the United States, and the stakes are unfortunately very high. I wish this was hyperbole. It is a bit surreal that a book with ideas like this is even being discussed in mainstream circles today.
But here we are.
Near the close of the article, Robinson summarizes:
“I think we must be very clear about what the threat here is, which is that Trump and Vance have a radical authoritarian agenda and do not care about democracy or the rule of law. The Unhumans plan endorsed by Vance, Bannon, Don Jr., and Flynn is much scarier even than the “Project 2025” Trump is desperately trying to distance himself from. They are encouraging dehumanization and the creation of imaginary enemies, which lays the groundwork for acts of repression and violence.”
Both the actions we take and the ideas we choose to share in the weeks and months to come matter. The values of our nation, and those embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights matter. To borrow a term from my years on the debate team at the U.S. Air Force Academy, I say unequivocally: Defending and supporting the dehumanization of others is a PRIMA FACIA disqualifying act for elective office. Full stop.
For those of us who are citizens and voters in the United States, this is not a time to remain silent, nor a time to be politically passive.
Source : Dehumunization is Wrong
