Dehumanization (and How To Halt It)

I’ve been reminded of what happens when one dehumanizes. When one is dehumanizing others. The act of dehumanization. And it is traumatic. So I feel the need to try to outline it—very simply—including three simple steps we can take to help halt dehumanization.

What It Means to Dehumanize

I looked up dehumanize in the dictionary and Webster clarified that it means…

• to deprive (someone or something) of

  • dignity

  • personality

  • human qualities

• to subject (someone) to conditions or treatment that is

  • degrading

  • inhuman

• to address or portray (someone’s humanity) in a way that

  • obscures (confuses, clouds, conceals, blocks, obliterates)

  • demeans

• to make (someone) feel or behave less like a human and more like

  • an animal

• in other words, to

  • humiliate

  • brutalize

  • poison

  • subvert

  • animalize

  • contaminate

  • pollute

  • corrupt

  • prostitute

  • debauch

  • deprave

  • abase

  • pervert

The Harm Caused by Dehumanizing

The BBC published The Harm Caused by Dehumanising Language, which noted…

“there are reasons…

we should all be hyper-vigilant about … words … we use and hear

“words we use…

can be important if we want to avoid a slide to something worse

“practically every element of one's identity…

can be considered part of a specific group of people

“the creation of 'us' and 'them'…

based on core values precedes dehumanisation

“dehumanisation … [is] … a … blindness to the fact

that someone may be a human being with subjective experiences

“people … who … look at hierarchy … as desirable,

tend to be more likely to dehumanise

“the use of animalistic slurs…

increase people's willingness to endorse harm

“people who dehumanise others are…

more likely to treat them badly

“mass atrocities … massacres and genocide…

take place once … victims have … been dehumanised”

How To Halt Dehumanization

The BBC’s article, The Harm Caused by Dehumanising Language, also discussed helpful steps that can help halt dehumanization. And, as someone who spent much of my life being dehumanized, I agree with those steps—even when we have suffered greatly ourselves…

• upon hearing tragedy, feel empathy … express concern for all

• seek meaningful experiences with different groups

• refuse to let your suffering … feed more violence