Dehumanization

Dehumanization

The Oldest Trick in the Empire’s Playbook

The grim truth of war, colonization, empire, and every atrocity that society likes to sweep under the rug is that before you can kill a person, you need top stop seeing them as being human.

It’s not an unfortunate byproduct of conflict; on the contrary…It’s a deliberate, well-tested strategy. If you strip people of their dignity, reduce them to animals, insects, viruses, criminals, or terrorists, then suddenly the unthinkable becomes reality.

Suddenly, bombs are “surgical strikes,” slavery is “economic necessity,” and genocide is “self-defense.”

It’s psychological warfare.

It doesn’t just condition the killers, it conditions you, the bystander, the taxpayer. It makes you look away and allow it to happen. You’re able to justify it to yourself, after all, they weren’t really people, right?

It’s an ancient trick, but the U.S. and its allies have perfected it.