Dehumanization
Taking a pit stop to temporarily halt the agony of Greek studying in a race against time before the vocab quiz on Monday, I opened up my web browser, opened up a can of soda, and read the news. I have been following the situation in the Middle East. The cycles of violence never ends. While people in that part of the world are never tired of fighting, I am already sick of hearing about it. President Bush appears to have no intention to negotiate peace. Many Evangelicals like himself have insatiable avarice for more wars, which they believe would trigger the end time apocalypse.
Besides religious beliefs, I have been thinking about what other factors could cause human beings to inexorably harm other human beings. One common factor is this psychology of what I would call "dehumanization". There are two main types of dehumanization - deflatory and inflatory. Before I begin, I have to make a side comment. This treatise is not the result of formal psychological research. I am sure you can find similar materials in academic journals that are better and more in depth. The problem with those journals is that they are very esoteric, incomprehensible, and inaccessible to non-professionals. This treatise is the outcome of my own readings, experience, and reflection. It may not be completely *true*, but it should at least contain substantial practical significance. Okay, here we go.
Did you ever wonder about what exactly went through the minds of the crusaders and inquistors? How can an extraordinary human being watch another get tortured, whiped, have bone crushed by tightening vices and screws, boiled alive in hot oil, or dismembered alive by machines or wild beasts? Many Christians would very quickly defend of Christianity by saying "Oh, those people are not real Christians." That is a myth based on false information and perpetuated by pious believers. Muslims used the exact same excuse after September 11th - "Oh, those terrorists are not real Muslims." Would atheists take their own lives for the sake of Allah? The truth is that those crusaders and inquisitors not only believe in Christianity but believe a thousand percent. In fact, it takes a great deal of faith for them not to believe. Excommunication is dreaded more than death. Christian warriors were all pious believers, and the government at that time knows how to take advantage of their piety.
Would one human being harm another if we all know we share many common bonds with all other fellow human beings? For example, we all suffer physically and emotionally. We all have aches and pains and moments of agony. We all have mothers who worry about us. We all have people and things that we love and value. We all have dreams and aspirations. We all have moments of joy and memories we treasure. We all have compassion, remorse, and conscience.
However, if a person seriously think this so and so muslim, heretic, witch, or jew is an incarnation of the devil, the being that instigated Adam and Eve toward the fall, the origin of all the pains and sufferings, the entity that caused God himself to die on a cross, the being that leads your love ones astray and into eternal torture in hell, then your feeling toward this person would change. In fact, if you believe all these things about this person, then this person is no longer human. Anger and hatred would over run your emotions and cause you to do unimaginable things, if you really believe so and so is the devil such as many people did in medival period.
The same dynamics of dehumanization also occured to Nazi soldiers during World War II. When the Jews are considered to be no better than animals after the manifestation of various propagandas, then they can be extinguished.
The same principle applies to enemies of war. The Commies are savages and flesh eaters. They infect their ideology on other countries like a pervasive and uncurable disease. Do we know anything about those Vietnamese soldiers that we shoot at during the Vietnam war? Do they go to school and have a job? Are they married? Do they have children? What is their favorite movie or novel or food? What do their mother feel about them getting shot at? Lets say if meet these people the first time as complete strangers at a casual setting, and you are about to fall off a cliff, would those people rescue you?
We also tend to dehumanize ourselves without noticing it. If we are soldiers at a war, we suppose to just fire weapons without asking questions. We are indoctrinated to uncritically accept certain values, expectations, and beliefs by our society, our social groups, our culure without really thinking about it. We are not really humans but just a worker bee who lives under another person's agenda. This brings up the next form of dehumanization - the inflatory type.
Sometimes there are certain people who like and respect so much that we just absorb their ideas and opinions uncritically. Those people can be your parents, your favorite teachers, pastors, theologians, or philosophers. A small group of people accepted Karl Marx uncritically and eventually caused deaths to the millions and lack of progress in many countries. When we keep inflating the status of a person, he or she is no longer human. When a concept, an idea, or anything is hoisted above and beyond criticism, it becomes an idol. Sometimes when a false idol is lifted up high, it becomes hard to bring down.
There is no easy solution to this problem. At this time, I just pray to God and hope that the Holy Spirit would keep enlightening us and to make us more like the humans that is created under God's image.
Besides religious beliefs, I have been thinking about what other factors could cause human beings to inexorably harm other human beings. One common factor is this psychology of what I would call "dehumanization". There are two main types of dehumanization - deflatory and inflatory. Before I begin, I have to make a side comment. This treatise is not the result of formal psychological research. I am sure you can find similar materials in academic journals that are better and more in depth. The problem with those journals is that they are very esoteric, incomprehensible, and inaccessible to non-professionals. This treatise is the outcome of my own readings, experience, and reflection. It may not be completely *true*, but it should at least contain substantial practical significance. Okay, here we go.
Did you ever wonder about what exactly went through the minds of the crusaders and inquistors? How can an extraordinary human being watch another get tortured, whiped, have bone crushed by tightening vices and screws, boiled alive in hot oil, or dismembered alive by machines or wild beasts? Many Christians would very quickly defend of Christianity by saying "Oh, those people are not real Christians." That is a myth based on false information and perpetuated by pious believers. Muslims used the exact same excuse after September 11th - "Oh, those terrorists are not real Muslims." Would atheists take their own lives for the sake of Allah? The truth is that those crusaders and inquisitors not only believe in Christianity but believe a thousand percent. In fact, it takes a great deal of faith for them not to believe. Excommunication is dreaded more than death. Christian warriors were all pious believers, and the government at that time knows how to take advantage of their piety.
Would one human being harm another if we all know we share many common bonds with all other fellow human beings? For example, we all suffer physically and emotionally. We all have aches and pains and moments of agony. We all have mothers who worry about us. We all have people and things that we love and value. We all have dreams and aspirations. We all have moments of joy and memories we treasure. We all have compassion, remorse, and conscience.
However, if a person seriously think this so and so muslim, heretic, witch, or jew is an incarnation of the devil, the being that instigated Adam and Eve toward the fall, the origin of all the pains and sufferings, the entity that caused God himself to die on a cross, the being that leads your love ones astray and into eternal torture in hell, then your feeling toward this person would change. In fact, if you believe all these things about this person, then this person is no longer human. Anger and hatred would over run your emotions and cause you to do unimaginable things, if you really believe so and so is the devil such as many people did in medival period.
The same dynamics of dehumanization also occured to Nazi soldiers during World War II. When the Jews are considered to be no better than animals after the manifestation of various propagandas, then they can be extinguished.
The same principle applies to enemies of war. The Commies are savages and flesh eaters. They infect their ideology on other countries like a pervasive and uncurable disease. Do we know anything about those Vietnamese soldiers that we shoot at during the Vietnam war? Do they go to school and have a job? Are they married? Do they have children? What is their favorite movie or novel or food? What do their mother feel about them getting shot at? Lets say if meet these people the first time as complete strangers at a casual setting, and you are about to fall off a cliff, would those people rescue you?
We also tend to dehumanize ourselves without noticing it. If we are soldiers at a war, we suppose to just fire weapons without asking questions. We are indoctrinated to uncritically accept certain values, expectations, and beliefs by our society, our social groups, our culure without really thinking about it. We are not really humans but just a worker bee who lives under another person's agenda. This brings up the next form of dehumanization - the inflatory type.
Sometimes there are certain people who like and respect so much that we just absorb their ideas and opinions uncritically. Those people can be your parents, your favorite teachers, pastors, theologians, or philosophers. A small group of people accepted Karl Marx uncritically and eventually caused deaths to the millions and lack of progress in many countries. When we keep inflating the status of a person, he or she is no longer human. When a concept, an idea, or anything is hoisted above and beyond criticism, it becomes an idol. Sometimes when a false idol is lifted up high, it becomes hard to bring down.
There is no easy solution to this problem. At this time, I just pray to God and hope that the Holy Spirit would keep enlightening us and to make us more like the humans that is created under God's image.
posted by doulos theou | 3:16 PM
1 Comments:
Hey Joe! I have really been enjoying reading your posts so far. They are very thought-provoking; you dare the reader to really take time and think about what you're saying. Keep up the good work. :)
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