“The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world.”
– Dr. Paul Farmer
“I happen to think that the singular evil of our time is prejudice. It is from this evil that other evils grow and multiply. In almost everything I’ve written there is a thread of this: man’s…palpable need to dislike someone other than oneself.”
– Rod Serling
“The death of human empathy is one of the earliest and most telling signs of a culture about to fall into barbarism.”
– attributed to Hannah Arendt (unverified)
“Whoever can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”
– Voltaire (a rough translation from the French)
Biases that people form against other people can revolve around all kinds of identities, real or perceived, including: nationality, skin color (“race”), ethnicity, religious affiliation, gender/gender identity, sexual orientation, immigration status, political affiliation, class, region, urban/rural location, or other group affiliation.
Rather than allowing ourselves to embrace an Us vs. Them mindset, in which we perceive other people or groups of people as abstract, generalized Others—caricatures that we can readily vilify or scapegoat or cast as “enemies”—we should always try to “put ourselves in other people’s shoes” and notice that there are more similarities between people than differences. We must try to see each person as a multi-faceted individual and not just as one identity; and we must understand that everyone’s life has value and each person has as much of a right to life and liberty as we have.
As soon as a person allows himself or herself to generalize about an entire group of people and to believe that They (the Others) are inherently inferior or lesser than one’s “in group” in some way: e.g., stupid, primitive, dirty, untrustworthy, devious, scary/dangerous/violent/criminal, bad, or evil—or the group one identifies with is inherently better than (i.e., superior to) another group of people, simply because of the place or the identity that they were born into or have chosen—that person has stepped onto a slippery slope that can lead to discrimination, hate speech, dehumanization, exploitation, violence, and potentially to atrocities. Wrong-headed, misguided thoughts often lead to wrong-headed speech or “rhetoric” (which can spread those thoughts to others), which can all too easily lead to wrong-headed actions—at an individual level and at a societal level.
The slippery slope (or pipeline or staircase—choose your metaphor) can gradually take a person from:
- basic bias, generalization, prejudice and “othering,” to…
- scapegoating (collective blame), bigotry (e.g., racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, anti-semitism, xenophobia, etc.), and using slurs and hate speech, to
- discrimination, bullying, and harassment of individuals in that group, to
- dehumanization or objectification, demonization/vilification, and hatred, to
- humiliation, domination, exploitation, detention/enslavement, indiscriminate prosecution or persecution, cruelty, brutality, sexual violence, or other violence/hate crimes inflicted on individuals in that group, to
- collective punishment and harm aimed at everyone perceived to be in that group, to
- comfort with (and then celebration of or potentially even participation in) the murder of people who belong to that group, to
- comfort with (and then celebration/promotion of or even participation in) mass murder, “ethnic cleansing,” war, and genocide.
Of course, not everyone continues to the end of this pipeline or exhibits all of these behaviors; most people draw a line somewhere along the way, but in the meantime, their othering or hatred could have spread to others who might end up going further.
Sadly, sometimes all it takes to get onto this pipeline is: a lack of self-knowledge of one’s own biases (we all have biases) and an inability to put those biases in check. Biases often stem from feelings of: fear, insecurity, self-pity, resentment, grievance, personal failure, inferiority, social isolation, or a lack of belonging. Then, when you add in repeated exposure to some hate speech or propaganda (scapegoating/misplaced blame, lies, disinformation)—which could come from one’s family members or peers, one’s religious leaders, social media, hate groups, weaponized bots, mass media, or one’s own government—that combination of factors can make some people go beyond their basic prejudice and bigotry, become radicalized, and turn against their fellow humans, deciding that those humans are “the enemy” or that their lives are worth less (or worthless and expendable)—or taking it a step further, that they should be exterminated.
These are some of the steps that were outlined above, laid out in a little more detail:
- Not liking or respecting most or all of Them (the Others/Outsiders, who have been deemed a disfavored group).
- Looking down on Them (or being scared of Them) and feeling that They, as a whole group, are inferior from one’s own group.
- Deciding that they should be second-class citizens, it’s OK to discriminate against them, and that they do not deserve equal protection under the law or all of the rights (civil rights, constitutional rights, voting rights, immigration/refugee rights) that are granted to the In group.
- Feeling or declaring that they are sub-human in some way: e.g., “animals” or “vermin” or “impure” or “poisoning our blood,” or just objects/“bodies” or property, or evil “invaders” (aiming to “replace” the In group) or “the enemy,“ and that therefore they do not deserve basic human rights.
- Feeling that they are expendable, that it’s acceptable if some of them suffer, are exploited, are kept in inhumane conditions, are harmed by violence, or die from neglect or abuse or deportation back to an unsafe country, and if they’re sick or injured or wounded or vulnerable, we should let them suffer or die.
- Feeling that they deserve to die, and that someone should kill some of Them.
- Feeling that the State should kill some of Them, and supporting those killings.
- Feeling that the State should kill (exterminate) most or all of Them.
- Being willing to kill Them oneself (whether one is acting independently, as part of an organized group, or as part of their country’s military).
It’s never OK to collectively blame (scapegoat) or to collectively target, punish, or harm, let alone kill, people for the actions of their country’s or their group’s so-called leaders, or for the extreme or violent actions of a few individuals within a group, a protest, or a country. Many—and in some cases, most—people strongly disagree with their government’s or their current leaders’ actions. And individuals who commit acts of terrorism or violence rarely represent the wishes or beliefs of the majority of the larger groups they might be identified with. Even if the majority of a group does happen to agree with the offenders, consider that there are always some in the group who don’t, and it should be widely understood they do not deserve be targeted or punished just because they happen to share the same general “look” or identity (which is often an immutable identity or a group/country that someone was born into) as the offending individuals or leaders.
In Nazi Germany, the disfavored groups of inferior Others included many groups, not solely the groups they considered “non-Aryan.” The long list of people who were persecuted by the Nazis (and killed in large numbers during the Holocaust) included: Jews, Romani, as well as many Polish people, Slavs, and Ukrainians; people with physical or mental disabilities, blacks, gay men, political dissidents, pacifists and draft resisters, civilians engaged in non-violent resistance, Germans who had lived abroad for an extended time, Catholics, non-Europeans, and “social deviants,” which was a broad category that included alcoholics, drug addicts, vagrants, prostitutes, and common criminals (e.g., thieves).
The American Far Right has a white supremacist and Christian Nationalist cult-like bent (which is now well-represented within the current Administration, Congress, and government agencies). Among the many groups that have been targeted or scapegoated by the the Right are: trans people (who make up less than 1% of the population), Muslims, Jews, immigrants and refugees (primarily those who are brown- or black-skinned and/or who immigrated from poor countries—while a century ago, the disfavored immigrant groups included Jews, Irish, Italian, and Polish immigrants, most of whom were also poor when they arrived), Black people, Latinos and other people of color, women, women of color, gay people, men who are deemed not “masculine” enough, progressive and moderate Catholics (including the last two Popes), homeless people and poor people; anyone who supports or defends diversity, equity, or inclusion; any journalist, media outlet, comedian, elected official, or other person who has criticized or spoken out against Dear Leader (including many members of his own political party); and now apparently all Democrats or anyone who is considered a liberal (all broadly branded as “leftist radicals” or “extremists” or “terrorists” or “enemies of the state”). DT and his Administration have identified and are going after many “enemies.” If you added up all the groups of people they’ve vilified, it would constitute the vast majority of the U.S. population.
Unfortunately, deep strains of supremacy and hyper-nationalism exist in the U.S. Feelings of superiority over other groups of people (though they may often stem from an attempt to quash deeper feelings of insecurity or even inferiority) can be very dangerous, especially when they spread widely or are amplified and acted on by leaders or people in power.
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