I’m noticing a disturbing trend online that only seems to be getting worse. Perhaps it’s always been this bad, but it really feels like it’s growing. The trend is people using words to dehumanize others that they don’t agree with.
The reason for this was explained nicely in Peter Bevelin’s book “Seeking Wisdom“:
“We tend to dislike people who have been dehumanized – for example, people who have been described as evil or animals.”
It’s a strong tactic to use, but it’s really a classless thing to do. While we see a variety of words aimed at politicians in order to make them seem less human, the most common I’ve noticed lately is calling undocumented immigrants “illegals”.
I have no desire to get into a debate about border control and immigration, as it’s a complicated issue that doesn’t have an easy answer. However, if you want to complain about those coming across the border and you want to make your stance look right, dehumanizing those people is a place where many people choose to start.
Ryan Eller, the executive director of the group Define American sees it this way:
“‘illegals’ is being used as a noun, which implies that a human being is perpetually illegal. There is no other classification that I’m aware of where the individual is being rendered as illegal as opposed to the actions of that individuals.”
I see this in politics quite a lot, but it can boil over into many different aspects of life. I think healthy debate on most political topics (including immigration) is a great thing, but when someone stoops down to dehumanization to try to make their point, I learn about their moral fiber very quickly.
Fight hard for what you believe, but choose your words carefully.
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