Examples Of Dehumanization

Adolf Hitler once said, “The jews are undoubtedly a race, but they are not human”. This quote was spoken during one of history's most dehumanizing eras, the Holocaust. Dehumanization is when one human or group of humans believes that they are more human than another group or person. Usually dehumanization takes place when one race, religion, or culture believes that another race, religion, or culture is not as human as themselves or not human at all. Dehumanization has unfavorably impacted the lives of many throughout history such as during the Holocaust, slavery, and the Rwandan Genocide. During the Holocaust, dehumanization was the reason for the deaths of millions of Jews, Gypsies, Slavic people, the disabled, and others. For instance,
The Rwandan Genocide on the other hand is an example of dehumanization through culture. The Genocide led to the murder of 800,000 people. It was a genocide and one of 8 stages of genocide is dehumanization. An article written about genocide itself says, “One group denies the humanity of the other group. Members of it are equated with animals, vermin, insects or diseases. Dehumanization overcomes the normal human revulsion against murder.” (Stanton par. 4) The Tutsi were treated like cockroaches needed to be exterminated, “Tutsi and people suspected of being Tutsi were killed in their homes and as they tried to flee at roadblocks set up across the country during the genocide.” (Genocide par. 2) The Hutu, another supposedly superior culture treated the Tutsi as rodents, germs, bugs. Things better fit not in society, take away from them all human rights and then killing them. This is one of the most horrible facts I have learned about dehumanization in history. An article in the bbc states that, “Neighbours killed neighbours and some husbands even killed their Tutsi wives, saying they would be killed if they refused.”(Rwanda par. 4) The idea of people killing people close to them is plain cruel. Especially for those who forced the killings. To do something like that they need not think of the person
Dehumanization, as I have already thoroughly explained, is not a good thing whatsoever. While we may see this as something of the past, it is still around today in many different forms. The police brutalities, slavery has been abolished yet in some places around the world it is still in operation and bigger than ever. Millions of families, neighbors, friends, and others have had their lives destroyed by dehumanization, and that is why we must be aware of how drastic the situation is so we can end it