What drives people to torture and kill scores of people as in genocides or ethnic cleansing? The easiest answer to that is that those perpetuating these crimes have lost their humanity. They do not recognise the other as a human being. But if one does not regard the other as a person, worth respecting and whose life ought to be safeguarded, then it only leads one to indifference. Not desire or thrill in killing, at least not consistently and in such great numbers. Just like we see mosquitoes. We don't go about smashing every mosquito in the house. We protect ourselves against them. We carry on our work and only when they disturb us do we chase or kill them. The same with lizards and even pests. No sane person kills them en masse just for the heck of it, for no particular reason. Most often these are outside our observation radar. They just don't exist!
One opinion is that the roots of mass violence is to be found not in dehumanisation but in human morality.
One opinion is that the roots of mass violence is to be found not in dehumanisation but in human morality.
We find that moral violence emerges only when perpetrators see victims as capable of thinking, experiencing sensations and having moral emotions. In other words, when perpetrators perceive their victims as human.
.... dehumanising victims predicts support for instrumental violence, but not for moral violence. (Source: click here)Does that mean dehumanisation has no role in killings of any sort? Not necessarily. Most often it is a deficit in humanity that lets one not do anything positively to prevent violence or murder.
No comments:
Post a Comment