Examples Of Dehumanization

"The mind of man is capable of anything" (Conrad, 1990, p. 58). This quote by Joseph Conrad (1990) proves to be true in many aspects of human psychology, especially when looking at the social phenomenon of dehumanization. While most people would agree that all human beings are created equal, there are those who let their minds cajole themselves into believing that some people are less than human. Throughout history, there have been many occurrences in which one group of people convinces themselves that because another group is different, they are inferior. Furthermore, historical evidence helps to define the term dehumanization through the characteristics of labeling outsiders of society, stripping away human qualities, and persecuting the
"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it" (Stafford, 2016). This quote by Joseph Goebbels beautifully illustrates how if someone repeatedly dehumanizes another, that person will come to believe it themselves. In Heart of Darkness (1990), Marlow arrives in Africa to see the disturbing sight of men acting purely like animals. "While I stood there horror-struck, one of these creatures rose to his hands and knees, and went off on all-fours towards the river to drink. He lapped out of his hand" (Conrad, 1990, p. 26). After seeing this, Marlow is truly horrified for the first time because the men that he sees are no longer human. Furthermore, this experience shows that when a person is given next to nothing, the only thought in their mind is meeting the basic needs for survival. Likewise, many people living in North Korea will eat any form of food because of what little they are given. "I was so hungry, I ate rice out of vomit" (Robson, 2017). Charles Woo Ryu, a North Korean defector, explained that the destitute conditions of life caused him to never know when he could eat again, and it forced him to think solely about survival instincts. Moreover, the North Korean government dehumanizes their own people to the point where one of the most important human characteristics, hope, is lost. "A lot of my neighbors commit suicide
When someone believes that they are better than other people, their life becomes governed by their own pride; coincidently, when one's life is ruled by pride, they tend to believe that they submit to their own set of laws, and they can do whatever they want to whoever they want. In the novel, Heart of Darkness (1990), Mr. Kurtz believes himself to be a god to the savage natives; therefore, he is able to rule over and exploit them. "I had expected to see a knob of wood there, you know. I returned deliberately to the first I had seen- and there it was, black, dried, sunken, with closed eyelids- a head that seemed to sleep at the top of that pole" (Conrad, 1990, p. 96). Not only did Kurtz force the native Africans to labor for him by harvesting ivory, he also killed anyone who dared to resist him. Furthermore, Kurtz persecuted the natives by executing them and displaying their severed heads on the stakes outside of his house. It was this ruthless persecution that kept the natives believing they were helpless and subservient to Mr. Kurtz. Likewise, another group who received egregious persecution for being considered an inferior race were the Armenian Christians. In the predominantly Muslim Ottoman Empire, the 2 million Armenian Christians were labeled as inferior and a threat due to the religious differences (Armenian Genocide). Because of