1. Consider the readings and youtubes about dehumanization and Mr. Ayalew’s presentation about dehumanization and compliance with authority as presented in Zimbardo’s work. Now choose one of the following problems and apply Zimbardo’s ideas about dehumanization to ONE of the following populations you are concerned about. Describe how dehumanization of that population occurs and remember the concepts of “deindividuation” and “moral accountability” to describe what happens when people dehumanize others.
a. The dehumanization of women, as evidenced by using them as objects of war crimes, only for child bearing and male pleasure (Memory Banda’s TED talk and global sex trafficking as described by Kristof and Wudun in Half the Sky),
b. The dehumanization of persons on the basis of race, as evidenced in the Youtube about racism and the global problem of discrimination, genocide, and robbing of resources such as metals, land and forests against persons who are indigenous and of color,
c. The dehumanization of persons on the basis of religion, nationality, or tribal affiliation, as is the justification for the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the Holocaust, the genocide in Rwanda, and other acts of genocide and imperialist aggression;
d. The dehumanization of persons with disabilities, as occurred during the Holocaust and as occurs worldwide in the deprivation of rights to de-institutionalization and supported decision-making.
c. The invasion of Ukraine by Russia is framed as defense against fascism , but in reality, it is imperial aggression aimed at annexing territory nd using it for its own political and economic goals. Such actions can be considered dehumanizing as they disregard the rights, identity and independence of the ukrainian people. It is an attempt to reduce ukrainians to objects that can be manipulated and used for Russia political agenda. Deindividuation in this case can be observed when the Russian goverment and its supporters deliberately ignore the identity of Ukrainians, portraying them as enemies or occupiers, regardless of their individual rights or values. Moral accountability can be forgotten when these actions are presented as legitimate or justifiable due to ethnic or religious motivations.
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DeleteUkrainians are being dehumanized, the Russian government does not take into account people's rights and freedoms, identity and independence. It considers people only as objects that can be manipulated to achieve Russian political goals. In his actions, he mentions moral values, presents his actions as legal and justified.
DeleteThis post relates to mine a lot too. Ukrainians are being dehumanized by the Russian government for the sake of power and land rights. Just like I said in my post about Palestine, both the Russian and Israeli government are treating Ukrainians and Palestinians as "enemies" and "easily manipulated objects" that are in the way of further power and imperialistic values over moral values.
DeleteI chose to describe how Ukrainians and Palestinians are being dehumanized in the current conflicts. People are not shown as individuals, they are divided into groups by religion or nationality, by history, they are told to do things that cause anxiety and stress, like leaving their homes, denying their religion, history, identity, in this way they become a single mass that can be controlled and abused. Also, to dehumanize people, you can take away their voice, stop them from expressing themselves and make them feel powerless. Depriving people of their basic needs, depriving them of their dignity and honor, making them feel naked and weak is one way to dehumanize and use brutality against a particular group. Right now it's happening in Gaza and Ukraine, I think it's happening in other places in the world, but I'm not deeply interested in those topics because they make me anxious. I still don't know how to avoid it, because I don't seem to have the Lucifer Zimbard described in me, but I don't know how I would act in certain situations. Sometimes you cannot avoid situations, but I think that people should be taught empathy, tolerance, sharing and then they will behave more humanely with the environment.
ReplyDeletePalestine and Ukraine are great examples of dehumanization. They lost access to their basic necessities: food, water, shelter, and safety. They were stripped of their own identities and denied their history. Their most basic parts of being human were taken from them. They just became a group and numbers reported in the media. It is happening is more areas throughout the world. It is truly anxiety inducing, but it is important to not ignore what is happening because that is how the cycle continues. Empathy and tolerance is extremely important and we must continue to show support and advocate for these populations being stripped of their basic humanity.
DeleteI agree with everything you said. It is so common for the media and news outlets to refer to people by their nationality, race, gender, religion etc, reducing them to statistics, making it easier for people to consciously and unconsciously dehumanize them and the real struggles that they face. Moreover, the media can be skewed towards certain narratives, and it is important for us to be aware of where we are getting our news from, especially on social media. With so many things happening around the world, I agree that it can certainly be anxiety inducing!
DeleteCurrently, one of the most vivid views of dehumanization is the war between Russia and Ukraine. Russia, the aggressor, is attacking Ukraine in brutal ways and disregard any "rules of war", bombing kindergartens, hospitals, entering cities and assaulting women and children, as it happened in Bucha. There are clear rules of war stating that when attacking opponents, soldiers capture them as prisoners of war, but later they are released. Russian military officers do not do this; they don't take Ukrainians as prisoners of war, they shoot them on the spot. This demonstrates how dehumanized Russia is and what actions they take. Based on Philip Zimbardo's (1971) Stanford prison experiment, it has been highlighted that when people lose their personal identity or become anonymous within a group, they are more likely to consent to or even carry out actions that would be unacceptable in an individual context. This is related to the process of dehumanization, where an individual loses their humanity. In war, everyone is simply either a soldier or an enemy. When war occurs, people do not think that they are shooting at someone's father, maybe a brother, or a child; on the battlefield that person is just an enemy. Why does this happen specifically from the Russian side? One explanation is that after World War II, only Germany was considered an aggresor that harmed people; they had to face the consequences of genocide. Military officers had to see photographs, visit concentration camps, and feel what their victims felt, ultimately restoring a sense of conscience and empathy to people. Looking at the Russian side, they also behaved extremely cruelly during World War II, but they were not accused of that, they did not become the "bad guys", no one showed them what was wrong and what was right, what was humane and what was not. Perhaps that's why Russian aggression continues to be brutal and full of dehumanization.
ReplyDeleteYour comment strikes a deep chord with moral obligation and human empathy, bringing to light the horrifying reality of dehumanization in combat areas, especially the tragic war between Russia and Ukraine. The graphic portrayal of the atrocities committed against defenseless civilians, women, and children not only highlights the flagrant transgressions of international law and human dignity, but it also powerfully highlights the grave ramifications of deindividuation and the abdication of moral responsibility in the context of armed conflict.
DeleteDrawing on Zimbardo's observations, the behavior you describe is a terrifying example of how swiftly and completely war may erode civilization's outer layer. We observe a deep loss of personality and humanity when soldiers, encouraged by the anonymity provided by their uniforms and ranks, operate under the pretense of orders from above and perpetrate crimes against those they designate "the enemy." The deindividuation process produces a setting in which the other is viewed as an object to be eliminated rather than as a fellow human being. It serves as a sobering reminder of the evil potential that lurks in human communities when moral and ethical accountability are suspended.
Your eloquent presentation of these concerns challenges us to consider the larger ramifications of dehumanization in warfare, in addition to the particular circumstances surrounding the Russia-Ukraine conflict. It is especially poignant to discuss historical accountability—or the absence of it—in the wake of World War II. It poses important queries concerning the cycle of violence and the function of education and communal memory in either promoting an atmosphere of empathy and healing or preserving one of impunity.
The tragedies in Bucha and other like cases not only necessitate prompt humanitarian interventions but also a more thorough examination of the social and military brainwashing systems that permit this kind of dehumanization. They beg us to consider how it is possible for people to act in such a way against one another in the twenty-first century. It also pushes us to think about how international institutions and societies can break the cycle of dehumanization and reaffirm our shared commitment to human dignity and empathy, in addition to working to prevent future conflicts and make sure those who commit such atrocities are held accountable.
Your interest in this subject is not only a strong denunciation of the horrors occurring, but it also serves as a wake-up call for all of us to consider our obligations to one another as members of a global human community. It serves as a reminder that the strongest defenses against dehumanization are empathy, knowledge, and the unwavering declaration of our shared humanity.
All the topics above were absolutely important and relevant to this day. However, I believe that talking about the example of war in the 21st century is very important, especially for us living in eastern and northern European parts; for the threat that it poses and the consequences, as well as the impact it had on our economy and even day-to-day life by reminding people of their past traumas of occupation and violence, as well as just fearmongering the rest of the population about the possibility of war. The example of the conflict and the war between Ukraine and Russia has a significant correlation to many genocides, and perhaps more than not with the Holocaust that happened during World War II. Both now and back then, the oppressor has always justified the violence towards a certain group of people that, in reality, were just a threat or an obstacle to their vision and views of a perfect world. These groups of people were often associated with certain religions, had certain nationalities, or had other affiliations.
ReplyDeleteRussian news agencies have spread their propaganda and doctrine that claiming to their people that Ukrainian elites and the majority of the rest of the population (of Ukrainian nationality) are Nazis who need forced re-education by military intervention, and Ukraine itself has been openly compared to Hitler’s Germany (Sergeytsev, 2022, cit. Ferraro, 2023). Exactly this kind of justification and people generalization is what leads to the dehumanization of that population in the first place, and the oppressor is able to get away with it to a certain degree. Putin, Russia’s current president, is going through a process of framing the West as a security threat and Ukraine as an existential danger to Russia, and so, this process, in the eyes of his own people and everyone else who follows the doctrine and ideology of Russia’s “traditional” values, looks like a heroic act that fosters a sense of nationalism (Ferraro, 2023). This seemingly heroic act has been mentioned by Zimbardo (2007) who has pointed out certain subtypes of heroism, one of them being a political or military leader who typically would be described as someone who leads a nation during a time of difficulty with the purpose of unifying and providing them with a vision while knowingly risking and sacrificing their lives and leadership. That's where the concepts of deindividuation and moral accountability shine the most, because the physical and psychological violence from Russians that follows their leader’s values and vision towards Ukrainians is done by the nation and by the group of people whose moral accountability is distorted, because by their understanding of right and wrong, this situation is right; hence their actions are right, and there are no moral, ethical, or social implications to be accepted nor any responsibility to be taken.
Ferraro, V. (2023). Why Russia invaded Ukraine and how wars benefit autocrats: The domestic sources of the Russo-Ukrainian War. International Political Science Review, 45(2), 170-191. doi: 10.1177/01925121231215048
Zimbardo, P. (2007). The Lucifer Effect: How good people turn evil. New York: Random House.
Hi Monika, I liked your explanation that eventually led to describing situations and actions as "right and wrong". I feel like this completely relates to the idea of those within a group might think that they are doing "good" because they are able to distinguish between what is right and what is wrong. This tactic of misinformation has been utilized by Putin so people can believe that he is on the "right" side of history. It demonstrates the serious, serious implications of what it can mean to misinform a population and subsequently allow a population to dehumanize another on the basis that they are "wrong".
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ReplyDeleteI believe I can confidently state that the most important issue in our country these days, due to the historical context, is the war between Russia and Ukraine. This war is currently considered extremely brutal due to the dehumanization and loss of life. Russia's engagement in warfare violates numerous international legal acts, which emphasize that Ukraine is a free state with its independence, as well as violating people's rights, freedoms, and dignity by disregarding human life, brutally torturing, killing, and desecrating bodies. All the horrifying experiences of the Ukrainian people only demonstrate the dehumanization and malevolence of the Russian people, the process of dehumanization, which, by its cruelty, spreads and involves others to act similarly. This is also reflected in Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment, which perfectly illustrates the loss of human identity and its negative impact on human behavior. When a person loses their uniqueness, they start to behave like their environment, taking actions suitable for being in a group. The same goes for soldiers who fight in Russia and are characterized by their dehumanization when they behave due to an irrational need to do so. Such individuals lose their beliefs, morality, proper behavior norms, lose their feelings, and do not act rationally. For these reasons, soldiers become ruthless people who disregard everyone and take lives from innocent individuals.
ReplyDeleteZimbardo was a psychologist who focused on power dynamics from a psychological and systemic lens. Zimbardo led the infamous Stanford prison experiment that displayed how situational authority, officers, abused their perceived power to exploit and abused the ones under their authority, the prisoners. These concepts from this prison can be applied to systemic oppressions to understand how oppression is reinforced under those who perceive themselves as having more power. The dehumanization and compliance with authority displayed in the experiment is congruent with how dehumanization and compliance of women exists in the larger world. Expectations of women due to social roles and gender norms is exploited due to being able to belittle and remove power from women. Women have been used as objects of war crimes in the sense men see women as good for only child bearing and male pleasure.
ReplyDeleteIn Memory Banda’s TED talk with her own experience of being expected to have a child before getting her education, Banda focuses on community expectations of what it is to be a woman. Her community prioritized females to be expected to have a child at very young ages, often causing these young girls to leave school (Banda, 2015). The young girls were reduced to sex objects by puberty age by having to attend camps for the purpose of how to please men, a common cultural tradition for her community. Young girls were looked at as an object that's purpose was to please men and to have a child. These women were reduced to pushing out babies and actual motherhood was not celebrated. Even leaders questioned reasons for girls not being pregnant yet. High risks of contracting HIV and AIDS was not enough of a threat because these women were not looked at beyond their purposes of pleasure and childbearing (Banda, 2015). These young girls lost their individual identities in the eyes of a man- young girls were viewed as objects who could benefit the man’s life. It was an accepted idea in the community that the woman’s role in a marriage is to have children and please their husband– sex was expected. Young girls in marriages were compliant to traditions because these young girls were met with violence and abuse from the man with power and authority. Social roles, norms, and laws in Banda’s community reinforced the women’s participation in their own objectification and dehumanization against their own free will. These young girls did not hold the same power nor authority as the men exploiting their sense of power by objectifying and dehumanizing these young girls.
Banda had the desire to reteach these younger mothers how to read and write again, and she brought them together. Bringing these young girls together and hearing their individual experiences and stories brought humanity and identity back to the young girls. These young girls did not have the opportunity to hear shared traumatic experiences due to their roles in their marriage and community, which also made it difficult for these young girls to know the exploitation and abuse was happening all over. Banda explained advocating for the women in her community to traditional leaders was “a scary thing to do” and “a hard thing to do” (Banda, 2015). Banda explained continuing to advocate and pushing her leaders to illegalize child marriage in hopes to have more young girls in school and less with children eventually worked. Banda explained how concepts of moral accountability were used to push the leaders, understanding how rules made by leaders could affect the perspectives, morality, and ethics of their own community (Banda, 2015).
In “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide'' by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, more evidence of women being reduced for childbearing and male pleasure occurs. The story of 15-year-old Srey Rath starts with being sold to a gangster under the false promises of work. Rath was drugged, sexually abused, and threatened by her boss and customers to comply with expectations of the boss (Kristof & Wudun, 2010). Rath’s body was sold as property to men who expected free work to be released. Rath was stolen of her freedom and independence and forced into sex work by her kidnapper for it back. The men used violence to force Rath and the other girls to comply with the boss. To comply with the boss is to provide sexual pleasure to him or the customers. Rath was now sold to other men as a sex object for their pleasure. The girls were also severely neglected in terms of food, pay, and privacy. Rath was again sold to another human trafficker by a police officer, which highlights the corruption of the police and judicial system meant to enforce safety for all (Kristof & Wudun, 2010). Moral accountability of those meant to provide protection is reflected in those people creating the need for the protection in the first place.
DeleteIn both of these media, these are just a few stories of the millions of young girls and women who have been reduced to being used like an object with a purpose. These young girls were not engaging in these relationships with complete free will. These young girls were property and objects who were threatened with abuse, neglect, guilt, and shame by not adhering to the expectations of men. These young girls were stolen of their identities and freedom by men who used illegal and manipulative tactics to keep these women in compliance.
I am choosing the population of option ‘C’ and will discuss the dehumanization of the Palestinian people right now during the genocide going on in Gaza by the hands of Israel and the IOF. We are seeing in real time how the decades long occupation of Gaza has been contributing to dehumanization and deindividuation of the Palestinian people. They are being persecuted for their religion and their race, and innocent civilians which are mostly women and children are being murdered every day for the sake of land, power, religious persecution, and racism. According to Zimbardo, deindividuation and dehumanization is influenced by a group, but is also an individual process (Villanova, Beria, Costa, Koller, 2017). The IOF is currently destroying mosques and churches which is ripping the community and safety away from the Palestinian people. There are no longer places for people to go to connect with their faith and they must constantly be in hiding of their physical safety and cannot practice their religion anywhere without fear of being tortured or murdered. The biggest form of dehumanization we are seeing right now in Gaza is anti-Arab sentiments from news outlets and the Israeli government and not referring to Palestinians as people at all. They are being boiled down to numbers and casualties for the sake of land development.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23311908.2017.1308104#:~:text=The%20mechanism%20of%20deindividuation%20described,will%20not%20be%20cognitive%20interactions
I believe that living in Lithuania, it is impossible to ignore the situation and events in Ukraine. When we analyse the events of recent years, we are facing the evidence of total dehumanization. The Russian leader, Putin, in February 2022, inspired by his ambitions and unclear purposes, started a war in Ukraine under the cover of a special military operation. The Russian leader is presenting the war in Ukraine as a fight against Nazism and the cleansing of the Ukrainian people from the Nazis, who are a threat to the Russian nation. Since the war began, the Russian national media have been full of propaganda and other reality-distorting information which justifies the events in Ukraine and the inhumane behaviour of the Russian soldiers and presents them as heroic performances. The Russians who are fighting are seen as heroes in their efforts to cleanse Ukraine of the Nazis and to protect their homeland Russia. The majority of the people in Russia are ignoring the war and blindly believing the disinformation that the leader is spreading about a heroic mission to protect the country. This resonates with Zimbardo's (2007) quote about dehumanization and highlights the dehumanization that is happening in the Ukraine. The author (2007) argues that dehumanization is a process that clouds a person's thinking and makes them think that others are less than human, justifying cruel, inhuman acts. According to Zimbardo (2007), tragedies such as the events in Ukraine are fundamentally related with dehumanization, which enables discrimination against other people and makes them less human. Well, the statements made by the Russian leader to the nation, which grandly present the aggression against Ukraine. What is more, these statements are spreading the ideology that such actions are essential and necessary, otherwise the safety of Russia and its people would be at risk. The whole period of the war has been marked by disinformation in Russia, hiding statistics on troop deaths and the amount of military vehicles that were destroyed. Also, the spread of propaganda and encouragement to join the Russian troops and to serve and defend the country with honour. It reveals and demonstrates the complete dehumanisation and unjustifiable treatment of innocent people in Ukraine. Russian soldiers destroy everything in their path, blowing up a children's hospital, ignoring the signs indicating that innocent Ukrainian children live there. Or, when the Russians invade one of the Ukrainian villages, Buch, they kill no fewer than 360 innocent Ukrainian civilians and vandalise their bodies. Also, they rape women, children and even babies. It is a total dehumanization, where a person who has lost his sense of humanity destroys everything that is alive with no mercy. The Russian soldiers on the battlefield are following an ideology that seeks to destroy the entire Ukrainian nation, and this is nothing less than dehumanization, because the aggressor's followers blindly believe in the idea that Ukrainians are the enemy and are a danger to them. Zimbardo (2007) says that propaganda is often used to impose ideas about enemies on the society, causing fear and a demonic view of the enemy. According to the author (2007), this encourages irrational behaviour, aggression and brutality. And this reveals and proves that dehumanization can affect even peaceful people who, blindly believing in the ideas spread by the leader, like Russians believing in Putin. It shows that being 'blind' and uncritical can lead to becoming murderous beings who violate all human values.
ReplyDeleteZimbardo, P. (2007). The Lucifer Effect: How good people turn evil. New York: Random House. (Retrieved from http://www.lucifereffect.com/dehumanization.htm)
DeleteI appreciate your insight on the events in Ukraine, as someone living in Lithuania. I think an unfortunate reality of the distance between the United States and Ukraine is that some of the public have become less vocal about what has been happening as time has gone on. It is interesting to hear the perspective of someone living in a state that was formerly under the occupation of the Soviet Union. You discussion of Russian tactics in this case reminded me of the part of Professor Ayalew's presentation which addressed what leads people to terrorist acts. The complete dehumanization of the Ukrainian people, calling on the people's hatred of Nazism, and the utilization of the way Russia has conditioned much of their population to accept Putin's authority without question have led the general population to be in support of this war. The general population seems to see Putin's actions in Ukraine as a noble cause.
DeleteThe treatment of women as objects or as people whose entire purpose is to support men has been discussed in great detail across the world. There are still many countries that have considerable ways to go in terms of rights for women. In terms of marriage inequality, Memory Banda’s TED talk discusses how her community was able to fight against the common place practice of child marriage. The women in Malawi were used to becoming married at very young ages and often had children before they were even adults. In Banda’s community, women were seen as objects for child bearing, even being forced to participate in an initiation process that involved having sex with a man much older than the girls taking part. Many of the girls even developed STDs as a result of this practice. By labeling these types of practices as “cultural,” change was not made in her community for a very long time (Banda, 2015). Having been used to these ideas for such a long time, girls often did not consider their own dreams and aspirations, instead following the path as a wife and mother that was laid out for them since birth. Because of this, it is likely the girls lost a lot of their own individual identities and instead looked at themselves and others in similar positions by their roles as someone’s wife and mother rather than their existence as a person.
ReplyDeleteMarriage equality doesn’t just look at the marriage itself, however. It also looks at the possible end of marriage. In Egypt, unequal divorce practices make it very easy for men to divorce their wives and very difficult for women to divorce their husbands. This leads to women staying in “violent and potentially life-threatening marriages” (Deif, 2005, pg. 112). The government requires women to go to court and follow many legal proceedings, while men can typically register their divorce fairly quickly without even entering a courtroom. Even if women in Egypt are able to secure a divorce through the lengthy legal process, they typically are financially unstable, gaining almost nothing from the divorce. Men are often even able to disappear and stop paying child support with police being largely unwilling to help the women affected. Women are not even represented in courts, with stereotypical sexist views prohibiting this opportunity rather than any religious or secular laws (Deif, 2005, pg. 111). By being forced to stay in these potentially dangerous marriages, it is likely that women lose an individual sense of self. Their identity becomes tied to their family and husbands, without many rights for themselves.
A large part of these marriage inequality issues stems from common cultural practices with women historically receiving less rights than men. The intensity of this differs depending on the country, and some countries such as the countries mentioned previously have very visible marriage and gender equalities. Because of these practices, women are typically seen as homemakers and in some cases, property of the men in their lives, whether it be their fathers or husbands. This view of women creates a loss of individuation in women, and a loss of moral accountability in men. The women may feel that they are at the mercy of men’s decisions, leaving little room for personal identity. Some of these women may even feel that it is their duty to serve the men in their lives, no matter what that may entail. In turn, the men may view the women in their lives as personal property, meaning that they can do whatever they wish with them. For husbands, this may lead to them treating their wives as objects used for sexual pleasure or child bearing, violating their personal rights. This treatment of women as objects leads to a lack of moral accountability, as the men do not feel that they are violating any sort of moral rules. After all, to them, their wives are not people, they are property, and they are using them as they see fit.
References
DeleteBanda, M. (2015, May). A warrior’s cry against child marriage [Video]. TED Talks. https://www.ted.com/talks/memory_banda_a_warrior_s_cry_against_child_marriage?language=en
Deif, F. (2005). Divorced from Justice. Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, 1(3), 108–115. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40326874
AUTHOR: VAIDA OGULEVIČIŪTĖ
ReplyDeleteThe dehumanization of women in war is manifested in their treatment as objects of war crimes designed to give men pleasure and/or to bear children for men. Crimes against women in wartime are a serious violation of human rights and dignity. Violations of women's rights are deeply rooted in systemic gender inequalities, social norms and the disposition of power that determines women's security in society. Exploitation of women takes the form of sexual violence, forced pregnancy, psychological, emotional and physical violence in order to achieve personal goals that violate the dignity of the other human being and the right to security and respect. Violations of women's rights destroy the fabric of society as a whole. The trauma suffered by women during the war perpetuates cycles of trauma, intergenerational violence that hinders peace and social development. Women must be protected in war because women are particularly vulnerable to violence during war (Tickner and True, 2018). For example, during the Bosnian war, many crimes of rape and sexual violence occurred in camps and other places of detention. During the war, soldiers brutalized detainees, opening doors, flashing torches in detainees' faces, randomly selecting women and girls, saying they were being taken for interrogation, but they were taken away to be raped. Survivors of the war continued to face a myriad of problems afterwards, from poverty to health problems, domestic violence and social exclusion. (Clark, 2017). Many women in countries where women's rights are not upheld continue to experience violence that escalates into trauma, which professionals need to work with for years so the consequences are not felt. It is important to note that men are also subjected to sexual violence during wartime, but women are more likely to experience this trauma than men.
P. Zimbardo (2007) argues that people go from being individually moral to being evil, corrupt and often brutal towards others due to the pressures of certain group circumstances. Those in power take terrible actions against others due to peer pressure, dehumanization and pressure to conform to others in their group. According to Zimbardo (2007), peer pressure and the desire to fit in all work together to unconsciously cause people to take such brutal actions, the Lucifer effect. In many cases, soldiers are not inherently bad, but under the circumstances, they resort to cruel acts that dehumanize women in wartime, which is why it is important to talk about the trauma caused by war. Women are dehumanized during war because of the stereotypes that persist in society that women are there to satisfy men's needs, that women are weaker than men, etc. Such stereotypes encourage the depersonalization of women and allow men, influenced by their environment, to commit atrocious crimes, which are often acquitted, while the surviving victims have to deal with the consequences. Women victims of war must receive comprehensive assistance so that these crimes decrease in the future, and ideally disappear.
Tickner, J. A. and True, J. (2018). A century of international relations feminism: from World War I women's peace pragmatism to the women, peace and security agenda. International Studies Quarterly, 62(2), 221-233. doi: 10.1093/isq/sqx091
Clark, J. N. (2017). Working with survivors of war rape and sexual violence: Fieldwork reflections from Bosnia-Hercegovina. Qualitative Research, 17(4), 424-439. doi: 10.1177/1468794116671987
Zimbardo, P. (2007). The Lucifer Effect: How good people turn evil. New York: Random House.
Question 1a
ReplyDeleteDehumanization means the cruel use of human beings for perverse pleasure or gain.
Women are particularly vulnerable in countries where there is no (in the case of war) or dysfunctional law and order, due to the country's poor social system. The crucial relationship between people becomes that of the oppressors and the oppressed.
Zimbardo presents several cases of how such cruelty manifests itself in the lives of ordinary people under certain circumstances (he talks about the torture of prisoners by US soldiers in Iraq, and the Stanford prison experiment) and calls it Lucifer's Effete. Zimbardo identifies a whole range of circumstances that influence the behaviour of people who have been given some kind of non-contextual power.
The case of prostitution, human trafficking, described in Half of Sky from a human rights perspective seems to be more typical of developing countries. But the truth is that all over the world women are exploited in many ways including in the prostitution. In the article is analyzed women who works in prostitution in Lithuania and how difficult is to leave this way because of the women trauma and stigma (Puidokienė, D., & Perttula, J. (2014). The healing relationship for women in prostitution. Topos, (1), 159-172). Also KOPŽI (Non-governmental organization Centre for Combating Trafficking and Exploitation of Human Beings) tells stories of exploitation Lithuanian women for prostitution mostly in West Europe countries.
Both victims and abusers in these inhumane situations need help to overcome them and return to a normal human life. This is mainly explored by trauma theory, according to which both soldiers who have been killing in the war and women who have been subjected to inhumane treatment, sexual or other, have very similar experiences of trauma that need to be lived out in a clinical way.
Oppressors need to take moral personal responsibility for their behavior and seek effective repentance (even if they receive a prison sentence) without any excuses. Zimbardo says that in the same conditions in which some individuals commit inhumane torture, others choose heroic behavior and commit themselves to it.
The role of social workers in this case is primarily to work in the field of women's rights, raising their awareness and courage to defend their freedoms and rights, which is influenced by the development of social skills and the opportunity to pursue higher education. It is important to reconcile society to avoid any violent inhuman behavior, hatred or stigmatization.
I choose option C to describe how the dehumanization of the population takes place. Author Zimbardo’s (2007) argues that dehumanization is associated with clouded human thinking and justifying acts of cruelty by believing that other individuals are less than human. So, when Russia invaded Ukraine, and Russian soldiers attacked Ukrainian people, there was an obvious disregard for human rights, dehumanization, because Russian soldiers have no stops: they shoot, attack, rape, steal from many Ukrainian people, and it doesn't matter at all that those people are someone's brothers , sisters, mothers or fathers, as well as many people died and lost the opportunity to live life, and in my opinion, this is an obvious example of how the belittling of humanity and human life and qualities, the destruction of dignity and rights is taking place. Russian soldiers do not see Ukrainian people as their equals - their goal is to harm, in my opinion, this is dehumanization.
ReplyDeleteBased on the Stamford Prison Experiment by Philip Zimbardo (1971), we can assume that people who have been given a certain amount of power do not adhere to human values because they give up their humanity for a certain ideology. Because the idea of the experiment was to study how people feel in a state of captivity, in order to show the submissiveness and psychological pressure on people. I think women in our society are no exception. Nowadays we can see that in our society sexual violence is used in the war against women and girls in order to humiliate the opposite sex and satisfy one's own ego. I think this is a terrible and immoral behaviour of men, such as Russian soldiers, to humiliate and emotionally control the victim. I recently watched a presentation by Memory Banda Ted in which a young girl shared her personal story of sexual abuse at a young age. During the interview, the girl recounted her experience of living in a poor country where she could not make her own decisions. She told the story of her sister who became pregnant at the age of eleven. The girl said that in her society it is accepted that girls are considered mature at the age of 11 and go to an initiation camp where they have to satisfy a man sexually. This attitude towards young girls in society leads to dehumanisation of women at an early age. In my opinion, sexual abuse at a young age affects the emotional makeup of the child, which can lead to a lifelong crisis. Victims of sexual violence are often afraid to seek help, avoid physical contact with other people and very often become pregnant or suffer from chronic diseases such as HIV or AIDS. In Ted's talk, one girl told her own story of being pressured by the society she belonged to to attend an initiation camp, but she did not give in to societal pressure and broke with the traditions of the community. Her main goal was to help the girls who had suffered, for example, to learn how to write, read and listen, to fight for girls' rights and to get support not only from girls but also from men. (Banda, 2015). While there are many cases in the world where girls have no choice but to endure such behaviour from men. I believe that it is necessary to share our experiences in society so that women can make their own choices freely and feel valued.
ReplyDeleteThe dehumanization of women, especially in the contexts of war crimes, global sex trafficking, and their reduction to only be objects for childbearing and male pleasure, offers a distressing depiction of Zimbardo's ideas about dehumanization and compliance with authority. These examples show the concepts of deindividuation and erosion of moral accountability. These examples are just like Zimbardo found, specifically in his analysis of the Stanford prison experiment. We can also see these ideas in Memory Banda’s TED talk and the book "Half the Sky" by Kristof and Wudun.
ReplyDeleteDehumanization takes away women’s individuality, making them symbols of conquest in war or commodities in human trafficking. This process takes away their humanity, making such monstrosities against women easier to justify and commit. Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment showed how quickly people could abandon their moral principles under specific conditions, especially when authority figures defend dehumanization.
To combat the dehumanization of women, we need to use extreme efforts such as societal changes, legal reforms, education, and so much more. We need to reinstate the humanity of these women and stop the normalcy of dehumanization. Zimbardo, Banda, Kristof and Wudun have made some initial steps into helping others realize the situation and think of what we can all do to change this norm.
Banda, M. (n.d.). A warrior’s cry against child marriage. Memory Banda: A warrior’s cry against child marriage | TED Talk. https://www.ted.com/talks/memory_banda_a_warrior_s_cry_against_child_marriage?language=en
DeleteKristof, Nicolas, and Cheryl Wudun. (2010). Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. New York: Vintage.
Stanford Prison Experiment. (n.d.). https://www.prisonexp.org/
I think that you make a great point that what contributes to the dehumanization process is when authority figures normalize and defend these acts of dehumanization which makes it more difficult for others to speak up and remedy the situation. Additionally, any sense of moral accountability is diffused because these acts are normalized, therefore people do not feel that they are responsible for the trauma these women are put through. Another strategy that you pointed out that contributes to the dehumanization of women is that they are seen as commodities. By treating them as objects, it makes it easier for these perpetrators from feeling any sense of remorse or moral accountability because they see that there is no reason to feel bad when this treatment is occurring to someone who they consider to be less than human. I also liked how at the end of your post, you acknowledged the work of Zimbardo, Banda, Kristof, and Wudun and their efforts to increase awareness on this issue. Lastly, your ideas of how to combat the dehumanization of women such as legal reforms and education are both ways that global social workers can be part of this process in ending the dehumanization of women.
DeleteWomen have been dehumanized in many cultures and over a long period of history. The dehumanization of women has occurred through the dominance of patriarchal societies that deem women and individuals with genders that are not male to be below that of men. This can be seen through male governed societies banning women from receiving an education, forcing young girls into becoming child brides, and sex trafficking. More specifically, in Memory Banda’s Ted Talk, A Warrior's Cry Against Child Marriage, she describes that when young girls reach puberty in Malawi, they go to an initiation camp where they are taught to sexually, please a man. As a result, many of the girls “experience trauma, end up pregnant, or contract STDs” (Banda, 2015). In another example that we had read about in class, Nicholas Kristof, and Sheryl WuDun’s book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, they describe the horrors of global sex trafficking and the realities of gender inequality for women. In the book, they describe that many people overlook the immorality of sex trafficking these girls because of their identity as women: “People get away with enslaving village girls for the same reason that people got away with enslaving blacks two hundred years ago: The victims are perceived as discounted humans” (Kristof & WuDun, 2009). Through these examples, it is clear that women are seen as objects for sale rather than humans with rights.
ReplyDeleteThrough considering Mr. Ayalew’s presentation, Understanding and Remediating Dehumanization and Violence and Philip Zimbardo’s Ted Talk, The Psychology of Evil, one can apply how human behavior and the dynamics of power play a role in how women are dehumanized. The first stage, role adoption, “highlights the rapidity with which individuals can assimilate into social roles, even in artificial or contrived environments” (Ayalew, 2024). This can be seen in Banda’s Ted Talk when she describes that the women in her community were quick to adopt their submissive roles in the initiation camp because it is seen as tradition in their community. The second stage is called behavioral escalation where “individuals in positions of authority may abuse their power, while those subjected to authority may either comply or resist” (Ayalew, 2024). Banda demonstrates this idea of resisting those who abuse their power by refusing to go to the initiation camps, but this comes with a price as community members would call her stupid or stubborn for not following what is considered a custom to elder members of the community. The last stage is called deindividuation: “Deindividuation. Diffusion of personal responsibility. Blind obedience to authority. Uncritical conformity to group norms. Passive tolerance of evil through inaction, or indifference” (Zimbardo, 2008). Those in power who own brothels or go to the initiation camps, they believe what they are doing is normal as similar individuals in power are doing the same thing. In their eyes, they are conforming to what is considered a norm, and therefore do not question the morality of their acts. Additionally, in having these dehumanizing acts towards women be integrated into society, individuals feel no personal responsibility and therefore have no moral accountability as blame can be diffused towards multiple people then just themselves.
Ayalew, Yigermal Demissie (2024). Understanding and Remediating Dehumanization and Violence [PowerPoint slides]. School of Social Work, Loyola University Chicago
Banda, M. (n.d.). A warrior’s cry against child marriage. Www.ted.com. Retrieved April 23, 2021, from https://www.ted.com/talks/memory_banda_a_warrior_s_cry_against_child_marriage?language=en
Kristof, Nicolas, and Cheryl Wudun. (2010). Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. New York: Vintage.
Zimbardo, P. (2008, February). The psychology of evil. Www.ted.com. https://www.ted.com/talks/philip_zimbardo_the_psychology_of_evil?language=en
(a) In her TED talk, Memory Banda talks about initiation camps, common in her culture, where girls who have hit puberty are taught how to sexually please men. To illustrate her point, she talks about her little sister, who first got pregnant at 11 and was 16 with 3 children. At these camps, the girls were raped and traumatized in unimaginable ways, all under the guise that it was an honor for them to be there. This was normalized to the point that many women stopped questioning it and girls were being pushed towards this lifestyle by their mothers and other women in the community who went through the same torture. Women were taught to prioritize getting pregnant and married over education, their dreams and even a childhood. The dehumanization of girls and women started at an early age, and the culture treated them solely as vehicles for pleasure and the bearing of children.
ReplyDeletePhilip Zimbardo argues that it is not people alone who possess the inherent ability to commit terrible acts that dehumanize others, rather the situation they are in and the system that controls it. In his 2008 TED talk, he states that “The power is in the system. The system creates the situation that corrupts the individuals, and the system is legal, political, economic and cultural background. And this is where the power is of the bad barrel makers.” This can be applied to Banda’s story by looking at the larger systemic problems that perpetuated child marriage and the dehumanization of women and girls. For example, the law allowed girls to be married at 15 and there were no repercussions for their rapists. Not only that, but girls were also shamed if they tried to speak out against it or if they tried to refuse. This allowed individuals to take liberties with the power granted to them and used it to dehumanize girls and women i.e., those who have less power with the system. Zimbardo also argues that in order to enact meaningful change, we need to change the system, which is what Banda and her friends succeeded in doing when they campaigned to change the legal marriage to 18.
Memory Banda. (2015). Transcript of “A warrior’s cry against child marriage.” Ted.com; TED Talks. https://www.ted.com/talks/memory_banda_a_warrior_s_cry_against_child_marriage/transcript
Zimbardo, P. (2008). Transcript of “The psychology of evil.” Www.ted.com. https://www.ted.com/talks/philip_zimbardo_the_psychology_of_evil/transcript?language=en
c. Speaking about Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the Zimbardo experiment, many connections can be found in the context of dehumanization. The Russian ideology, communism has long been "planting seeds" by creating the mentality of the entire nation with extreme nationalism, ideas of Russian greatness, unconditional dedication to the homeland, principles of brotherhood and equality among all people, which essentially became a means of control for the entire nation. These means can be compared to the uniforms used in the Stanford prison experiment, serving as symbols of power over others. And this power is ultimately used in the context of the mentioned Russian invasion of Ukraine.
ReplyDeleteIn Russia, there is a powerful propaganda machine that portrays both Ukraine and the entire Western world as enemies, posing a threat to Russia, thus shaping a false public opinion. A pretext is created to justify aggression, brutal human rights violations, and the dehumanization of people. This narrative is believed and followed, undermining all other nations, their identity, destroying their homes, families, cherished ideals, forcing them to seek refuge in other countries, and overall, fighting for their survival, thus violating one of the most fundamental rights – the right to dignity. Ukrainian people are being killed for ideology, imperialistic goals and aspirations. This is particularly evident in the belittlement of the Ukrainian nation, where the goal is to undermine them, prevent them from integrating into the Western world, posing a threat to Russia's power and control in the geopolitical context.
a. In his doctoral thesis, Ruiter (2023) identifies dehumanisation as a process through which natural human rights are violated. The author argues that dehumanised persons have no moral protection against the abuses committed against them and that their suffering often becomes irrelevant to those who abuse them. Dehumanisation is accompanied by various human rights violations that take the form of violence and abuse, dixriminations, arbitrary deprivation of personal liberty, suppression of freedom of expression, and child abuse. Zimbardo's ideas make it clear that evil arises when one person has the power to treat another person badly. These acts are carried out intentionally and result in physical and psychological harm, destruction of morality and crimes against humanity. As mentioned earlier, dehumanisation can take many forms, including sexual abuse. And although education and human rights are topics that are widely discussed in the world, the manifestations of dehumanisation are still alive in our societies. The story of Memomy Banda's TED TALK (2015) demonstrates this. It is a woman's story about the culture she grew up in and it touched me deeply. The girl talked about her experience that in her culture, when a young girl is thirteen years old, she has to go through a ceremony where she has to have sex. Young girls are forced to follow community traditions that limit their ability to get a proper education, marry the one they love, and choose the future they want for themselves. This woman's story shows that women are dehumanised in their culture and forced by tradition and peer pressure to act against their will. I believe that any kind of violence against a child at such a young age can lead to difficulties in a person's development and cause physical and psychological damage. The author of the story went against tradition and her own culture to get an education and later inspired other young girls to fight for their rights. In my opinion, her story reveals a great human desire for liberation and is an example for women of how important and necessary it is to fight for their right to choose life.
ReplyDeleted. Zimbardo’s work helped in better understanding how and why seemingly “good” individuals may come together to inflict harm on others. His work identified that the need for group acceptance is key in this transition from good to bad. Importantly, however, there is also a notion that certain principles brought forth by the group can be interpreted as “good.” This idea is key when understanding how persons with disabilities are viewed, treated, and subsequently dehumanized. One can look at the history of medical professional interaction with people with disability as a form of deindividualization. It has been widely understood that the medical model of care has taken away the voice of this community and has cemented professionals as a group determined to do “good”. Here the “good” is to effectively treat the illness or defect. However, this is done with the caveat that this community’s voice is not considered, effectively dehumanizing persons with disabilities.
ReplyDeleteLawson and Beckett give such an example when citing the model’s approach to education when they quote, “Much of the special education system was developed without consultation with persons with disabilities, and it thus reflects the medical model approach…” (2021). This frame of thinking has impacted how society views disability, an affliction in which saving is needed and where there is an imbalance of power between those who do have such experiences and those who do not.
Evidence of the deindividuation highlighted by Zimbardo exists in the continued need for persons with disabilities to have a voice. As Dr. Ruskus outlined in his presentation, the UN highlighted General Principles in their Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Two such principles were worded as, “Full and effective participation and inclusion in society” and “Equality of opportunity”. While these are important goals, this convention took place in 2006, nearly 20 years ago. Such aspirations have not been fully realized.
This can be further exemplified in the talk given by Yuliia Sachuk, who forms part of the organization, Fight for Right. In her talk, she explained how efforts in Ukraine to push for the enhancement of human rights for people with disability has shifted in providing aid and support for those afflicted by the war. Importantly, she mentions how citizens of Ukraine with disabilities were seen as an afterthought by those providing support, elaborating that their care was seen as requiring too much effort and resources. Here lies a perfect example of a difference in the humanization between those with and without disabilities.
great commentary. I also chose to speak on deindividuation of the nazis regarding individuals with disabilities. I like how you state that the convention took place almost 20 years ago and it needs to be looked at again. As someone who works with adults with developmental, mental, and physical disabilities, I can see where the frustration comes from. I can tell you first hand how belittled, infantilized, and dehumanized individuals with disabilities are in the United States. Although, I will say my agency does a decent job at upholding the two principles you mentioned, that does not make it true across other Day Programs, Residential Programs, or even within their own homes. Many times their needs are neglected by those who are supposed to care for them most because some individuals believe they cannot comprehend what is truly happening. When in reality, many of them have not been provided with the tools to communicate their wants and needs. I think in order to better the way we treat our disabled citizens, we need to first ask them/see what they would need. Many times people think they do not or cannot advocate for themselves, but they can. I have seen it first hand. If they cannot speak, they will show with actions and vice versa. I think we need to have more funding for Day Programs where these individuals can work, learn, and build life/vocational/money/etc. skills to carry with them.
DeleteSex Trafficking
ReplyDeleteI struggled with my response to this first question. I knew I wanted to write about sex trafficking, but I was having a hard time connecting it to Zombardo’s ideas. Zombardo (2008) explained the “power is in the system. The system creates the situation that corrupts the individuals, and the system is the legal, political, economic, cultural background” (2008). The women being trafficked are often in circumstances where they have limited or no agency—even if they don’t look like they are—which makes them vulnerable, and the people who recruit them have learned how to exploit that vulnerability as a way to make money. Often when we look at sex trafficking, we are looking at the vulnerability of those who are trafficked. Zombardo’s TED Talk made me wonder if we should also be looking at how the system allows people to exploit others. One systemic issue is our cultural perceptions of women. Women who do sex work (and sex work is work) are seen as easy, bad or immoral. Even when society knows that many women are coerced into sex work, our dehumanizing perceptions of women allows us to collectively not make ending sex trafficking a priority. The issue is more complex than that; often, perceptions of women as loose or easy is not just about gender, but also race or ethnicity. For example, I lived in the Middle East for a while and the locals and expats understood that where you were from determined how much you would be paid, and even if you were considered qualified to do certain jobs. Everyone knew that while on paper the country had strict moral laws, sex trafficking was rampant. Everyone just accepted that as the unspoken rule, including those from marginalized communities. When I lived there, I thought oh, this is gross, Americans don’t do that.
When I came back to the U.S. the movie The Help had just come out. When I watched it I realized, oooohhhhhhhh, yes, we do the same exact thing. Historically, we believed it was OK to enslave Black and Indigenous peoples. As a collective, we have underpaid women of color, we have assumed women of color will do domestic work for low wages, and we have underpaid undocumented citizens. This is not just in the past; these things continue in the present. I was a teacher at an alternative high school; students boarded there, but could leave on the weekends. I found out that some of my female students were working in strip clubs on the weekends. There was so much judgment: they’re being irresponsible, they’re easy, they’re feeding a drug habit, they’re bad anyway, so whatever. This judgment is a form of dehumanization. On the surface, maybe it doesn’t look like a big deal as these kinds of judgment are usually in informal everyday conversation. The truth is, my students were among the most vulnerable in our community: their parents had thrown them out or they had aged out of foster care, no one was looking out for them, and they knew it. And, the pimps who coerced them into sex work were able to work the system. They knew the police didn’t make ending trafficking a priority, and they knew that even if the women reported them to the police, the women were more at risk of being arrested for prostitution than they were for trafficking. Trafficking, for those who perpetrate, is a money-making venture. If it didn’t make money, or if pimps felt they were at serious risk of arrest, they would not engage in trafficking. If our culture was more vocal about how it is wrong to exploit women, women of color, and anyone who is vulnerable, perpetrators would make different choices because the power dynamics would be different.
c.
ReplyDeleteZimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment revealed a lot about the human psyche. When put in a position of power, and allowed free reign to punish or keep order, people will easily fall into complacency. They accepted these roles on both ends: prisoners felt ashamed and humiliated, while the prison guards used excessive punishments. This brings us into the ideas of dehumanization. As human beings, most of us experience some forms of guilt. You would assume that prison guards in an experiment would feel bad for using punishments, but somehow, they were able to prevail. How come? Dehumanization allows people to free themselves of moral accountability. If they do not view a person or group of people as human, it is much easier to treat them disrespectfully or harass them. Another factor of dehumanization is deindividuation. This could be seen in Nazi concentration camps, when Jewish people were forcefully tattooed numbers. Calling a person by their name is more personal, while dehumanization relies on creating a sort of subordinate “other”. Subordination can be justified by groups in power if they believe they are not doing any real harm.
A modern day population I am concerned about is the people of Palestine. The genocide against Palestinians stems from a history of oppression and colonization. To this date, Gaza’s health ministry says that over 30,000 people have been killed by Israeli attacks. Videos have come out of prisoners being mistreated, people mutilated, and parents distraught over the loss of their children. Israeli forces have blocked much of the humanitarian aid into Gaza. Dr. Adnan Abdetrazek is a Palestinian researcher who worked previously for United Nations. He delves further into the history of the dehumanization of Palestinians. In 1897, one of the first Zionists Herzel was quoted to say "for Europe, we shall be part of the wall against Asia, an outpost of civilization against barbarism." Abdetrazek further writes how early Zionists thought of Palestinians as “donkeys”. Historically, when people dehumanize others it leads to genocides, slavery, or other subordination. When propoganda is spread and people think of a population as “other”, they begin lose their fundamental respects and rights.
Resources:
Abdelrazek, Adnan. “How Low Can the Dehumanization of the Palestinians Go? .”
Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics and Culture, www.pij.org/articles/2143/how-low-can-the-dehumanization-of-the-palestinians-go.
“Stanford Prison Experiment.” Spotlight at Stanford, exhibits.stanford.edu/spe.
The wars that are currently taking place not only claim millions of lives, but also create traumatic experiences that last a lifetime. One of the human rights violations is the dehumanisation of women and the use of women as objects of war crimes. Violence against women becomes a weapon used to intimidate enemies. In war, it takes the form of torture and humiliation, often resulting in murder, the desecration of the body or the conception of a woman. This cruel act becomes a form of punishment for the defending country. Often a soldier completely abandons his humanity for the sake of a senseless ideology, in order to destroy (what they call) “enemies”. Often, every cruel act is motivated by the belief that it is done for “good”. Soldiers feel, after a long time, impunity for any inhuman act they do against others. This is a very sensitive issue and it is therefore important to ensure that these human rights violations are treated as crimes and that the perpetrators are held criminally responsible.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteWhen thinking about the dehumanization of persons with disabilities as someone who actively works with said individuals, applying Zimbardo’s ideas about dehumanization, specifically deindividuation, to the atrocities that occurred during the Holocaust makes the reality of it all beyond disturbing but not unbelievable. In deindividuation, an individual loses themselves in the group, de-personalizing and becoming one with the thought processes of said group. In deindividuation, an individual is no longer independent thinking, they do not have a sense of identity nor do they feel a sense of personal responsibility in the actions that they partake in. This is what Zimbardo’s guards felt. They felt the power of a group and they could not stray from the norms that had been created in that group. The guards conformed to what their “job” was, and they did what “needed to be done” for the group. Deindividuation led to decreased inhibitions against engaging in deviant or harmful behavior towards the collective group they were working for. It made normal college students into “guards” that could believe, feel, and act in unthinkable and inhumane ways, thus dehumanizing the “prisoners”. This is what happened to the Nazi soldiers who committed such atrocities during the Holocaust to disabled individuals. The group would conform to the norms of the society, even non-soldiers/citizens who were seemingly unaware of the atrocities occurring. Doctors, nurses, caregivers, etc. would adhere to the policies of the regime and, without question, follow the directives of those in charge/those setting the norms and laws of society. Uniformity of the Nazi regime and the anonymity of their roles would guarantee their conformity in adhering to the directives being given. Thus, reducing the burden of individualized responsibility and clouding their moral accountability/agency. Alongside this, both the guards in Zimbardo’s experiment, as well as the Nazi soldiers were told to believe dehumanizing propaganda. The guards are good, and the prisoners are there for a reason and you need to follow orders as instructed. The Germans are superior and disabled, Jewish, gay, etc. individuals are “life unworthy of life”. The Day Program that I work at recognizes the individual strengths of each client and looks to provide vocational training and improved independence within the community, if the individual chooses that. We provide paid work, vocational groups, exercise groups, employment groups, etc. as well as community outings for our clients. Thye get to decide what their day-to-day looks like and we provide the resources.
Sources:
1. Brody H, Cooper MW. Binding and Hoche's "Life Unworthy of Life": A Historical and Ethical Analysis. Perspect Biol Med. 2014 Autumn;57(4):500-11. doi: 10.1353/pbm.2014.0042. PMID: 26497237.
2. https://www.ted.com/talks/philip_zimbardo_the_psychology_of_evil?language=en
3. http://www.lucifereffect.com/index.html
4. http://www.prisonexp.org/
Years of wars take the lives of millions of innocent people. Such events not only deprive people of joy, but also cause emotional trauma that accompanies a person throughout his life. One of the biggest human rights violations in this situation, in my opinion, are crimes against women. These human rights violations manifest themselves in emotional and physical violence against women. In most cases, all this ends with murders and rapes. Soldiers treat women brutally and don't feel that it's horrible. In the face of war, they feel as if they are doing a good deed in the name of victory. This shows that in such a situation it is not understood that this is a terrible violation of human rights that should be answered according to the law.
ReplyDeleteI think that the ongoing issue of racism against middle eastern people and Muslim people in America needs to be discussed, especially since the resurgence of open Islamophobia that has been seen since the beginning of the current war in Gaza. Growing up in a post-9/11 America, I was exposed to disgusting Islamophobic propaganda in all forms of media and through the mouths of the adults around me. Any Muslim or really any Brown person that could possibly be middle eastern was dehumanized. They became anti-American extremist terrorists that have no place "in our country". Ruiter (2023) explains that when people are dehumanized, they lose their natural human rights and are left vulnerable to their rights being abused because their dehumanizers no longer care about their suffering. This dehumanization was made evident after 9/11 when the Patriot Act violated the rights of American citizens just because they were Brown, Muslim, or made White people scared, uncomfortable, or angry. People felt emboldened to dehumanize Brown and Muslim communities because everyone was doing it and they were deindividualized; it became normalized and even encouraged through federal policy. The Patriot Act allowed for any American to make an anonymous report with little to no evidence to support that someone was a terrorist or radical.
ReplyDeleteThis same dehumanization against Middle Eastern and Muslim people is happening against Palestinians in the United States by both civilians and the federal government that is supporting Israel politically and financially throughout this "war" in Gaza. Palestinians have been dehumanized by the government and made to be one conglomerate of terrorists that are either in Hamas, support the acts of Hamas, or civilian casualties that must be sacrificed to eradicate Hamas. The human rights of all innocent Palestinians can be rightfully taken away from them because of the existence of Hamas in their homeland even if they are not affiliated or supportive in any way. Even the most basic human rights such as shelter, food, and water are being denied to thousands of civilians, the majority of which are children. Israel is committing war crimes against Palestinians by engaging in group punishment, attacking humanitarian aid workers during conflict, and bombing "safe zones", and the United States is supporting this behavior and spreading this support through news media.
Zimbardo demonstrated how easily normal people can commit atrocious acts in his Standford Prison Experiment through dehumanization strategies. The strategies that the United States have used are the spreading of ideologies that justify their actions and relabeling the actions of the dehumanizing actors to legitimize them. Islamophobic propaganda and the justification of the U.S.'s support of Israel because of their allyship and protecting Israel's right to retaliate after the attack on October 7, 2023. All disgusting and unethical acts committed by Israel against innocent Palestinians can be justified because of that one act and no consideration to the history of oppression that lead up to that attack justifies the acts of Hamas. The perception of the Palestinian victims is being changed through media outlets and statements made by the White House and politicians to turn innocent victims into supporters of terrorism that deserve the unspeakable acts of violence being committed on them. The United States government even tries to separate themselves from aiding genocide by only supporting Israel financially but not sending troops over. This creates the illusion of separation from any social or ethical responsibility the U.S. has for committing war crimes and genocide through the acts of Israel. The US is not only dehumanizing Palestinians with this "conflict", but also using them as expendable pawns to improve their political power against middle eastern countries such as Iran that are considered to be their enemies.
Karolina Rašimaitė
ReplyDeletePeople in Ukraine are being killed, people's rights are being violated and people are being dehumanised. The whole nation is struggling to stand up against the destruction of their homes and the killing of their families. However, Russia is trying to create a false public opinion by spreading large-scale propaganda, creating the idea of justifying brutality and aggression against Ukraine. Russia's aim is to undermine the country, to prevent it from recovering and from participating in the Western world, as this would pose many threats to the Russian Government. One can see the Zimbardo Stamford Prison Experiment here: the more power one has, the less human factors and ideologies remain, the more psychological pressure one has, the more one is broken.
The genocide in Rwanda demonstrated how the human psyche is swayed by deindividuation. Increased deindividuation reduced the moral accountability of the group who slaughtered, pillaged, and stripped of others rights and liberties. The Lucifer effect focuses on “the negatives that people can become and not the negative that people are — which leads into a psychological definition which is evil is the exercise of power to intentionally harm people psychologically, hurt people physically, to destroy people mortally, or ideas, and to commit crimes against humanity” (2008). Zimbardo’s understanding of evil originates from those in the position of power. Groups or individuals with power have the capability to enforce sociocultural laws and routines which influences the collective group and human psyche. Which goes into Zimbardo’s theory of The Lucifer Effect which, “celebrates the human mind’s infinite capacity to make any human kind or cruel, caring or indifferent, creative or destructive, villains or heroes” (2008). The Lucifer Effect touches on the human mind and its limitless capabilities. This demonstrated how power transforms social psychology. Other researchers on the subject of deindividuation stated that, “while authors may differ slightly in which antecedents and which consequences they stress, all concur in suggesting that the deindividuated individual is one who is acting in the absence of self-regulation. What is more, insofar as the self is the sole source of values, norms, and standards, the implication that deindividuated behavior is out of the individual’s control…There are, however, two variants of this position. Those who tend towards a group-mind position, whereby some common atavistic substrate lies below conscious individuality, see individuation as the re-emergence of primitive urges normally kept hidden. The behavior is not only wild but also characteristically destructive. Others have no truck with group-mind concepts. They simply see internal control replace by external control. Deindividuated behavior may as easily be positive as negative. It simply blows with the wind” (1995). The act of genocide in Rwanda demonstrated the effects of deindividuation through the psychosocial impact of intimidation and fear from those in power. This reduced the internal and external moral accountability of dehumanizing others. The Stanford Prison experiment demonstrated how the group-mind position is another important factor in deindividuation and lack of moral accountability because the natural need for humans to obtain acceptance into a group removes the individualistic mindset to form a like-mindedness with the majority group to ensure survival.
ReplyDeleteReferences
Reicher, S. D., Spears, R., & Postmes, T. (1995). A social identity model of deindividuation phenomena. European review of social psychology, 6(1), 161-198.
Zimbardo, P. (2008, February). The psychology of evil [Video]. TED Conferences. https://www.ted.com/talks/philip_zimbardo_the_psychology_of_evil?language=en
Women have been mistreated, abused, and undervalued since the start of time. Across the world, women have been dehumanized and in many countries, they are seen as the lesser sex and treated as such. We live in a world where men rule the home and the government in many countries and women are left out of important decisions and experiences. An example of the dehumanization of women can be seen in Afghanistan where the Taliban has ruled that girls cannot receive more than an elementary education. An article by Safi (2022) states that ‘since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in August, girls have been banned from returning to secondary school’. This is just one-way women have been dehumanized and denied the rights men have. Memory Banda gave a Ted Talk titled, A Warrior's Cry Against Child Marriage, in which she explains how teenage girls are sent to camps where they learn how to sexually satisfy a man and they often catch STDs from these older predatory men. Memory Banda states, ‘Growing up in Malwai, I could not make my own choices in life’ (2015). This is just one example of a society that dehumanizes women and reduces them to what they can do for men. How do people get this way? In his TED talk The Psychology of Evil, Philip Zimbardo (2015) discusses how evil originates, stating ‘the power is in the system, the system creates the situation that corrupts the individuals and the system is the legal, politicial, economic and cultural background’. When women or any group is dehumanized and devalued, it becomes easier for people in positions of power to commit horrific acts of abuse. Deindividuation is correlated with dehumanization as people are more likely to act corrupt and commit horrible acts when they are in the presence of others doing the same. It becomes easy to justify bad behavior when everyone around you is doing it. This relates to Memory Banda’s TED talk as everyone in her life was encouraging her to go to the camp and essentially submit to being raped by older men. No one questioned this norm and no one challenged it besides her. Moral accountability becomes diminished when people in power abuse others they deem as sub-human or less than. Other examples include the Holocaust, the Rwandan Genocide, and the current genocide of Palestinians by the Israeli government. These examples all had a similar theme, one group in power committed atrocious acts against a less powerful group and justified their actions with no accountability taken. Without people like Memory Banda questioning the status quo, the cycle of dehumanization never gets broken.
ReplyDeleteSources:
Banda, M. (n.d.). A warrior’s cry against child marriage. Www.ted.com. Retrieved April 23, 2021, from https://www.ted.com/talks/memory_banda_a_warrior_s_cry_against_child_marriage?language=en
Safi, T. N. (2022). Afghanistan: The only country that bans girls’ education. Genevasolutions.news. https://genevasolutions.news/explorations/dispatches-from-women-in-afghanistan/afghanistan-the-only-country-that-bans-girls-education
Zimbardo, P. (2008, February). The psychology of evil. Www.ted.com. https://www.ted.com/talks/philip_zimbardo_the_psychology_of_evil?language=en
Zimbardo (2008) describes the circumstances under which ordinarily good people do bad things. Zimbardo (2008) states that there are three elements at play dispositional, situational, and systemic. There may be “bad apples” or characteristics within an individual that make an individual susceptible to change in this way (Zimbardo). There also might be situational events that contribute to the opportunity to commit “evil” acts against other human beings (Zimbardo). Ultimately though, there are systemic ties as well; there are political, economic, social, and legal systems which influence the broader population and which excuse the dehumanization of others (Zimbardo).
ReplyDeleteThe dehumanization and mistreatment of women has been occurring for centuries. This dehumanization, or ability for men to see women as less than, can be directly tied to the systemic ideal of patriarchy. In the case of girls in Malawi as described in Memory Banda’s TED talk, the cultural norm was for girls to be forced to participate in these initiation camps and to become wives and mothers from a very young age (Banda, 2015). The societal view of these girls was that they were objects to be used solely for male pleasure and mothering. The ingrained gender roles on a systemic level contributed to the dehumanization of these girls for years and years. Men contributing to this practice could utilize deindividuation to separate themselves from the practice; they often brought in an outside party to be the focus of the initiation camps (2015). As Zimbardo argues, when individuals can separate themselves from their actions contributing to the dehumanization of others, it is easier to commit the acts against others (Zimbardo, 2007). As this practice was ingrained on a systemic level, those participating were able to be blindly led by historic and systemic authority. Only when the girls appealed to those in positions of authority were they able to make change (2015).
Banda, M. (2015). A warrior’s cry against child marriage. Memory Banda: A warrior’s cry against
child marriage | TED Talk. https://www.ted.com/talks/memory_banda_a_warrior_s_cry_against_child_marriage?language=en
Zimbardo, P. (2008, February). The psychology of evil [Video]. TED Conferences.
https://www.ted.com/talks/philip_zimbardo_the_psychology_of_evil?language=en
People who are dehumanized based on race have historically, and contemporarily, been subjected to countless horrific attacks and injustices. The basis for this dehumanization is based in beliefs that those differences that we can visibly see, like skin color or hair texture, are indicative of differences in the biological or genetic make-up of people (Race: Power of Illusion). The concept that we understand as race is believed to also be the cause for differences in intelligence, athleticism, and other abilities. Even though there are no genetic markers for race and there can be as much genetic variation within members of the same “race” as there is between different “races” these beliefs still persevere (Race: Power of an Illusion Clip). The concept of race is not nearly as concrete as many people believe it to be, as classifications are not universal. You could be considered one race in one country and a different race in another. This classification is completely due to cultural perceptions and has nothing to do with genetic makeup. Nevertheless, this perceived difference is enough for some to commit dehumanizing acts against “races” and people that looked different than them.
ReplyDeleteThis happens through various processes which Dr. Zimbardo and Prof. Ayalew explained beautifully in their lectures. Dehumanization is the first step to allowing horrible acts to happen. When people consider people different then them. This involves viewing other people as less than human and treating them in such way. You take away the human qualities from them, like how prisoners in Abu Ghraib, the Stanford prison experiment, and prisoners in our own American prisons are given numbers and their names are no longer used. They are also placed in demeaning outfits which also strips them of their individuality. These two ways of dehumanizing leads to psychological harm on the individuals experiencing it and leads to a psychological change in those with power. Those in power no longer consider their “subjects” as humans like them and this allows them to escalate violent behavior.
DeleteThis power is an important aspect to dehumanization according to Zimbardo. He claims that power without any supervision or oversight is a recipe for abuse. These people would not have been able to commit horrific acts against others if they did not believe that they had complete power over them. This is seen especially in racial tension within America. Whites have always overseen all institutions and had political power that Black people in America never had. This sense of power is what allowed many white people to commit horrific acts of violence against Black people such as lynchings. In addition to power Zimbardo states that deindividuation, or the loss of personal identity, from the side of the oppressor allows them to feel more comfortable committing violence.
This deindividuation creates a sense of anonymity within then oppressor and makes them feel like they won’t have to take personal responsibility for their acts. Deindividuation often comes in the form of changing the appearance of the “warrior” or person committing violent acts. (Zimbardo, 2008). Whether it is through military uniforms, cultural war dress, or group uniform like white KKK robes. Zimbardo shares that changing the appearance of the “warrior” allows them to be more comfortable torturing, mutilating, and killing others. Finally, another major aspect that allows for horrific acts is blind obedience. When people believe that they are just following orders, combined with theories of dehumanization and deindividuation, they will be more likely to do things they would never do under normal circumstances. Zimbardo discusses examples of this with the Stanford prison experiment and the treatment of prisoners in Abu Ghraib. The soldiers/prison guards saw those they had power over as different from them causing dehumanization, wore matching outfits causing deindividuation, and blindly followed the orders given to them. While they may have never been explicitly told to commit the acts they did, like simulate sodomy or fellatio, they were told to make these people feel like prisoners and less than human. Their behavior continuously escalated because there was no supervision or anyone telling them when to stop. This can be seen in America when KKK members would burn churches, business, and even homes with Black people inside of them. These people may have never thought to do something as sadistic as that normally but these three concepts combining created a systemic and situational evil that allowed dispositional evil to develop.
California Newsreel. (2010, May 27). Race the power of an illusion clip 2. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyuKJAG11Cw
DeleteCalifornia Newsreel. (2014, April 24). Race - the power of an illusion. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8MS6zubIaQ
California Newsreel. (2018). The difference between us: Racial classification as cultural. Race. https://www.racepowerofanillusion.org/videos/difference-between-us-racial-classification-cultural
Demissie Ayalew, Y. (2024, February). Understanding and Remediating Dehumanization and Violence: Justice, Resistance, and Peace Building. SOWK 654: Global Social Work: Reflective Practice for Justice and Peace.
Zimbardo, P. (2008). The Psychology of Evil. Philip Zimbardo: The psychology of evil | TED Talk. https://www.ted.com/talks/philip_zimbardo_the_psychology_of_evil?language=en
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ReplyDeleteAccording to Philip Zimbardo's discussion in his TED talk on the psychology of evil, dehumanization is the process by which people or groups are deprived of their humanity and made to feel less than or different from other people. In the context of racism and the treatment of people of color and indigenous peoples in particular, dehumanization serves as a cover for acts of exploitation, genocide, and brutality, including the looting of forests, metals, and other resources.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Jerold M. Post's analysis in "The New Face of Terrorism: Socio-Cultural Foundations of Contemporary Terrorism," one of the key factors enabling people to commit acts of terrorism is the notable dehumanization of the opponent. Terrorist groups frequently use dehumanizing imagery of their enemies to justify acts of violence against them, regardless of whether they are motivated by religious fundamentalism or nationalist-separatist goals. Dehumanization serves as a means for members of these groups to get over moral and ethical objections to violence.
Similar dynamics can be seen when applying Zimbardo's theory to the dehumanization based on race. A major factor is deindividuation, a psychological process in which members of a group lose their sense of self and are more inclined to act in ways that are contrary to social norms. This can result in collective behaviors that systematically demean and marginalize people based on their race or ethnicity in the context of racism and discrimination. Without the weight of moral responsibility, acts of discrimination, aggression, and exploitation can be justified thanks to this loss of self-awareness and people's integration into a group identity.
Moral accountability is reduced when people absolve themselves of personal responsibility by viewing their activities as a component of a larger cause or the collective behavior of a group. This is demonstrated by the justifications offered by terrorist groups, which portray violence as a reaction to perceived injustices or as a commandment from God, morally distancing the perpetrators from the results of their deeds.
People may use cultural narratives that dehumanize people of color or indigenous peoples to excuse their acts in the larger context of racism and prejudice, which lessens the apparent moral consequences of exploitation and violence. Media, historical accounts, and cultural preconceptions can all contribute to the perpetuation of these tales, which strengthens dehumanization and encourages discrimination and violence.
Thus, dehumanization serves as a psychological foundation that enables the perpetration of acts of terrorism, racism, and discrimination by reducing the perceived humanity of the victims and diminishing the moral accountability of the perpetrators. This underscores the importance of addressing the underlying psychological and societal mechanisms that enable dehumanization to combat racism, discrimination, and terrorism.
After completing the Stanford Prison Experiment, Philip Zimbardo conceptualized dehumanization as seeing others as less than or not fully human, resulting in separating themselves from any thoughts or feelings of the other person. He noted that dehumanization involves depriving people of their basic human rights and dignity by inflicting neglect and abuse (Zimbardo, 2007). Many factors, such as systemic gender inequalities, exploitation, power imbalances, and societal and cultural norms, to list a few, play a role in the dehumanization of women. As referred to in Memory Banda’s TED talk, A warrior’s cry against child marriage, cultural practices called for women and girls to prioritize childbearing over their own education and development, thus denying them of any autonomy over their body, health, and future. Once girls had reached puberty, they were forced to participate in initiation camps where they would be taught how to provide male pleasure, often resulting in them becoming pregnant or contracting sexually transmitted diseases (Banda, 2015). Moral accountability, or lack thereof, plays a role when considering societal norms and cultural beliefs and traditions, as well as times of war, where women can be seen as a collective whole, rather than individuals with their own inherent rights, resulting in a lack of accountability for harmful actions taken against women. When considering war crimes committed against women, deindividualization, or the perceived reduction of accountability due to being a part of a larger group, encourages mass sexual violence, not only for male pleasure, but as a way to assert authority and power over the opposing militia (Shalak et al., 2024).
ReplyDeleteReferences
Banda, M. (n.d.). A warrior’s cry against child marriage. Memory Banda: A warrior’s cry against child marriage | TED Talk. https://www.ted.com/talks/memory_banda_a_warrior_s_cry_against_child_marriage?language=en
Shalak, M., Markson, F., & Nepal, M. (2024). Gender-based violence and women reproductive health in war affected area. Korean Journal of Family Medicine, 45(1), 12–17. https://doi.org/10.4082/kjfm.23.0169
Zimbardo, P. (2007). The Lucifer effect: Understanding how good people turn evil. Random House.
1. The dehumanisation of people with disabilities is a terrible phenomenon, which was very pronounced during the Holocaust, when thousands of people with disabilities were killed because of their disability. They were deemed unworthy of life and were treated as inhuman beings.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, this day-in-the-life problem has not yet completely disappeared, and all over the world people with disabilities are dehumanised and discriminated against. They are often excluded from society and deprived of basic rights and services that every citizen should have.
One of the ways in which people with disabilities are dehumanised is through the refusal to deinstitutionalise them and give them the opportunity to live more independently. In many countries around the world, people with disabilities are still imprisoned in institutions where they are denied adequate assistance and access to health care. This is unacceptable and violates their human rights.
In order to change this situation, it is important to promote de-institutionalisation and to support decision-making by people with disabilities. It is essential to ensure that they have equal opportunities to participate in society, with appropriate support and services. This will help to reduce the dehumanisation of people with disabilities and ensure their dignity and rights.
Your insightful reflection on the dehumanization of individuals with disabilities echoes a poignant truth that transcends time, resonating from the atrocities of the Holocaust to the persisting challenges faced by people with disabilities worldwide today. Your astute observation of the ongoing marginalization and deprivation of basic rights highlights a pressing societal issue that demands urgent attention. The refusal to deinstitutionalize individuals with disabilities perpetuates a cycle of discrimination, denying them the autonomy and dignity they rightfully deserve. Your call to action for promoting deinstitutionalization and empowering individuals with disabilities to make their own decisions is both timely and imperative. By advocating for equal opportunities and access to support services, we can strive towards a more inclusive society that upholds the fundamental rights and dignity of all individuals, irrespective of disability.
DeleteThe dehumanization of women, particularly in contexts where they are treated as objects of war crimes or relegated to roles solely for childbearing and male pleasure, is a grave issue reflecting deep-seated cultural norms and power structures. Memory Banda's TED talk provides poignant insights into this dehumanization process, highlighting how young girls are often deprived of agency and choice, especially concerning their own lives and marriages. One key concept in understanding this dehumanization is deindividuation, which occurs when individuals lose their sense of personal identity and responsibility within a group or societal context. In cultures where women are systematically marginalized and treated as objects rather than individuals with rights and autonomy, deindividuation serves to perpetuate their subjugation. By dehumanizing women and seeing them as nothing more than objects of desire for men or weapons of war, rather than as fellow humans deserving of respect and dignity, this phenomenon enables those who commit violent crimes to rationalize their behavior.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, the concept of moral accountability is crucial in understanding the perpetuation of this dehumanization. People's sense of moral responsibility for women's rights and autonomy is undermined when they are brought up and socialized to follow rigid gender norms that place a premium on male dominance and control over women. This lack of accountability enables the continuation of harmful practices such as forced marriage, sexual exploitation, and gender-based violence.
Phillip Zimbardo's insights on the Lucifer Effect further elucidate how systems and power structures contribute to the dehumanization of marginalized groups, including women. The cultural, legal, and political frameworks that uphold patriarchal norms and gender inequalities serve as breeding grounds for the abuse and exploitation of women. These systems not only condone but also reinforce the dehumanization of women by legitimizing practices that strip them of their humanity and agency.
In Memory Banda's TED talk, the poem written by her friend encapsulates the struggle against this dehumanization. It expresses a desire for autonomy and agency in choosing one's own path, particularly in matters as significant as marriage. However, entrenched power dynamics and cultural norms often thwart such aspirations, perpetuating the cycle of control and dehumanization. Ultimately, addressing women's dehumanization requires challenging ingrained cultural beliefs, dismantling oppressive power structures, and promoting gender equality and human rights education. By recognizing women's humanity and agency, societies can work towards creating environments where women are respected as equals and empowered to make choices that reflect their own aspirations and desires.
In history we can see many forms of dehumanisation, one of them was the Holodomor in Ukraine, caused by Stalin, when in order to collectivise all the land, the aim was to remove private property, during this period, either by banditry or by malnutrition, because the land was taken away from the people, they starved, and many Ukrainians died. This tragedy is seen as a genocide of the people. These days, Ukraine is experiencing a different form of dehumanisation, that is, the Russian war against Ukraine, as we can see in this war: violence against women, violence against children, even to the point of soldiers raping a baby, not to mention the trauma suffered by individuals as a result of the bombing of facilities such as hospitals or residential homes, or the stopping of humanitarian aid. This war will have many consequences for Ukraine as a whole, as the trauma will take a very long time to heal.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you, Simona! What the people of Ukraine are experiencing is completely cruel and painful. I also think that the trauma experienced during the war is difficult not only for the soldiers defending Ukraine, but also for all civilians who experience brutal attacks.
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ReplyDeleteIt is almost impossible for Western culture to try to understand Banda's experience nowadays. I liked Hannah Arendt's idea that sometimes the worst things can only be seen through the prism of humour, because otherwise the human brain cannot bear the horror of it.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I see in the Banda report very deep roots of culture and tradition that seem to be unquestionable. The question asked fundamentally changes the 'rules of the game'. Doubt constantly gives rise to the reinforcement of old principles, or, like a tornado, it shakes everything up from its foundations and looks at it with a new perspective. Banda dared to question that cultural roots are not "Healthy" roots. That a tradition that has been lived for generations is indeed traumatising and dehumanising for women. Women are being turned into sex objects, satisfying the needs of men. But is this really the nature of women?
The efforts of the Banda to re-educate young mothers, to fight child marriage and to bring the community together aim to give these young girls back their humanity and identity. By sharing personal experiences, Banda seeks to combat the isolation caused by their role in marriage and the community, and to raise awareness of the widespread exploitation and abuse. Traditional leaders' advocacy for women's rights challenges entrenched norms, and Banda uses notions of moral responsibility to influence community attitudes, morals and ethics. Dehumanisation of a population can occur through situations such as entrenched traditions (the example of the Banda community), group conflicts, wars or other periods of social tension. This is when the view of other groups or individuals as "the other" emerges, leading to the violation of their rights and humanity. Perhaps the worst consequence that dehumanisation leaves is the deprivation of the other's "face". It then becomes an object to achieve its own ends. But never the goal.
Part: 1
ReplyDeleteHistory has shown us many forms of dehumanisation, one of which is the desire to have more and to satisfy one's own needs by infringing on the rights of others and by neglecting one's personal responsibilities. Today, the world and the new generation have clear and painful experiences from Ukraine, where people are tortured and forced to shed their blood for the sake of their homeland and their freedom. The 'emperor' of the great powers, Russia, is determined to create an open invasion of Ukraine in front of the whole world. The greed, the desire to show their power, the desire to hurt and the desire to destroy history, culture and a people, to redraw the map of the world, are rooted in resentment, in the inability to have a sense of respect and responsibility. There is still a fierce war going on in Ukraine, women are being forced to let their husbands bleed before the world's public 'terrorist', cities are being destroyed, culture is being destroyed, and not only the cities, but also the destinies of the people are being tortured. People believe and hope that their young children will thrive in a free and safe homeland, and women who put their husbands on the front line are subjected not only to military aggression by the Russian troops, but also to sexual assault and violence. If we look at Ukraine's past, independence was declared in 1991.
Part 2:
ReplyDeleteBut every country has always chosen its own path after independence, whether to flee the "shovel" or to stay in it and continue to rely on fear and obedience. Ukraine is still trying to flee today, but Russia and its aggression are preventing it. It is very important for all the people of the world to be sensitive to the information and images coming from the war front and not to feel fully secure just because it is happening somewhere far away. Only the united countries of the world, with their social support and rational thinking, can reduce the bloodshed and the desire to change the world through bloodshed, violence and destruction or stigmatisation.
b. Dehumanization of persons based on their race and skin color.
ReplyDeleteDehumanization refers to the process where a group of people view other people as sub-humans, monsters and lacking humanness or seeing another human being as less human stripping people off their humanity to move outside their domain of human morality so that they can treat them badly for example; In May 2018, during a meeting with state and local leaders about immigration laws, President Donald Trump lashed out at undocumented immigrants. ‘These aren't people,’ he said. ‘These are animals, and we're taking them out of the country at a level and at a rate that's never happened before.’Footnote1 Trump frequently used this type of animalistic rhetoric to characterize people of color. For instance, he publicly referred to one of his former aides, an African-American woman, as a dog. He described the predominantly Black city of Baltimore as ‘rat and rodent infested’.
This act clearly depicts how the white people dehumanize black people because they view themselves to be more supervisor than others.
During the colonial era, the colonizers took the most fertile land of the Africans and African were left to be squatters in their own land. Black people were sold off as slaves to work in the European farms under very harsh climatic conditions and some black people were taken to the zoo because they were seen like 'monkeys'.
Reference:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-political-science/article/effects-of-dehumanizing-attitudes-about-black-people-on-whites-voting-decisions/3260A76A46CEF88AD3BC70104F73BDF9
The dehumanization of individuals based on religion, their nationality, or person’s tribal affiliation has been a recurring theme throughout history, leading to some of the most horrific acts of violence and oppression. Applying Zimbardo's ideas about dehumanization and the idea to this problem, how deindividuation and moral accountability play out in instances like the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the Holocaust, the genocide in Rwanda, and other acts of genocide and imperialist aggression. In situations where individuals are dehumanized based on religion, nationality, or tribal identity, deindividuation occurs as people are deprive of their individuality and reduced to mere members of a group. This process is often facilitated by social categorization, where individuals are viewed primarily through the lens of their group identity rather than as unique individuals. In conflicts such as the invasion of Ukraine by Russia or the genocide in Rwanda, perpetrators often see their victims as representatives of a collective enemy rather than as fellow human beings with individual lives, experiences, and rights.
ReplyDeleteDehumanization diminishes the sense of moral accountability that individuals feel towards those they perceive as less human. When people are dehumanized based on religion, nationality, or tribal affiliation, it becomes easier for perpetrators to justify acts of violence, discrimination, or oppression against them. This is because dehumanization reduces empathy and fosters an "us vs. them" mentality, wherein the suffering or rights of the dehumanized group are seen as less significant or legitimate. Consequently, individuals may feel less guilt or remorse for their actions, as they perceive their victims as deserving of their mistreatment due to their perceived inferiority or threat.
In the context of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, for example, the dehumanization of Ukrainians by portraying them as "fascists" or "enemies of Russia" serves to justify Russia's military aggression and human rights violations. Similarly, during the Holocaust, Jews were dehumanized by Nazi propaganda, which depicted them as subhuman and responsible for Germany's problems, leading to their systematic extermination. In Rwanda, the Tutsi population was dehumanized by Hutu extremists through propaganda that portrayed them as "cockroaches" and "traitors," paving the way for the genocide that claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. In each of these cases, deindividuation and the erosion of moral accountability allowed perpetrators to commit act of brutality against their victims with a diminished sense of empathy or regret. Overall, understanding how dehumanization operates within the context of religious, national, or tribal conflicts is crucial for preventing and addressing acts of genocide and imperialist aggression. By recognizing the humanity and dignity of all individuals, regardless of their identity, societies can work towards fostering empathy, understanding, and peace.