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Vermin, Monsters, Animals, Inhuman
What happens when we stop seeing each other as people?
Years ago, when I was still on Facebook, I shared a photo of Adolf Hitler holding hands with a child while they walked together. The caption pointed out that even Hitler was human, and when we lose sight of that we can forget that we are not that different. Even the worst people are people, and any one of us has the potential to do terrible things.
The comments on my post blew up. Several people were so very offended that I would “humanize Hitler.” How dare I? Hitler was a monster. They were good people and nothing like him.
They had completely missed the point.
Some of those same people are the reason why I finally left Facebook, tired of the homophobia, COVID-denial, Trump worship, etc. I’m sure they still think they are good people, and probably some of them now believe that I am a monster.
My mother-in-law watches CNN. The other day, they were interviewing someone about the conflict in the Middle East. He called Hamas “animals.”
Donald Trump recently called his opponents “vermin.”
What happens when we stop seeing other people as human?
If someone isn’t human, they are not entitled to human rights. They don’t…