Philosophy Dispatches

Please keep this sidearm at the front, center, and the ready! In polarized events, the scapegoated group gets killed! That's my role but I am not quite ready to go!

I'm holding myself back from quoting Nietsche (because I'd never forgive myself that pretentiousness) but this does remind me of deconstructionist thought. I totally agree with you and it's a very interesting subject. Do you think this polarising becomes more evident under stress though? To me, this is why the politicians saying "it's THEIR fault" always works (annoyingly) - its a default for us to go out and find the "evil" to use as a scapegoat. This compartmentalisation surely makes us feel less insecure and also part of a pack of others like us (so a little safer)?

But I wonder if this ever really happens to this extent in times of boom? Simon Baron Cohen has compared Andre Brevik with Hitler and he has a point. They both thought they were revolutionaries and they believed they were saving their homelands by getting rid of ethnicities they felt were dirtying it. The difference is that Hitler actually got support for his lunacy and this surely has something to do with the hyperinflation and deep recession caused by the reparations. What I'm saying is that maybe this is essentially a collective stress reaction - and a dangerous one.

As for dehumanising people overseas, though. I partly agree but this probably has something to do with distance as well. Looking through the veneer of a television screen or reading about something in the paper, it is difficult to grasp the enormity of something you have never seen and its difficult to feel empathy (or the same amount of empathy as you would feel if it was closer to home) because you haven't got a figure to identify with. You've got thousands of nameless faces instead. Although it may seem to trivialise the matter, putting these things into a script and making a film would probably be better than the numbers. Films make us feel for the characters because it is very clear who we should identify with.

It's quite a leap for you to say that belief in soul causes dehuminization. I can spot your assumption immediately and your anti religious message. You could make the argument the other way around, that people who do not believe in a soul at all will kill anyone. I'm sure you could fund plenty of evidence for this. There are plenty if people who believe all beings have a soul or essence and to dismiss it as "nonsense" is totally illogical.

I would argue that dehumanizing groups of people occurs far more frequently than we'd care to admit. You claim that belief in a soul leads to dehumanization (as I mentioned above, a huge leap and a narrowly focused argument, what about beliefs in intellectual superiority, based on the scientific "qualification" of intellectual ability, namely, "IQ?" You could find plenty of evidence in our school systems of kids with disabilities or lower IQ being sequestered into the worst learning environments with the worst teachers. SATs are actually a kind of IQ test (look up the research for yourself) and they determine who goes to the most prestigious colleges with the best resources. Students who do not attend these schools are seen as lesser than. And, this has to do with intellect (As determined by test makers, not the idea of a soul.

Homeless people are typically looked upon as lazy drunks and are seen as less than human. Would we say they have no soul, or are more like animals? No! People would say they are losers of our merit based society and it is their fault they are where they are in life.This has nothing to do with soul, but more to do with our Western ideas of competition, and our tendency to dismiss people with mental illness as less than human.

I could go on and on with various examples of how we dehumanize in daily life. A lot of it has to do with status and ideas based on scientific ideals - the idea of intelligence, mental fitness, conformity etc. And less to do with people who believe in soul. Again, there are just as many people who would dehumanize based on the belief that soul is "nonsense." We dehumanize in many little ways, even the way some people treat a waiter or subordinate at work as less than is dehumanization based on status.

I would argue that dehumanizing groups of people occurs far more frequently than we'd care to admit. You claim that belief in a soul leads to dehumanization (as I mentioned above, a huge leap and a narrowly focused argument, what about beliefs in intellectual superiority, based on the scientific "qualification" of intellectual ability, namely, "IQ?" You could find plenty of evidence in our school systems of kids with disabilities or lower IQ being sequestered into the worst learning environments with the worst teachers. SATs are actually a kind of IQ test (look up the research for yourself) and they determine who goes to the most prestigious colleges with the best resources. Students who do not attend these schools are seen as lesser than. And, this has to do with intellect (As determined by test makers, not the idea of a soul.

Homeless people are typically looked upon as lazy drunks and are seen as less than human. Would we say they have no soul, or are more like animals? No! People would say they are losers of our merit based society and it is their fault they are where they are in life.This has nothing to do with soul, but more to do with our Western ideas of competition, and our tendency to dismiss people with mental illness as less than human.

I could go on and on with various examples of how we dehumanize in daily life. A lot of it has to do with status and ideas based on scientific ideals - the idea of intelligence, mental fitness, conformity etc. And less to do with people who believe in soul. Again, there are just as many people who would dehumanize based on the belief that soul is "nonsense." We dehumanize in many little ways, even the way some people treat a waiter or subordinate at work as less than is dehumanization based on status.

A)Tri-Une Brain Theory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triune_brain

B)Bowen Family Systems Theory
http://www.thebowencenter.org/pages/theory.html

C)Karpman Drama Triangle Theory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karpman_drama_triangle

D)Rep-tile Spatial Math Theory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rep-tile

E)Hysteresis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hysteresis