Monsters
I have a beef with people (that also includes me) who take groups of individuals and makes them out to be monsters. The dictionary says a monster is one who inspires horror or disgust.
It's easy to put certain people into the class of monster. If I am able to call them a monster, I am able to dehumanize them. If I can dehumanize a group of people, I can feel more justified in whatever I do to them.
Have you seen the movie, "Dead Man Walking"? The nun, played by Susan Sarandon, is the spiritual counselor for the death row inmate, played by Sean Penn. Her actions showed both sides that all people have value. She was showing the death row inmate that his victims and their families had value and that he had wronged them terribly. She was also showing the families of the victims that even though this inmate had done some awful things to people they loved, he was still a human being.
It would be easy to call all death row inmates monsters. Yet, the movie showed that even those people who do monstrous acts are people too. And, we've learned that some people have been wrongly convicted who have been on death row. Each person, each situation is unique. We can't just so easily slap a label on them all.
What groups of people do we want to call monsters in an attempt to dehumanize them? About 2,000 years ago those people might have been tax collectors, Samaritans or Romans. In the last couple hundred years we might have used terms like savages or slaves. In more recent times terms like sex offender, terrorist or infidel might be used.
It's easy to put certain people into the class of monster. If I am able to call them a monster, I am able to dehumanize them. If I can dehumanize a group of people, I can feel more justified in whatever I do to them.
Have you seen the movie, "Dead Man Walking"? The nun, played by Susan Sarandon, is the spiritual counselor for the death row inmate, played by Sean Penn. Her actions showed both sides that all people have value. She was showing the death row inmate that his victims and their families had value and that he had wronged them terribly. She was also showing the families of the victims that even though this inmate had done some awful things to people they loved, he was still a human being.
It would be easy to call all death row inmates monsters. Yet, the movie showed that even those people who do monstrous acts are people too. And, we've learned that some people have been wrongly convicted who have been on death row. Each person, each situation is unique. We can't just so easily slap a label on them all.
What groups of people do we want to call monsters in an attempt to dehumanize them? About 2,000 years ago those people might have been tax collectors, Samaritans or Romans. In the last couple hundred years we might have used terms like savages or slaves. In more recent times terms like sex offender, terrorist or infidel might be used.
Current history & past history are littered with awful examples of people being used and abused because others justified their actions by calling them monsters. Nazi Germany & Rwanda are just two examples of a list that would probably be very long.
It is time to stop labeling groups of people as monsters.
posted by Kevmo at 8:28 PM
1 Comments:
I never commented on this because it was so poignant. I agree Kevin - we dehumanize others in order to feel safe. Or worse yet - important. Jesus Christ's example is so counter to that. Imagine him telling leper jokes, or drawing political caracatures of pharisees or saducees for the Daily Hebrew Scribe. Or, conducting a scientific study on how criminals had certain cranium deformities that explained their propensity toward stupidity. Or, calling anyone a monster - someone not fit to live.
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