WE COME TOGETHER: STANDING UP TO DEHUMANISATION

We are living through strange times at the moment. It is clear that now more than ever before, the importance of focusing on our shared humanity and community is integral and here, at The Collaborative Store, we are committed to continue to engage with our community and support each other.

With this in mind, we are starting a series titled We Come Together #wecometogether. Here, we will be writing posts featuring content that we feel is important to share, as well as to inspire you as you go about your daily life. There are further daily tips to enrich your everyday via our sister Instagram community @Love.Share.Care. 

This week we are sharing an article 'Dehumanising Always Starts With Language' by social scientist Brene Brown about why we need daily reminders that we are all Human, inextricably connected to each other and should never tolerate Dehumanisation, otherwise we may diminish our own Humanity in the process. The current crisis brought out the best in many people and nobody asks "I'll help you, what is your political belief?". Sadly, there is still a lot of violence and anger in the world and we feel we are responsible for recognising it and contributing how and what we can to stop it.

Michelle Maiese, the chair of the philosophy department at Emmanuel College, argues that 'most of us believe that people’s basic human rights should not be violated—that crimes like murder, rape, and torture are wrong. Successful dehumanizing, however, creates moral exclusion. Groups targeted based on their identity—gender, ideology, skin color, ethnicity, religion, age—are depicted as “less than” or criminal or even evil. The targeted group eventually falls out of the scope of who is naturally protected by our moral code. This is moral exclusion, and dehumanization is at its core.'

In order to target moral exclusion we should be looking at the core of the issue and practice 're-humanisation' by rejecting offensive language regardless of our political beliefs and demand discourse that doesn’t make people subhuman. 

'When we engage in dehumanizing rhetoric or promote dehumanizing images, we diminish our own humanity in the process. When we reduce immigrants to animals like Trump has done in the past, it says nothing at all about the people we’re attacking. It does, however, say volumes about who we are and our integrity.

Dehumanizing and holding people accountable are mutually exclusive. Humiliation and dehumanizing are not accountability or social justice tools, they’re emotional off-loading at best, emotional self-indulgence at worst.'

Read the full article here..

#wecometogether