There has been some chatter lately on "dehumanizing" language here at DailyKos*. I would like to dive headfirst into actual dehumanizing behavior caused at least in large part by capitalism. Starting with some definitions for clarification:
From Merriam Webster
dehumanize transitive verb
: to deprive (someone or something) of human qualities, personality, or dignity: such as
a: to subject (someone, such as a prisoner) to inhuman or degrading conditions or treatment
b: to address or portray (someone) in a way that obscures or demeans that person's humanity or individuality
c: to remove or reduce human involvement or interaction in (something, such as a process or place)
From recent chatter, we have been focusing on b: to address or portray (someone) in a way that obscures or demeans that person's humanity or individuality
I would like to address the more direct dehumanizing actions of so many millions of people on billions of others "to deprive [them] of human qualities, personality or dignity" and "subject [them] to inhuman or degrading conditions or treatment".
This story appeared yesterday on MSN about the recent tragedy off the coast of Greece, involving
"a fishing trawler that capsized in the Mediterranean last month, sinking with it hundreds of people searching for a better life."
The MSN article focuses first on 14-year old Abuzar from Pakistan who, seeing the conditions his family was enduring, told his father about his plan.
“He said we’ll die of hunger here anyway, it’s better to leave and he’ll be able to help,” Akhtar [Abusar’s father] said. “He said he’ll be able to pay for a decent education for his brothers, get medical treatment for his youngest brother, maybe add a room to the house.”
…
"The choice for Abuzar, like millions of others like him, was to watch his family starve at home or risk death attempting to reach Europe where there was a promise of work."
The story goes in to much greater detail of the arduous journey just to get to the port where the cargo ship promised fishing trawler left for Greece.
"More than 600 people drowned on June 14 in what would become one of the deadliest migrant boat tragedies. Among the survivors were just 12 Pakistanis, but Abuzar was not one of them."
There are many great humanitarians on DailyKos reading, writing, and commenting, but the media as a whole seems like it could really give a flip about these human lives. Well, I guess it is a great headline to talk about the huge death toll being "one of the deadliest migrant boat tragedies" - but the actual humans on board who died? Not a whole lot of press. They have been dehumanized, and continue to be dehumanized by most of the media, and most of those in "advanced capitalist economies" on this planet. These were very dark-skinned people; easily dehumanized (and history has LOTS of examples) by the northern pale-skinned peoples; easily dehumanized by the nationalists who don't want any foreigners coming into their countries; easily dehumanized by those who have capital (money, land, houses, cars, yachts, mansions, businesses, islands...) since these were people with nothing.
Between the lines we see racism, nationalism, and capitalism. A capitalist sees these people as a threat, who would take from society instead of someone who could contribute, which is an utter fallacy. You want to see the hardest working person ever? Try someone who has had no job, no income, little to no food, and poor shelter, nonexistent healthcare, and old fraying clothes. I have had direct experience in this, though surely very mild compared to that of young Abuzar, who looks more like a child of 9 years instead of 14. Malnutrition and hard living does that to a person.
You see, you don't actually have to refer to someone as 'dirt' in order to treat them like dirt, walking ‘right over them’ without a care. You don't need to call someone a "piece of trash" or "wretched refuse" to treat them like garbage, or call them "illegal" to treat them with lawless abandon. The dehumanizing language is, I agree, a big part of the following treatment in kind, and can be extremely hurtful. I do see dehumanizing action as a bigger problem than the language. We can definitely do better, and that is not a pointed statement directed at anyone. We really can.
But how does this relate to capitalism, and why is it to blame? Capitalism is a system that forces classes, i.e. investors/private or corporate owners vs workers. Classism has a long historic tradition in our world, and helps some to "look down on" others, which is, by its very nature, dehumanizing: "This is a person of less importance than me."
Merriam Webster strikes again:
capitalism noun
: an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market
Private ownership of the means of production is when the workers, in exchange for "a job", let the private owners "capitalize" on their labor. They are making money on the backs of the workers, and thereby create classism. Classism is further striated by income, wealth, skin pigmentation, culture, religion, nationality, job title, and more. These layers of classism help to dehumanize others, and the Republican party loves nothing better than filling their constituents with "hate of others", followed by blaming Democrats somehow for being human, or trying to humanize their dehumanization.
Capitalism is no friend to the workers, as the "private owners" of the means of production are the real winners. This division itself is dehumanizing as it is the main “class” separator.
Any kind of dehumanization of others is repugnant in every way. I would love it if the majority were as pissed off about (what I call) actual physical dehumanization as they are about the words which dehumanize. We need unity, not division. We need all people to have equal rights, instead of the completely unequal, undemocratic system we are living in. We need to eliminate “us and them” language completely — it is just all of us. Working together instead of against each other will result in an extreme increase in productivity, quality of living, and happiness.
*NOTE: I am NOT calling out anyone here, and mean no offense to anyone engaging in or authoring any previous “dehumanizing” stories.