Do you agree that dehumanising other always starts with language?

Answer 1

Hi Sam!

Thank you for your heavy yet interesting question regarding whether or not dehumanization always begins with language. Though this is obviously a debatable question, I would love to help you with fleshing out this conversation during a session and sharing different ways to look at it.

One perspective to support the claim would be that yes, dehumanization does always begin with language, in the sense that language can be understood as communication. Without communication and emotional responses to communication, the feeling of being seen or viewed as inhumane or less than human, arguably, may not occur. The feeling may be understood as general aggression or unrest, such as in pre-civilization times.

On the other hand, the claim can be considered false, in that dehumanization does not always have to begin with language, in the sense that language can be considered more of a systematic and organized way of communicating through speech and writing. In this view, dehumanization can absolutely occur without the presence of language because factors such as deprivation of basic needs, communication through violence and physical factors can be indicative to those being dehumanized that they are being viewed or seen as inhumane.

If you would like to discuss further, I would be more than happy to schedule a session with you and help you flesh this out more!