On Inhumanity: Dehumanization and How to Resist It

241 Pages·2020·5.925 MB·English

by  David Livingstone Smith

ON INHUMANITY
Praise for On Inhumanity
“On Inhumanity is a powerful exploration of the processes and
consequences of dehumanization. Concerning himself with violence and
the processes that motivate the extermination of ‘lesser beings,’ Smith
pens a much-needed treatment of the constantly reemerging brutality
that is seemingly endemic to the human condition. . . Simply put, On
Inhumanity is a most appropriate confrontation with the illusions and
political powers that produce sub-humanity in the 21st century.”—
Tommy J. Curry, University of Edinburgh, author of The Man-Not
“On Inhumanity profoundly interrogates the processes that lead [or what
leads] ordinary people to engage in horrific acts of violence against others.
Tracing common themes across the Holocaust, lynching, and genocides,
Smith identifies dehumanization—seeing human beings as subhuman
creatures—as the central feature of these mass atrocities, as well as of eve-
ryday forms of racial oppression. Most compelling is that Smith refuses
to conclude that dehumanization is our inevitable destiny and instead
charts a course for resisting it. On Inhumanity brilliantly provides a
chilling warning of repeating the past and a hopeful call to create a more
humane future.”—Dorothy Roberts, University of Pennsylvania Carey
Law School, author of Fatal Invention
“A chilling, comprehensive, and passionate account of dehumanisation.
Smith offers a devastating reminder of the capacity of every human to treat
other humans as lesser.”—Angela Saini, journalist, author of Inferior and
Superior
ON INHUMANITY
Dehumanization and How to Resist It
David Livingstone Smith
1
1
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers
the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education
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Press in the UK and certain other countries.
Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America.
© Oxford University Press 2020
Epigraph from THE SOCIAL CONQUEST OF EARTH
by Edward O. Wilson. Copyright © 2012 Edward O. Wilson.
Used by permission of Liveright Publishing Corporation.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted
by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction
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above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the
address above.
You must not circulate this work in any other form
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Smith, David Livingstone, 1953– author.
Title: On inhumanity : dehumanization and how to resist it /
David Livingstone Smith.
Description: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2020. |
Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019048933 (print) | LCCN 2019048934 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780190923006 (hb) | ISBN 9780190923020 (epub) | ISBN 9780190092566 (online)
Subjects: LCSH: Humanity— Psychological aspects. | Cruelty. | Hate. | Toleration.
Classification: LCC HM1131 .S653 2020 (print) | LCC HM1131 (ebook) |
DDC 179/ .9— dc23
LC record available at https:// lccn.loc.gov/ 2019048933
LC ebook record available at https:// lccn.loc.gov/ 2019048934
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America
For Subrena, twenty- two years on.
Humanity is a magnificent but fragile achievement.
Edward O. Wilson
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
1. Introduction 1
2. Why Dehumanization Matters 9
3. Defining Dehumanization 17
4. Holocaust 23
5. Lynching 29
6. How We Do Race 34
7. Racism 43
8. Race Science 53
9. Essence 63
10. From Barbados to Nazi Germany 71
11. Which Lives Matter? 77
12. The Act of Killing 83
13. Morality 88
14. Self- Engineering 96
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viii Contents
15. Ideology 101
16. The Politics of the Human 109
17. Dangerous Speech 116
18. Illusion 127
19. Genocide 136
20. Contradiction 145
21. Impurity 150
22. Monsters 156
23. Criminals 165
24. Cruelty 171
25. Dehumanization and Its Neighbors 176
26. Resisting 184
Notes 191
Reading Deeper 201
Index 219
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I want to thank Adam Hochman for his expertise, Sasha Smith and
Abigail Erickson for the words to say things, Desireé Melton and
John Kaag for their unflagging encouragement, Darien Pollock
for his street disposition, Rosa Pollock for her seal of approval,
Mat Schlissler and Kayleigh Long for sharing their knowledge of
Myanmar, Robin Dembroff for their expertise on gender, Lucy
Randall for making the whole thing happen (and for her superb
editing), and Subrena Smith for much more than I can ever put
into words.
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