Spoke to several experts for some context on the dehumanizing language police continue to use against protesters. A few takeaways: it has *always* preceded more violence against a particular group & *always* serves to escalate tensions. w/ @TMclaughlin3
washingtonpost.com/dogs-vs-cockro…
washingtonpost.com/dogs-vs-cockro…
@TMclaughlin3 Human beings tend to be averse to violence, we are not socialize to harm or hurt others. But if you see the person you are hurting as less than a human, as an other, then that makes it easier to justify violence against them.
@TMclaughlin3 The word "cockroach" in particular has a very loaded history, evokes images of infestation and the need to exterminate a group of people. Nazis used it against the Jews, Hutus against the Tutsis in the Rwandan genocide
@TMclaughlin3 “You call people cockroaches a lot, you start thinking that they are subhuman" said David Livingstone Smith at @UMPhilosophy This dehumanizing language must be seen “either as a symptom of an increasingly dangerous situation, or a promoter of one, or both"
@TMclaughlin3 @UMPhilosophy Interestingly, this language has tended to be used against a group seen as the "other" in terms of their ethnicity, religion, race etc. But in HK, police and protesters (mostly) share a language, common history, etc.
@TMclaughlin3 @UMPhilosophy In this situation, says Allison Skinner @ugapsychology , it almost has become necessary for police to use this kind of dehumanizing language to justify their violence against protesters and civilians. It is hard to be brutally violent against your own kind otherwise
@TMclaughlin3 @UMPhilosophy @ugapsychology This language first appeared in August, and @maryhui wrote about it in September qz.com/1706106/hong-k…
The fact that it is still going on, despite police superintendents/PPRB saying it is not ideal, shows how there continues to be a lack of accountability
The fact that it is still going on, despite police superintendents/PPRB saying it is not ideal, shows how there continues to be a lack of accountability
@TMclaughlin3 @UMPhilosophy @ugapsychology @maryhui “If the state actor comes from a democratically elected system, you typically don’t get this kind of language" says @WADonohue “But when you have a government that is not elected... they are not accountable to anybody.”
