Excellent post and insights as to how/why the desensitization to murder that comes from dehumanization of foreign people has now migrated home. And exactly what I have also been trying to warn for some time: https://coleenrowley871729.substack.com/p/dad-went-to-war-last-night that violence begets violence. The shooters, car bombers, knife stabbers and truck rammers mass-killing violence is now at epidemic level but few Americans understand any of the root causes whereby the killers suffering from some personal problem or another, see themselves as "Rambos" or Clint Eastwood vigilante "good guys" just avenging wrongs or the unfairness of something in their lives.
Thank you for the nice article. It is something I have been trying to understand, how is it that people can disregard such killing and value of human life? One aspect is that many people in fact are not fine with it, but there is a sense of hopelessness in the struggle, because of fear of getting involved in the fight with the mass killing collective machines. This is especially because it is easier to target individuals, and even though many people oppose it they could get targeted if they stand out and start to organize. So maybe one question we should be thinking about is how can we make it easier for individuals to act morally, by giving them more protection through organization and institutions.
Another aspect is how some people are actually fine with it. Understanding the thought process would allow us to better intervene on it and fight it.
One of the best ways to understand this for me has been Prof. Sapolsky, he talks about people thinking through "categories". When we think of a category of "us" vs "them", we end up very frequently okay with dehumanizing the others, and all that follows. We have many categories in our heads, and we switch between them rapidly. (There are sayings such as, "All is fair in love and war".)
Now what happens when one category gets so fixed in our heads, that when we see someone we can only see them through one opposing category, forgetting other categories that they share with us, sons or daughters that love their parents, siblings and friends, husbands, wives, people who struggle with mental health, poor people and rich people, humans. In the most extreme case, full individualism, one only cares about himself and a handful of close people and doesn't care what happens to other people. (Recently I had the pleasure of attending a lecture by John S. Sanni, in which he talked about internal violence. I told him afterwards that the way I understood it, internal violence as he advocated for it can be understood through this lens, to be always vigilant against the solidification of one category).
This is also partly because we are simply limited in our thinking capacity, time, and life experiences that allow us to gain empathy and insight into others, or to figure out the truth of things. Determining truth depends on all those, and when we are limited, we find it easier to believe or think by what we fear or desire. There is a sense of laziness, or being occupied with daily life, that people simply disregard the thinking because it would be costly or time consuming. It can also be that our fear or desire is so strong that it hijacks any thinking process. How do we make it easier for people to think and face the truth and implications of what is happening?
I dunno you had me for a second but Dearborn? It’s been taken over by Muslims - have you read Sam Harris or White Teeth? Until Muslims can more obviously/effectively self regulate the “West” should feel some discomfort. It’s uncomfortable for me to be around Hijabs bc I feel judged and it’s a step back for women’s freedoms. Yes I get it women should have the freedom to wear a hijab but being surrounded by women who want to wear a hijab is not something I hope most American women want. There is hatred for the west and progressive ideals in the Muslim culture - until that is honestly addressed I don’t see how it will be fixed.
Thanks for reminding us that it’s our humanity that we share.
Some thoughts that come from reading your post.
The Hamas/Israel current situation. For me it was Hamas that chose to leverage Israel’s societal policy of saving hostages at any cost and initiated the present conflict. Apparently their calculus (assuming that October massacre was a tactical plan vs. pure evil/ lust for death and mayhem), was a gross error.
The ongoing demonstrated refusal on their part to capitulate is guaranteeing their physical demise. This is tragic.
Governments are the final recourse for settling civil and international disputes. Military and police force is the coercion tool that civilizations reserve for government. This is a necessary and accepted agreement amongst citizens and nations. When this tool is used, we have to understand that level of force is not a desired human characteristic. This is why we strive not to allow our disagreements to rise to the level of unleashing this power.
Wars including this one are inevitable IF societies refuse cooperation.
It appears to this naive American, that Hamas grossly miscalculated the cohesiveness of Israel’s resolve AND demonstrated as a group that rape, murder and kidnapping was an acceptable way to engage and resolve disputes.
They lit the match and apparently will not capitulate until all is incinerated. Deeply sad and yes, actual humanity is being consumed in this failure of “leadership”.
Israel as a sovereign nation sees no way to resolve this until Hamas as a government is destroyed. And yes, the humans in this construct, have been “dehumanized “.
It is truly tragic and we can all pray for this to end as soon as possible. The lesson hopefully that is learned is we as humans are social beings and can and should coexist in a cooperate way.
Religious tolerance is a must. Americas forefathers set up the government that allows this. Our constitution was born from centuries of past learned lessons. We as humans seem to repeatedly fail to learn.
Excellent post and insights as to how/why the desensitization to murder that comes from dehumanization of foreign people has now migrated home. And exactly what I have also been trying to warn for some time: https://coleenrowley871729.substack.com/p/dad-went-to-war-last-night that violence begets violence. The shooters, car bombers, knife stabbers and truck rammers mass-killing violence is now at epidemic level but few Americans understand any of the root causes whereby the killers suffering from some personal problem or another, see themselves as "Rambos" or Clint Eastwood vigilante "good guys" just avenging wrongs or the unfairness of something in their lives.
Thank you for the nice article. It is something I have been trying to understand, how is it that people can disregard such killing and value of human life? One aspect is that many people in fact are not fine with it, but there is a sense of hopelessness in the struggle, because of fear of getting involved in the fight with the mass killing collective machines. This is especially because it is easier to target individuals, and even though many people oppose it they could get targeted if they stand out and start to organize. So maybe one question we should be thinking about is how can we make it easier for individuals to act morally, by giving them more protection through organization and institutions.
Another aspect is how some people are actually fine with it. Understanding the thought process would allow us to better intervene on it and fight it.
One of the best ways to understand this for me has been Prof. Sapolsky, he talks about people thinking through "categories". When we think of a category of "us" vs "them", we end up very frequently okay with dehumanizing the others, and all that follows. We have many categories in our heads, and we switch between them rapidly. (There are sayings such as, "All is fair in love and war".)
Now what happens when one category gets so fixed in our heads, that when we see someone we can only see them through one opposing category, forgetting other categories that they share with us, sons or daughters that love their parents, siblings and friends, husbands, wives, people who struggle with mental health, poor people and rich people, humans. In the most extreme case, full individualism, one only cares about himself and a handful of close people and doesn't care what happens to other people. (Recently I had the pleasure of attending a lecture by John S. Sanni, in which he talked about internal violence. I told him afterwards that the way I understood it, internal violence as he advocated for it can be understood through this lens, to be always vigilant against the solidification of one category).
This is also partly because we are simply limited in our thinking capacity, time, and life experiences that allow us to gain empathy and insight into others, or to figure out the truth of things. Determining truth depends on all those, and when we are limited, we find it easier to believe or think by what we fear or desire. There is a sense of laziness, or being occupied with daily life, that people simply disregard the thinking because it would be costly or time consuming. It can also be that our fear or desire is so strong that it hijacks any thinking process. How do we make it easier for people to think and face the truth and implications of what is happening?
I look forward to reading more from you.
I dunno you had me for a second but Dearborn? It’s been taken over by Muslims - have you read Sam Harris or White Teeth? Until Muslims can more obviously/effectively self regulate the “West” should feel some discomfort. It’s uncomfortable for me to be around Hijabs bc I feel judged and it’s a step back for women’s freedoms. Yes I get it women should have the freedom to wear a hijab but being surrounded by women who want to wear a hijab is not something I hope most American women want. There is hatred for the west and progressive ideals in the Muslim culture - until that is honestly addressed I don’t see how it will be fixed.
Thanks for reminding us that it’s our humanity that we share.
Some thoughts that come from reading your post.
The Hamas/Israel current situation. For me it was Hamas that chose to leverage Israel’s societal policy of saving hostages at any cost and initiated the present conflict. Apparently their calculus (assuming that October massacre was a tactical plan vs. pure evil/ lust for death and mayhem), was a gross error.
The ongoing demonstrated refusal on their part to capitulate is guaranteeing their physical demise. This is tragic.
Governments are the final recourse for settling civil and international disputes. Military and police force is the coercion tool that civilizations reserve for government. This is a necessary and accepted agreement amongst citizens and nations. When this tool is used, we have to understand that level of force is not a desired human characteristic. This is why we strive not to allow our disagreements to rise to the level of unleashing this power.
Wars including this one are inevitable IF societies refuse cooperation.
It appears to this naive American, that Hamas grossly miscalculated the cohesiveness of Israel’s resolve AND demonstrated as a group that rape, murder and kidnapping was an acceptable way to engage and resolve disputes.
They lit the match and apparently will not capitulate until all is incinerated. Deeply sad and yes, actual humanity is being consumed in this failure of “leadership”.
Israel as a sovereign nation sees no way to resolve this until Hamas as a government is destroyed. And yes, the humans in this construct, have been “dehumanized “.
It is truly tragic and we can all pray for this to end as soon as possible. The lesson hopefully that is learned is we as humans are social beings and can and should coexist in a cooperate way.
Religious tolerance is a must. Americas forefathers set up the government that allows this. Our constitution was born from centuries of past learned lessons. We as humans seem to repeatedly fail to learn.