When I saw that interview with Yoav Gallant the first thing I thought of was your book Less Than Human where you describe exactly this rhetoric. It's pretty scary to see it playing out in real time.
okay, but if you truly believe this then you have to battle even for the dehumanization of Nazis (the WW2 ones fighting for Germanism, not what are called some groups now) and of the members of the KKK. I see people taking the Tarantino road every year and calling Nazis etc "Pigs" "Animals" etc...But I saw no one talking about their dehumanization. And before I see someone saying something stupid like "They're not the same thing". Yeah, they are. They want to enslave and rule over whoever isn't Muslim and k*ll the ones that disobey Muslims (putting Sharia etc..). And they use the same language of Nazis. And everytime someone calls a Muslim terrorist a pig, that person gets a storm of "you're an Islamophobe" etc etc...while no one's ever gotten storms of "you're phobic" "shut up you Fascist!" when calling Nazis pigs, animals etc....
That is correct. Instead of trying to record the accurate history of the Nazis, they and Hitler their leader were simply demonized --- turned into cartoons. Or monsters. Like cartoons characters. As far back as the nineties, there was a general understanding that we (the humans) could understand things. Today it seems like nobody tries. Nobody I should say in the universities (although there may be a few?).
They are human, true. But they are not reasonable humans. What intelligent response do you propose? They are just blindly murdering and mutilating people because they’re Jewish and they revel in death, they glorify dying for their cause. What intelligence will work with such humans?
All human behavior has some sort of explanation, and simply saying that others are monsters does not provide one. If we cant to prevent such atrocities from happening, we need an accurate understanding of their causes.
This writer looks quite good. (I regard "Comments" as pubic and I am talking to everybody so sometimes I address everybody who is free to read, not just the writer of the referent text) The problem today is I am seeing too many great writers on Substack to keep track of --- or, definitely, to read. And even as I say that I notice Steven Schwartzberg just below me! I recently "met" him on FB. And promised to read his book but never ordered it (from Europe). But really --- this is very relevant to my own interests. I write about how "capitalist" economics may be profitably understood as having man, many public or social elements. It is in my view a big failing of our universities that this phony framing of capitalism as "individualistic and private" was allowed to go unchallenged. And not is may be difficult to fight against the stream, as "individualist economics" rears its ugly head in the form of many many supports of "Austrian" economics show up --- ready to destroy Argentina all over again It is so easy to create what only appears to be good scholarly or "science" work. So it is a pleasure to be knowing all of you people. Let's be in touch, with proper dignity so that nobody can harm us...
It's a metaphor that neatly sums up their moral depravity, but maybe you're right. Such metaphors are dangerous because they lead to stereotypes, prejudice and worse. But in the heat of the moment, taking a step back and examining the numerous Web of causes & influences for such behaviour is hard. I'm sure there will be atrocities & war crimes committed by both sides over coming days. Let's hope there isn't, and that it doesn't escalate.
Well said!
When I saw that interview with Yoav Gallant the first thing I thought of was your book Less Than Human where you describe exactly this rhetoric. It's pretty scary to see it playing out in real time.
okay, but if you truly believe this then you have to battle even for the dehumanization of Nazis (the WW2 ones fighting for Germanism, not what are called some groups now) and of the members of the KKK. I see people taking the Tarantino road every year and calling Nazis etc "Pigs" "Animals" etc...But I saw no one talking about their dehumanization. And before I see someone saying something stupid like "They're not the same thing". Yeah, they are. They want to enslave and rule over whoever isn't Muslim and k*ll the ones that disobey Muslims (putting Sharia etc..). And they use the same language of Nazis. And everytime someone calls a Muslim terrorist a pig, that person gets a storm of "you're an Islamophobe" etc etc...while no one's ever gotten storms of "you're phobic" "shut up you Fascist!" when calling Nazis pigs, animals etc....
The Nazis and KKK were and are human beings, not monsters or subhumans. They show us what human beings are capable of.
That is correct. Instead of trying to record the accurate history of the Nazis, they and Hitler their leader were simply demonized --- turned into cartoons. Or monsters. Like cartoons characters. As far back as the nineties, there was a general understanding that we (the humans) could understand things. Today it seems like nobody tries. Nobody I should say in the universities (although there may be a few?).
They are human, true. But they are not reasonable humans. What intelligent response do you propose? They are just blindly murdering and mutilating people because they’re Jewish and they revel in death, they glorify dying for their cause. What intelligence will work with such humans?
All human behavior has some sort of explanation, and simply saying that others are monsters does not provide one. If we cant to prevent such atrocities from happening, we need an accurate understanding of their causes.
This writer looks quite good. (I regard "Comments" as pubic and I am talking to everybody so sometimes I address everybody who is free to read, not just the writer of the referent text) The problem today is I am seeing too many great writers on Substack to keep track of --- or, definitely, to read. And even as I say that I notice Steven Schwartzberg just below me! I recently "met" him on FB. And promised to read his book but never ordered it (from Europe). But really --- this is very relevant to my own interests. I write about how "capitalist" economics may be profitably understood as having man, many public or social elements. It is in my view a big failing of our universities that this phony framing of capitalism as "individualistic and private" was allowed to go unchallenged. And not is may be difficult to fight against the stream, as "individualist economics" rears its ugly head in the form of many many supports of "Austrian" economics show up --- ready to destroy Argentina all over again It is so easy to create what only appears to be good scholarly or "science" work. So it is a pleasure to be knowing all of you people. Let's be in touch, with proper dignity so that nobody can harm us...
It's a metaphor that neatly sums up their moral depravity, but maybe you're right. Such metaphors are dangerous because they lead to stereotypes, prejudice and worse. But in the heat of the moment, taking a step back and examining the numerous Web of causes & influences for such behaviour is hard. I'm sure there will be atrocities & war crimes committed by both sides over coming days. Let's hope there isn't, and that it doesn't escalate.
Yes, it is very hard--but necessary.