Summary

People in all cultures are capable of dehuanizing another group of people. This means that they stop viewing the other group of people as human. There are researchers who have studied dehumanization. Dehumanization can lead to violence, including killing people because they are not considered to be human by the person (persons) doing the dehumanization. The Holocaust is an example of a time during history when some people were dehumanized. We can learn how to not dehumanize another person; we can learn from literature, from spiritual traditions, from musical theatre, from The Bible, and from each other. I demand that Trump and his administration stop dehumanizing people and stop trying to divide us. The people of the USA will stand up and we will stop you.

Dehumanization Risks Our Wellbeing

The topic de jour is the dehumanization of our fellow human beings. And, we are going to explore the neuroscience of this topic because dehumanization risks our collective wellbeing.

What Is Dehumanization?

Dehumanization is the treatment of fellow human beings as lesser beings. When we dehumanize another person, we may perceive them as being subhuman or not human at all.

Imagine believing that a person is less than human. I know, it’s a difficult task. I see a human beside me. How do I arrive at a place in my belief system which lets me believe that the human beside me is less than human or not human at all?

It’s something we learn to do or we do as a result of brain abnormalities.

The Neuroscience of Dehumanization

There is a body of research which is illuminating the areas in our brain for the components of dehumanization as we understand it.

In his enlightening article, Mendez (2023) describes the absence of the ability to experience emotions and empathy which is called animalistic dehumanization. Mechanistic dehumanization is identified as the lack of perception of human nature and the brain’s decreased ability for attributing human nature to people. Developmental disorders may lead to animalistic dehumanization and organic disorders may lead to mechanistic dehumanization (Mendez, 2023).

I would like to make a distinction between disliking someone and dehumanizing a person. Dehumanization is far more sinister, particularly in the consequences of dehumanization. The Holocaust comes to mind as one example of the consequence of dehumanization. Disliking a person does not manifest in the same fashion as dehumanization and I think that is obvious.

Mendez concisely describes the literature to date (time of the article) related to which regions are implicated in the two identified forms of dehumanization. You may read the article yourself for additional information. Let it be said that human beings are learning and are gathering information from research about dehumanization.

Emile Bruneau’s video entitled In Conversation with Emile Bruneau: Dehumanization will enhance your understanding of the universality of dehumanization in cultures and the consequence of violence towards the groups who were dehumanized. Bruneau also discusses the imaging data which distinguish dislike from dehumanization.

Consider Bruneau’s statement that learning about the differences between disliking another group and dehumanizing another group may allow us to develop interventions to address these distinct conceptualizations of people (disliking versus dehumanization). That is a goal we need to pursue, for all of humanity.

Children Can Teach Us Not to Dehumanize

The arts teach us about living together peacefully.

The Bible has taught us as well, The Bible that so many people quote as they dehumanize their fellow human beings.

Consider the parable of the Good Samaritan. Consider the story of Mary Magdalene. Consider the treatment of the disabled in the New Testament: contrast the treatment proffered by Jesus to the treatment by members of the public. Consider the protection received by Moses in the bulrushes.

The examples in that book which is revered by many are innumerable. That is true for Holy Books in other faith traditions as well. Go ahead, pick up one of those Holy Books and start reading. And, start learning.

The American musical theatre tradition can teach us much about how we learn to dehumanize each other. Sondheim’s Children Will Listen from ‘Into the Woods’ is one example. We can travel back many more years to 1958, You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught from ‘South Pacific’.

Take a listen.

Children Will Listen:

You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught

Children’s Picture Books Teach Us about Dehumanization

No kidding.

Have you read any of the American children’s picture books lately? You know, the ones you may have read to your children or to someone else’s children?

The tradition of children’s books and stories, regardless the culture, teach children about good and bad, values, traditions, proscriptions and prohibitions, and expectations in society. Well, at least that is the goal.

Consider the European fables and fairytales as compiled by Lafontaine and the Brothers Grimm and long before them, Aesop’s Fables.

Maybe some people cannot learn the lessons. Organic (physiological, structural, biochemical) abnormalities, either congenital or induced by some form of brain damage, may prevent some people from integrating the lessons proposed by these traditional children’s stories which generation after generation have been read to children.

Let’s take an American picture book by an American icon, Dr. Seuss. Consider the beauty and the complexity of the plot of Horton Hears a Who.

Apparently, many of us in the USA would benefit from re-reading this American classic children’s story. Or, if you are not inclined to read right now, take a listen. Do yourself a favour and do not multi-task. Just sit and listen to a 2025 reading of Horton Hears a Who.

Take-Aways: Learn and Teach Not to Dehumanize

We are adults here. We need to do some adulting around here.

Learn our lessons well and teach our children well.

We are all human beings, no matter how small, no matter our differences. And, those of us who have power need to honour that responsibility and stand up for those who are being ignored, disrespected, demonized, misunderstood, targeted, or made invisible for whatever reason. Stand up, take the heat, just as Horton did. Do it for humanity.

Dehumanization risks our wellbeing. Dehumanization can and does lead to the death of our fellow human beings. Think The Holocaust, Rwanda, the Armenian Genocide, and the list goes on and on.

Apparently, human beings have failed to learn their lessons in the past. But, in the USA in 2025, we have no excuse. Those who came before us have left us evidence and historical records and their shattered souls to teach us: NOT IN MY NAME.

Yes, today I am calling out Donald J. Trump and ICE and Homeland Security and every hypocrite descended from immigrants in the Trump Administration (that would be all of you). Today, I am getting political because our collective wellbeing requires it.

Trump Administration: You are on notice. You will not repeat the actions of Nazi Germany. My father, an American Army Intelligence Officer stationed in Europe during WWII, is calling me from his grave and reminding me: NOT IN MY NAME. I carry his name and I will not allow you to continue with your attempts to divide us and dehumanize some of us.

Trump and bedfellows in your administration: I do not blame your followers because they will learn with us. I blame all of you because you have power and you are abusing power, in order to dehumanize people who are just like you and me: human beings. Our origin stories are similar. ‘Dos Oruguitas’ is the story of many of us: listen and learn:

Sebastian Yarra performing Dos Oruguitas from ‘Encanto’:

I and my neighbours will stand up and prevent you from executing your hate into detention centers: let’s call them what they are, Concentration Camps.

NOT IN MY NAME-

Because, First they came for…

And then you will come for me.

Never Again.

Be well. Be safe. Be kind. Teach your children well and they will learn kindness and compassion and generosity and understanding and peace.

Disclaimer: This post is not meant to substitute for a consultation with your mental health professional team.

If you are having thoughts to hurt yourself or to hurt someone else, PLEASE CALL 9-1-1; CALL 9-8-8; or GO TO the nearest Emergency Room.

Selected References:

Annenberg School of Communication. (October 30, 2020). In Conversation with Emile Bruneau: Dehumanization. University of Pennsylvania. Accessed online on July 5, 2025, at https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9991937/

Mendez, M.F. (Mar 1 2023). A Functional and Neuroanatomical Model of Dehumanization. Cogn Behav Neurol, 36(1): 42-47. Accessed online on July 5, 2025, at https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9991937/