Summary

Moral injury occurs when we experience an event which opposes our values or beliefs. Today, in the USA, we are experiencing moral injury as our leaders wage a war that is both illegal and unethical. Members of our armed forces are engaging in war activities that counter their training and their purpose: they were not trained to kill innocent people and to destroy the cultural institutions of people who are like you and me. We can stop moral injury by stopping the dehumanization being promoted by our leaders. We can stop the dehumanization by calling out hate speech. Are you with me?

Moral Injury and the War on Iran

Moral injury is occurring every day in the USA. Moral injury and the War on Iran are interconnected.

The War on Iran being waged at the direction of Pete Hegseth, former Fox News host, and Donald, former ‘The Apprentice’ host, is an illegal war by international standards and by the standards of the U.S. Constitution. The War on Iran is also an unethical war because it is targeting civilians.

Let’s explore moral injury and the War on Iran.

Moral Injury in the USA

Moral injury and the War on Iran are not figments of our imagination. Moral injury is real.

What Is Moral Injury

Moral injury occurs when a person’s values or beliefs are violated by what they experience; through a betrayal by authority figures; or as a result of omission of action by the individual or commission of acts by the individual.

Who Is Impacted

All of US are affected by moral injury, if we are connected to our humanity. Every day of the War on Iran, we hear of and see people being killed. Members of our armed forces are being killed. School children in Iran are being killed. People in Lebanon are being killed. All because the sociopath in the White House, Donald Hitler, and his billionaire buddies and Nazi Cabinet members have embarked on an illegal and unethical War on Iran.

Members of our armed forces are experiencing moral injury as they engage in activities which kill innocent people in Iran and as they participate in actions promoted by Netanyahu to kill, displace, and render people homeless and without the necessities of life. Members of our armed forces are trained and qualified to protect US, not to start wars at the whim of Pete Hegseth and Donald Hitler.

The people of the USA are experiencing moral injury as the government takes our money to enrich the billionaires; to starve our fellow citizens; to eliminate access to healthcare to our fellow residents; to deprive US of safety as the leaders of the USA engage in a useless and heartless War on Iran. The people of the USA suffer from moral injury every day as people across the world are dying because Donald and his band of buffoons have defunded USAID which only consumed 1% of the annual federal budget. We, the People, incur moral injury daily as Donald and his Nazi Cabinet perpetrate crimes against humanity by shooting down boats in the Caribbean; by detaining people based on the colour of their skin, their accent, their political opinions, or their country of origin; by funding Nazis in the Department of Homeland Security who strangle detained people, rape detained people, assault detained people, shoot people, and deprive detained people of the basics of life, such as bathing, nutrition, safety, appropriate shelter, sleep, and medications.

If any of the actions of Donald and his Administration are counter to your values or beliefs, you will experience moral injury. And, if their actions do not contradict your values or beliefs, then you have been dehumanized and you are dehumanizing others.

Communication: Words Matter

Words matter.

When the likes of Representatives Andy Ogles, Brandon Gill, and Randy Fine and Senators Lindsay Graham and Tommy Tuberville make hate filled remarks about people, they are dehumanizing those people. They are also dehumanizing themselves: they are demonstrating that they lack the basic human decency for humanity to survive. They give US proof that they are inhumane. To be inhumane is UNAMERICAN.

Graham has threatened the Iranian people with more violence and destruction. Ogles has been posting that Muslims do not belong in the USA. Tuberville has posted that the enemy is inside the USA because he does not like the Mayor of New York City, Mayor Mandani. Fine has been promoting Islamophobia. Gill has called for prohibiting anyone who is Muslim to immigrate to the USA.

My response: WTF? And, I mean it. Do any of these bozos know anything about the history of the United States of America?

Second response: I cannot change someone else’s mind. I can ensure that there are consequences to their hate filled words and actions.

Third response: Hate speech is not free speech. Period.

Consequences of Hate Speech: Moral Injury

As Bruneau et al (2018) disclose in the research article linked below, dehumanization is distinct from dislike. Dehumanization taps into different neural networks than dislike. As Pluta et al (2023) demonstrate, exposure to hateful language promotes dehumanization of the other by affecting our ability to empathize with the pain or suffering of the other; and that emotional numbing occurs leading to a generalized lack of empathy to the pain or suffering of other people, including members of our in-group. Hate speech affects our ability to take the perspective of the other and desensitizes us to hate speech about anyone.

So, it is imperative that you and I stop hate speech in its tracks. Perhaps we would not be in the situation we are in today if someone had stopped Vance and Donald from spreading their hateful beliefs about Latinos being rapists and about Haitian immigrants eating pets like cats and dogs.

But, no one stopped them. No one has stopped Donald from calling female reporters ‘Piggy’. No one has stopped Donald from saying that it is the genetics of people who have come to the USA which differentiates them from us. No one has stopped Donald when he has lied about his connections to Jeffrey Epstein or when he has directed US to stop talking about the Trump-Epstein Files. Of course, our members of Congress and our fellow citizens have been emboldened because Donald got away with attacking the identity of people and with trying to dehumanize them via hate speech.

And, so, we are here today, with hate speech, dehumanization, and war. All of this is causing US moral injury.

A Man Who Exemplifies Moral Injury

Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire is a man who has seen the ‘horribles’ of genocide. He is a man who sent messages to the leaders of our world, predicting the genocide in Rwanda. He asked for support in trying to stop the genocide in Rwanda.

And, our great leaders, betrayed Lieutenant-General Dallaire. They betrayed the people of Rwanda. They betrayed all of US.

We should all have moral injury as a result of the genocide in Rwanda. But, we don’t. Because our co-opted media failed to report the truth to US in this country. Because our children have not been taught the truth in their history classes. Because we do not know what we do not know.

Read about Lieutenant-General Dallaire and how he tried to assuage the world’s evil after he left Rwanda. And, learn how the games of politics have deprived US of knowledge and the world of her humanity:

Take-aways: Moral Injury and the War on Iran

Words matter.

What does the research demonstrate? Exposure to hate speech dehumanizes all of US. We become less sensitive to the suffering or pain of others, regardless their in-group status. We become less empathetic and less inclined to take the perspective of the other person. And, dehumanization is engendered in neural networks that are distinct from the neural networks associated with disliking a person or a group of people.

We must stop the damage now. We must hold ourselves and our leaders accountable for the injuries that they are causing US. We must stop their war-mongering and hate-filled speech. Our leaders are damaging all of US. As they wage war in our names, blood is on our souls as well.

The American People deserve better. The Iranian People deserve better. The World deserves better.

Or do we really want to repeat the sins of Hitler and to be the most maligned nation in the history of the world? The richest nation in the world, in the history of the world, and we are becoming the most inhumane nation to ever have existed on this earth.

How does moral injury feel and taste and smell? Just use your senses. America, we have blood on our hands. How do we redeem ourselves? By stopping our leaders and stopping the hatred now.

Are you with me?

Ramin Karimloo: ‘Cathedrals’ (by Jump, Little Children)

Immerse yourself in music to inspire you on our quest to save democracy and give peace a chance.

Please give generously to local mutual aid agencies. Your neighbours will thank you.

Disclaimer: The content of this post is not meant to substitute for a consultation with your healthcare professional team.

If you are thinking of hurting yourself or of hurting someone else, please CALL 9-1-1; CALL 9-8-8; or GO TO the nearest emergency room.

Selected References:

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Bruneau, E., Kteily, N., Jacoby, N., Saxe, R. (2018). Denying Humanity : The Distinct Neural Correlates of Blatant Dehumanization. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Accessed online on March 15, 2026, at https://bpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.mit.edu/dist/0/2045/files/2018/11/Bruneau_etal_2018.pdf

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Nota Bene:

USA Government websites are being purged by the current Trump Administration to align the website content with the regime’s political agenda. Please note that any government website cited in this and other posts on this website may no longer contain evidence based or historically correct information. Thus, I am trying to avoid including any references or resources which derive from a USA government website. This is not bias; I take this action in an effort to maintain a factually sound content in my posts.