Episode 14: Understanding Dehumanization

Behind the Seen

In this episode, we discuss Dehumanization, which is a pretty strong word but one that we all engage in in some degree or another. Dehumanization occurs when we don’t fully see other people for their inherent worth or value. We don’t see the hardships they might be enduring, the joy as well as their sorrows. You might argue that dehumanization is among the greatest sins. If Jesus says the greatest commandment is to love Lord with all your heart, soul and mind, and then the other one is like it--to love your neighbor as you love yourself. In order to do that, though, it requires you to view the Other in their totality just like you do yourself. So we’ll break it down today by discussing what it looks like to dehumanize someone in our everyday lives--it doesn’t have to be explicitly racist or bigoted; we'll also look at the language that people tend to use when they dehumanize and some surprising areas where people are dehumanizing others.