Tag Archives: Dehumanizing language

There’s a dark political history to language that strips people of their dignity

There’s a dark political history to language that strips people of their dignity

Dehumanizing language often precedes genocide. One tragic example: Extreme dehumanizing language was a strong contributor to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. As I have written, the Hutu majority used a popular radio station to continually refer to Tutsi tribal members, a minority in Rwanda, as “cockroaches.” As support for this characterization grew among Hutus, it essentially […] … learn more→