Dehumanization in Bosnia
Definition:
"Dehumanization:Equating “the others” with animals, insects, or diseases until it overcomes normal human revulsion against murder." (Bosnian Genocide)
"Dehumanization:Equating “the others” with animals, insects, or diseases until it overcomes normal human revulsion against murder." (Bosnian Genocide)
Note:
Genocide cannot occur without first dehumanization. (Bosnian Genocide)
Genocide cannot occur without first dehumanization. (Bosnian Genocide)
Example:
"The late Richard Rorty, a distinguished humanist philosopher, opened his 1993 Amnesty International lecture with a shocking account of sexual sadism perpetrated against Bosnian Muslims by Serbs during the ethnic war that was still raging in the former Yugoslavia. Drawing on the work of war reporter David Rieff, Rorty contended that the Serbs were “not doing these things to fellow human beings, but to Muslims. They are not being inhuman, but rather are discriminating between the true humans and the pseudohumans.”
Dehumanization is the psychological capacity to deny the humanity of others, to relegate people to the status of non-human animals, and so to deprive them of the protections normally accorded to fellow humans by moral codes. As this far-reaching and inter-disciplinary study by David Livingstone Smith amply demonstrates, it is a recurrent historical phenomenon extending back millennia, and it seems to be a necessary precondition for the perpetration of sustained injustices, especially slavery, genocide, and racial subjugation." (David Livingstone Smith)
"The late Richard Rorty, a distinguished humanist philosopher, opened his 1993 Amnesty International lecture with a shocking account of sexual sadism perpetrated against Bosnian Muslims by Serbs during the ethnic war that was still raging in the former Yugoslavia. Drawing on the work of war reporter David Rieff, Rorty contended that the Serbs were “not doing these things to fellow human beings, but to Muslims. They are not being inhuman, but rather are discriminating between the true humans and the pseudohumans.”
Dehumanization is the psychological capacity to deny the humanity of others, to relegate people to the status of non-human animals, and so to deprive them of the protections normally accorded to fellow humans by moral codes. As this far-reaching and inter-disciplinary study by David Livingstone Smith amply demonstrates, it is a recurrent historical phenomenon extending back millennia, and it seems to be a necessary precondition for the perpetration of sustained injustices, especially slavery, genocide, and racial subjugation." (David Livingstone Smith)
What Specifically Happened in Bosnia to Support Dehumanization:
"Hate speech was seen as a natural reaction. It reaffirmed the opposition of the ethnic groups. The politically controlled media produced not only hate speech but also lied about what was going on at the time. The news networks remain nationalistic to this day." (Bosnian Genocide)
What Could Have Been Done to Shut Down or Prevent Dehumanization in Bosnia:
"Prevention:Make hate speech unacceptable, ban hate propaganda, shut down hate radio stations, and punish." (Bosnian Genocide)
Comparing The Dehumanization That Occurred in Bosnia to That of Which Occurred in The Rwandan Genocide:
Example One:
"The Hutus dehumanized the Tutsis, referring to them as ‘inyenzi’ meaning cockroach, in their minds reducing them to animals, making it easier to kill them." (How it happened: Genocide in Rwanda)
Analysis One:
The Hutu referred to and reduced the Tutsi to animals as a way to make killing them easier, just as the Serbs did by viewing the Bosnian Muslims as not humans but Muslims.
Example Two:
"The mechanisms that enhance transparency, such as a freer press and civil society, empowered extremest groups, which hijacked these instruments for their own ends. RTLM and other CDR- funded media dehumanized Tutsi and propagated the idea of a Tutsi threat far more than the Habyarimana government ever had. These anti- Tutsi views were more widely available than before and, after years of media dehumanizing Tutsi, seem to have found many sympathetic listeners." (Kristen M. Lord 65)
Analysis Two:
The Hutu used media to spread hate speech and lies against the Tutsi, just as did the Serbs did against the Bosnian Muslims.