How Dehumanizing Rhetoric Works
In recent times, with the global rise of populist and far-right political movements, a “family” of dehumanizing metaphors have become common worldwide. Indeed, terms that identify different groups of people as pests, deadly animals, reptiles, parasites, disease, filth, zombies, or demons, have been used more and more conveniently by powerful political actors in various parts of the world.
In 2016, to legitimize his so-called “war on drugs” — a bloody extrajudicial crackdown on alleged drug users and dealers — the President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte described those who are addicted to “shabu”, the most widely available methamphetamine in the country, this way: “They are the living, walking dead. They are of no use to society anymore.” Read more…
