Dehumanization as a tool of oppression and division

06 Apr, 2024

Writing can be hard, especially when it pertains to some of the worst things about humanity and the state of politics in the United States. I've been reading a lot and trying to keep up to date on goings-on while also working full-time, getting laid off, finding a new job, and trying to buy a house. Most people are struggling more than I am for sure, and most people also can't keep up with national politics. Gallup found that only thirty-two percent of survey respondents "very closely" followed national politics.¹

This post serves as a gentle reminder of things I touched on in a previous post and also to contextualize comments made by leaders on the right and what their intention is. Leaders on the right, including Trump, Tucker Carlson, and even my own governor Glenn Youngkin, have been leading a culture war against perceived "indoctrination" of children through the public education system, libraries, and more. This culture war has gotten to a point where those in the LGBTQ+ community are being degraded and dehumanized as a broader strategy for those in power on the right to consolidate power by being inherently divisive.

As I covered before, Trump's rhetoric in recent years has really stepped up in terms of its degradation of people who are apparently not "real" Americans. Trump hopes to create a solid base of people who perceive immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, leftists, and more as enemies who are destroying America. Anyone who doesn't subscribe to Trump's ideals are labeled "radical leftists" or RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) further creating this idea that it is an "us against them" battle. It begs the question, why? Why are those who don't agree with these ideas seen as the enemy? What is to gain from pitting people against each other?

Division can be a very powerful tool, especially when it comes to consolidating power. People generally don't like to be divided, they enjoy being part of something: community, religion, political party, etc. So when someone attempts to cast one particular group as an enemy, it's very important to figure out why. This is not to say that every time a group is declared an enemy it is incorrect, but the reasoning must be sound. Nazis were an enemy because of their blatant hatred and express calls to violence against those they hate. The Nazi party saw in Jews, black people, and others all the issues with the current state of their nation. Division there served the purposes of fascists who wished to wield the power of government against these perceived minorities.

Right now, there is a very vocal culture war raging against the LGBTQ+ community, one of these minorities in regards to the political power they wield. This war is being perpetuated by a very vocal minority who do wield political power. In fact, most people in the United States actually support these people and their ability to live their lives.² Those perpetrating this culture war would have Americans believe that the LGBTQ+ community is attempting to poison children's minds against their parents and their country. People such as Stephen Miller said that teachers were "abusing children with trans ideology".³ This is just the right-wing attacking, demeaning, and dehumanizing an entire group of people.

The reasoning for these attacks is not sound at all. LBGTQ+ people and public educators are not here to convert children. The only agenda they may be pushing is one of acceptance. Their community has suffered for years and years, especially going back to Stonewall and the abuses the LGBTQ+ community were subjected to by the police in the 1960s and 70s. The 1980s saw the Reagan administration drag their feet and even administer budgets cuts to public health in response to the AIDS crisis.⁴ It wasn't even until 2003 that homosexuality was decriminalized nationally.⁵ Only fairly recently (2012) has Gallup found that a majority of Americans believe that same-sex couples should have their marriages recognized just as traditional marriages have been for centuries.⁶

All of this is to say that the LGBTQ+ community has for years and years dealt with the abuse of a nation not willing to accept them for who they are. National sentiment has since shifted and Americans realize that these people existing and living their lives does nothing to change the rest of ours. They are just as much an American as I am and I intend to fight to keep it that way. Some of those on the right would have it another way whereby these people are "eradicated".⁷ They treat these people and their lived experiences as "preposterous" and demand they be othered.

To accept these ideas, as I've said before, is to accept that there are Americans who are lesser than. Americans who are not "real" and who are working to subvert our very way of life. Echoes of McCarthyism seem to linger as LGBTQ+ people are treated as enemies instead of neighbors and those who could enrich our lives and lived experience with their own. This is not even touching on the right-wing's attacks on immigrants who also help our nation. The United States is not a nation of one mind, one voice, and especially not one religion. It is a nation built on compromise and cooperation.

Instead of cooperation, those in power on the right intend to divide and conquer. They attempt to make marginalized communities even more marginalized with the power of government by banning books about their lives, not allowing people to simply change their gender on government IDs, among other things. While they purposefully use government power to impede these people's lives, the right is simply hoping that most of America will just go along with it.

Instead, please lend an ear and a helping hand whenever you can. Recognize that these people are not here to turn your children against you, destroy America, or whatever else they've supposedly been doing. The United States is a very large nation and for it to be effective at anything, its citizens need to work together to find paths forward for everyone. There is nothing wrong with pulling one more seat to the table and giving someone ample time to state their problems and discuss solutions. However, those who think that the "marketplace of ideas" will allow their bigotry and hatred will not find a seat at the table. Respect is given freely by me to everyone, but to maintain it is a different thing altogether. No matter how hard those in power try to divide, we must remember that we are all Americans, and those on the edges are crying out for help.

Endnotes