This is a blog about my teaching, research and service with some occasional personal comments thrown in. These are my notes on a variety of topics. If you want to follow my blog posts on a specific topic, then see the Table of Contents in the right-hand column. While I try to work in the realm of facts, logic and moral absolutes, if there are any opinions expressed here, they are my own. -WilliamHartPhD
So, dehumanization of the enemy was done in the past all over the world. Does it still happen in the 21st century? That's the question that my co-author and I asked in our study of editorial cartoons of bin Laden and the Taliban after the events of 9/11.
In short, our study found that people (U.S. leaders and editorial cartoonist, in this case) continued to use the dehumanizing visual metaphors identified by Keen -- enemy-as-animal, enemy-as-barbarian, enemy-as-criminal, etc.
We closed our book chapter with the following important note.
Does this process of dehumanization continue today? Let's check the news.
Why is it that during times of war people see the enemy of as animals, as monsters, as barbarians, as devil or death? Put differently, why do people dehumanize the enemy? What purpose does it serve?
Social psychologist Sam Keen offers some answers in his book and a doc based on the book. Here's the beginning of the doc. I'd encourage you to see the rest.
How do we dehumanize? Why do we dehumanize? Why do we make the enemy less than human?
According to Keen, there are a dozen or so common ways that the enemy is seen.
Enemy-as-Animal,
Enemy-as-Barbarian,
Enemy-as-Death,
Enemy-as-Enemy-of-God,
Enemy-as-Criminal,
Enemy-as-All-the-Same
etc.
Keen argues that the enemy is dehumanized because it justifies the killing of the enemy. If the enemy is not a civilized human like us, then, according to Keen, the guilt associated with killing then enemy is greatly lessened and killing is easier.
During World War II the Nazis dehumanized Jewish people. Notice the dehumanization of Jewish people in the Nazi propaganda film called the "Eternal Jews". Watch at least the first five minutes of the film. What was the purpose of this dehumanization of Jewish people?
Just in a 5 minute clip from about 13:45 to 18:37, what dehumanizing metaphors are used?
If you are interested, for more a detailed study of the dehumanizing metaphors used in The Eternal Jew, see:
Hassencahl F. & Hart, W. B. (March, 2013).A fantasy-theme analysis of Der Ewige Jude(The Eternal Jew): From WWII Nazi propaganda to YouTube today.A paper presented at the national Popular Culture Association convention, Washington, DC.
Note: See in relationship between dehumanizing an enemy in war time andracism?
Spot any dehumanization in the following U.S. training film from World War II?
The following is a 1945 World War II propaganda film released by the U.S. War Department entitled "Know Your Enemy: Japan" Who watched this film? What was the purpose of the film?
Other than helping individuals to communicate, what grander social role does the Internet play?
For example, the Internet can be used to speak to power and cause social change. In the quote below McPhail notes the role blogs played in challenging power in 2002.
Quote originally taken from 2nd edition of Global Communication.
So, in the United States the Internet can be used to speak to power, but what about in other countries. For the Internet to play a strong role, there would need to be a substantial amount of Internet users in a country. What sort of growth is there for Internet use around the world? According to McPhail (2nd edition),
Quote originally taken from 2nd edition of Global Communication.
The 3rd edition of McPhail has some interesting, updated numbers. What changes do you note?
So, Internet use is certainly on the rise around the world, more so in some countries than in others.
------
On the world stage, the Internet, specifically social media, has been credited with building revolutions in countries and bringing down dictators.
Take for example, protests in the former-Soviet republic of Moldova in 2009. It was called "Moldova’s Twitter Revolution."
More recently though, when one thinks of social media and revolution, one thinks of the Arab Spring. The Arab Spring is "a revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests occurring in the Arab world that began on Saturday, 18 December 2010."
A Map of Arab Spring Countries
(Image used under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0, image created by Kwamikagami)
Countries highlighted in black are countries in which the government was overthrown. From left to right the countries are Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Yemen. Countries highlighted in other colors are countries in which some protesting occurred.
For a sense of the role social media played in Tunisia, see the following news clip.
What exactly did social media do Tunisia? What was the role of social media?
Let's move from a specific example to a broader discussion about the role of social media has played in the Arab Spring. Some say that social media is insignificant and others say social media play a few important roles in revolution. What are both sides of the argument and what are the arguments on both sides. Why, for example, would some say "no, social media doesn't play a role"? To help answer these questions see the Zuckerman video below.
See specifically the presentation from 4:45 to 8:45 and the remainder if interested.
Note: Zuckerman is co-founded international blogging community Global Voices. Check it out of you are interested.
So, dehumanization of the enemy was done in the past all over the world. Does it still happen in the 21st century? That's the question that my co-author and I asked in our study of editorial cartoons of bin Laden and the Taliban after the events of 9/11.
In short, our study found that people (U.S. leaders and editorial cartoonist, in this case) continued to use the dehumanizing visual metaphors identified by Keen -- enemy-as-animal, enemy-as-barbarian, enemy-as-criminal, etc.
We closed our book chapter with the following important note.
Does this process of dehumanization continue today?
Why is it that during times of war people see the enemy of as animals, as monsters, as barbarians, as devil or death? Put differently, why do people dehumanize the enemy? What purpose does it serve?
Social psychologist Sam Keen offers some answers in his book and a doc based on the book. Here's the beginning of the doc. I'd encourage you to see the rest.
How do we dehumanize? Why do we dehumanize? Why do we make the enemy less than human?
According to Keen, there are a dozen or so common ways that the enemy is seen.
Enemy-as-Animal,
Enemy-as-Barbarian,
Enemy-as-Death,
Enemy-as-Enemy-of-God,
Enemy-as-Criminal,
Enemy-as-All-the-Same
etc.
Keen argues that the enemy is dehumanized because it justifies the killing of the enemy. If the enemy is not a civilized human like us, then, according to Keen, the guilt associated with killing then enemy is greatly lessened and killing is easier.
During World War II the Nazis dehumanized Jewish people. Notice the dehumanization of Jewish people in the Nazi propaganda film called the "Eternal Jews". Watch at least the first five minutes of the film. What was the purpose of this dehumanization of Jewish people?
Just in a 5 minute clip from about 13:45 to 18:37, what dehumanizing metaphors are used?
If you are interested, for more a detailed study of the dehumanizing metaphors used in The Eternal Jew, see:
Hassencahl F. & Hart, W. B. (March, 2013).A fantasy-theme analysis of Der Ewige Jude(The Eternal Jew): From WWII Nazi propaganda to YouTube today.A paper presented at the national Popular Culture Association convention, Washington, DC.
Note: See in relationship between dehumanizing an enemy in war time andracism?
Spot any dehumanization in the following U.S. training film from World War II?
The following is a 1945 World War II propaganda film released by the U.S. War Department entitled "Know Your Enemy: Japan" Who watched this film? What was the purpose of the film?
Other than helping individuals to communicate, what grander social role does the Internet play?
For example, the Internet can be used to speak to power and cause social change. In the quote below McPhail notes the role blogs played in challenging power in 2002.
Quote originally taken from 2nd edition of Global Communication.
So, in the United States the Internet can be used to speak to power, but what about in other countries. For the Internet to play a strong role, there would need to be a substantial amount of Internet users in a country. What sort of growth is there for Internet use around the world? According to McPhail (2nd edition),
Quote originally taken from 2nd edition of Global Communication.
The 3rd edition of McPhail has some interesting, updated numbers. What changes do you note?
So, Internet use is certainly on the rise around the world, more so in some countries than in others.
------
On the world stage, the Internet, specifically social media, has been credited with building revolutions in countries and bringing down dictators.
Take for example, protests in the former-Soviet republic of Moldova in 2009. It was called "Moldova’s Twitter Revolution."
More recently though, when one thinks of social media and revolution, one thinks of the Arab Spring. The Arab Spring is "a revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests occurring in the Arab world that began on Saturday, 18 December 2010."
A Map of Arab Spring Countries
(Image used under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0, image created by Kwamikagami)
Countries highlighted in black are countries in which the government was overthrown. From left to right the countries are Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Yemen. Countries highlighted in other colors are countries in which some protesting occurred.
For a sense of the role social media played in Tunisia, see the following news clip.
What exactly did social media do Tunisia? What was the role of social media?
Let's move from a specific example to a broader discussion about the role of social media has played in the Arab Spring. Some say that social media is insignificant and others say social media play a few important roles in revolution. What are both sides of the argument and what are the arguments on both sides. Why, for example, would some say "no, social media doesn't play a role"? To help answer these questions see the Zuckerman video below.
See specifically the presentation from 4:45 to 8:45 and the remainder if interested.
Note: Zuckerman is co-founded international blogging community Global Voices. Check it out of you are interested.
So, dehumanization of the enemy was done in the past all over the world. Does it still happen in the 21st century? That's the question that my co-author and I asked in our study of editorial cartoons of bin Laden and the Taliban after the events of 9/11.
The study began with the observation of the way that President Bush talked about the enemy and how editorial cartoonists subsequently depicted the Taliban and bin Laden.
In short, our study found that people (U.S. leaders and editorial cartoonist, in this case) continued to use the dehumanizing visual metaphors identified by Keen -- enemy-as-animal, enemy-as-barbarian, enemy-as-criminal, etc.
We closed our book chapter with the following important note.
Does this process of dehumanization continue?
President Jimmy Carter interview from April 9, 2013. Korea = "Axis of Evil"?
Why is it that during times of war people see the enemy of as animals, as monsters, as barbarians, as devil or death? Put differently, why do people dehumanize the enemy? What purpose does it serve?
Social psychologist Sam Keen offers some answers in his book and a doc based on the book. Here's the beginning of the doc. I'd encourage you to see the rest.
How do we dehumanize? Why do we dehumanize? Why do we make the enemy less than human?
According to Keen, there are a dozen or so common ways that the enemy is seen.
Enemy-as-Animal,
Enemy-as-Barbarian,
Enemy-as-Death,
Enemy-as-Enemy-of-God,
Enemy-as-Criminal,
Enemy-as-All-the-Same
etc.
Keen argues that the enemy is dehumanized because it justifies the killing of the enemy. If the enemy is not a civilized human like us, then, according to Keen, the guilt associated with killing then enemy is greatly lessened and killing is easier.
During World War II the Nazis dehumanized Jewish people. Notice the dehumanization of Jewish people in the Nazi propaganda film called the "Eternal Jews". Watch at least the first five minutes of the film. What was the purpose of this dehumanization of Jewish people?
Just in a 5 minute clip from about 13:45 to 18:37, what dehumanizing metaphors are used?
If you are interested, for more a detailed study of the dehumanizing metaphors used in The Eternal Jew, see:
Hassencahl F. & Hart, W. B. (March, 2013).A fantasy-theme analysis of Der Ewige Jude(The Eternal Jew): From WWII Nazi propaganda to YouTube today.A paper presented at the national Popular Culture Association convention, Washington, DC.
Note: See in relationship between dehumanizing an enemy in war time andracism?
Spot any dehumanization in the following U.S. training film from World War II?
The following is a 1945 World War II propaganda film released by the U.S. War Department entitled "Know Your Enemy: Japan" Who watched this film? What was the purpose of the film?
So, dehumanization of the enemy was done in the past all over the world. Does it still happen in the 21st century? That's the question that my co-author and I asked in our study of editorial cartoons of bin Laden and the Taliban after the events of 9/11.
(pp. 137-155). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
by Sam Keen
(pp. 137-155). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
by Sam Keen
