- cross-posted to:
- nyt_gift_articles
- cross-posted to:
- nyt_gift_articles
The word “fascist” gets thrown around a lot in politics, but it’s hard to find a more apt one for “Unhumans,” which came out last month. The book argues that leftists don’t deserve the status of human beings — that they are, as the title says, unhumans
It’s dangerous to declare your opponents are not really human. A long time ago a term was coined, “outlaw”. It meant somebody had committed crimes that placed them outside the law. They not only no longer had the protections the law placed gave all others, but the responsibilities as well. The y could be killed out of hand, but they could also kill without further repercussions.
The most obvious example is untermenche which the nazis used to describe their enemies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Untermensch
I can’t imagine that the authors of the book didn’t know this. It’s not quite a dog whistle to neo nazis and white supremecists. More like a bullhorn.