When Animals Attack
Struggling to Find Humanity in the Insurrectionists
It was the poop that sealed my sentiments.
Amid the coverage of the January 6 assault on the Capitol building were reports that some of the rioters took dumps in the hallways and smeared their feces on the walls.
This is what animals do.
In fact, I’m struggling to recognize anything human in the swarm of camouflage jackets and red MAGA hats that invaded the Capitol. They beat police officers (killing one), threatened journalists, vandalized a sacred building, tried to prevent lawmakers from performing their constitutional duty, and called for the vice president to be hanged. This is savagery.
Yes, I’m engaging in the same kind of dehumanization that many of these people, like their dear leader Emperor Trumpatine, inflict on people of color, non-Christians, Democrats, climate activists, scientists, the LGBTQ community, vegans, Prius owners, NPR listeners, Morning Joe viewers, microbrew drinkers, diversity trainers, NFL kneelers, Whole Foods shoppers, and Meryl Streep fans. So I’m arguably a hypocrite, but I’m cutting myself a little slack, too. After all, the rioters showed little in the way of humanity when they smashed their way into the Capitol building. They caused more damage and trauma than gorillas let loose in a Safeway.
What’s more, many of them are neo-Nazis and white supremacists — embracing some of the most repugnant and beastly values imaginable.
Dehumanization, simply defined, is the process of perceiving a person or social group as devoid of human attributes, and therefore undeserving of human rights. It can take subtle forms, like a bigot assuming Mexicans lack the full range of emotions that white Americans possess. But it also emerges in blatant manifestations, like threats to journalists and honest lawmakers (and I mean the honest ones, not Josh Hawley or Ted Cruz) who believe in facts instead of conspiracy theories.
I’ve tried not to stereotype the insurrectionists as rabid, xenophobic gun freaks with the intelligence of cane toads. Yet recent research seems to back up some of my biased assumptions. In a paper published last year, University of Oregon psychologists David M. Markowitz and Paul Slovic built a profile of the type of individual who tends to dehumanize immigrants. In a web-based survey involving 468 people, evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, Markowitz and Slovic presented one of two scenarios to each participant. Some read a scenario about an immigrant entering the United States illegally by crossing the southern border. Others read a similar scenario, except the immigrant was traveling with a child.
The participants were then asked to choose the type of jail time they believed the immigrant should receive if convicted, and asked them to write about their thoughts and feelings related to their selection. They were invited to share their attitudes about immigrants, as well as policies on asylum seekers and the separation of children from their immigrant parents.
Markowitz and Slovic used a variety of additional measures to capture social, psychological, and demographic information about each participant.
What emerged was a profile of the Americans who dehumanize immigrants: They lean conservative and older, support gun ownership rights, endorse the death penalty, and view immigrants in impersonal terms. The results showed, among other things, that people who support capital punishment and advocate the right to gun ownership tended to endorse more jail time for the immigrant depicted in the scenario they read. They also viewed immigrants as less evolved.
Obviously, not all conservatives endorse harsh penalties for illegal immigration, but the University of Oregon research indicates that those who support stiff sentences for the immigrants tend to take hard right on the ideology highway system.
So frankly, I think my biases may have some degree of scientific support. And right now, I’m in no way interested in understanding these people. I’m in no way interested in hearing their warped justifications for fighting against a lawful presidential transition, their hollow accusations of election fraud and left-wing power-grabs. How do you converse and reconcile with someone who lives in a different reality? As I watched that pelt-wearing clown mug for the cameras, or the clodhopper waving a confederate flag as he walked around the rotunda, or the asshole lounging behind Nancy Pelosi’s desk, I lost any empathy for their frustrations. Right now, I don’t care if the mythical American dream is out of their reach. I don’t care if they couldn’t afford college. I don’t care if they’re jobless, or make a lousy wage. I don’t care if they had a bad childhood. Nothing on earth excuses their actions. I’m ashamed to share the same nationality with them. In fact, I’m ashamed that I belong to the same species as them.
I hope in time this rage and hatred will ebb. Maybe someday I’ll begin to understand the fear, anger, ignorance, and suspiscions that led so many Americans to form a cult around a madman unqualified to lead a round of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat,” let alone a country. Maybe I’ll forget about the damage, trauma, and actual shit they left behind. But it’s going to take a long time.
I belong to a faith that believes in the inherent worth and dignity of every human being. I want to embrace that, but all I’ve seen in the last week are a lot of people squandering their inheritance.
