The Definition Of Dehumanization In American Culture

The author was good about including the definition of dehumanization because most Americans will participate in certain activities without really understanding what they are doing. For example, college students in this generation will listen to music from a specific genre without knowing the message that the song is trying to get across. The article raises the point that Germans saw their discriminatory action towards the Jews as “reasonable.” This was being emphasized to school children who most likely did not understand what these negative connotations meant. Hearing this made me reflect on why society feels the need to shut out their peers based on skin color, religion, etc. “Superior” group assumed that Jews were individuals that could

not shield themselves from stereotypes suitably.

Furthermore, one of the images individuals referred to “Adolf Hitler as the only man that could save certain persons from the monster of Bolshevism” was extremely disturbing. First of all, Adolf Hitler encouraged genocide of all European Jews even when some Germans were against that. Numerous vital figures in America have grown a hatred for Adolf Hitler because of his actions and beliefs. Second, obviously there was no concern about these European Jews being dehumanized when Nazi soldiers crammed them into tiny concentration camps. The image that characterized Americans as “uncultured, blacks, gangsters, Jews, bankers, and bombers of cities” degraded diverse groups of people considered “inferior” to the Dutch.

Moreover, when it came to the lynching postcards, I did not like how some of the postcards included young children observing persons being hanged. Seeing these lynchings will possibly have some sort of psychological impact on these viewers since they were so graphic. Possibly being a parent myself in the future, I would try to shield my child from seeing such behaviors because of harmful effects. Children should not recognize that this could feasibly happen to them. I also was very disturbed by how some people were burned to death just for the amusement of others. It was interesting to see that not only black people were hanged, but also Italian immigrants. Lynchings seemed to have an influence on an assortment of groups due to one of the immigrants having a pipe put in his mouth. Most of the lynching postcards seemed to be of African American males that were hanged in a group. It seemed as lynchings were perceived as a joke because the murderers were included in the postcards.