The Story of Humanity

Image Credit: Sima Ghaffarzadeh

The Iranian women's revolution has been in full swing since the killing of Mahsa Jina Amini on September 16th, 2022. Women of Iran are demanding freedom. They are fighting oppression to gain full agency over their bodies, movement and life decisions. Unfortunately, this revolution is also tainted with countless human rights violations and the killing of protestants. Three weeks ago, the majority of Iran's parliament signed an open letter to the country's judiciary demanding to issue death sentences to protesters (about 15 000) who have been arrested (BBC News, November 2022). Yes, you read it right! About 15,000 people risk facing the death penalty for protesting for basic human rights. If you wonder why we keep returning to such a dark place of our humanity, if you wonder what it is with the faith of women and what could justify this level of violence, I may have some pieces of answers for you.

TO ELIMINATE VIOLENCE, WE MUST FIRST UNDERSTAND THE MOTIVES THAT DRIVE IT 

DEHUMANISATION

According to David Smith, it goes against human nature to harm, kill, and degrade other humans. For that to happen, one has to start thinking of another human as a sub-human.

Dehumanization refers to the act of regarding, representing, or treating a person or group as less than human; It is the process of depriving a person or population of human qualities or attributes,such as compassion, dignity, individuality, etc., in order to achieve instrumental ends.

In his book, Less Than Human, Smith writes that even though harming another human being could present some advantages or gains, it remains an extremely difficult and traumatic experience. Therefore, one must first dehumanize their victims to reconcile these conflicts and no longer feel distressed when inflicting pain. Only then, it becomes easier to start inflicting violence and atrocity without feeling remorse.

Dehumanization starts with language and proceeds in various ways, including visual representation, objectification, exclusion and violence. Normalization occurs once the dehumanization of a group has been integrated. Violent behaviours are legitimized or rationalized in the collective consciousness and become normalthrough repetition, ideology and propaganda. Next, the future generations reproduce the same violent behaviours toward specific groups as second nature.

We've witnessed the normalization of women's dehumanizationthrough literature and media. Women have been treated as objectsor sub-humans with limited identities. We romanticize treating women as second-class citizens in the name of care. They are presented as fragile creatures who cannot survive without the protection of a man. But these also justify the authority people claim over women and the consequences of not meeting theirexpectations.

IN THE NAME OF MORALITY

Violence is not just a result of dehumanization. It also happens as a consequence of moral exclusion.

Moral exclusion is the process whereby individuals or groups are perceived to be outside the boundary in which moral values, rules, and considerations of fairness apply (Opotow, 1990).

Indeed, it seems easy to agree on upfront, with no context attached, that killing someone is wrong. It is more so when the person who has been murdered is perceived as good or remembered for their good doings. In these instances, it feels natural to access our empathy and feel sorry for what happened.

The same does not apply when the person murdered is a rubber, for example. Then we fail to see the victim as human. We are quick to judge. Most of the time, we would feel the victim deserved to be killed because of their morals. This, of course, is a simplistic example, but it illustrates how the value and meaning of life change depending on the moral value we attach to it.

Behaviour is constructed, fostered, and sanctioned with reference to the community's conception of the good" (Fiske, et al. 2002).

This approach to evaluating life is dangerous as morality is subjective. Indeed, morality is informed by cultures, and because all cultural systems incorporate different meanings of what is good and moral, our perception of what is good or bad may also vary. As a result, certain groups falling outside the scope ofmorality would be less deserving of basic human needs and fair treatment.

Moral exclusion is supported by cultural norms that legitimizethe use of violence and structural hierarchies that perpetuate violence (Mira Alexis P.Ofreneo Te s a C . d e V e l a,2006).

Perpetrators with moral motives proceed to harm victims because they see them as deserving of it. Inflicting violence now becomes an act of justice. Unlike dehumanization, which requires seeing others as less human to justify violence, perpetrators that use moral motives seem to want their victims to remain human, to feel all the emotions, process all the thinking and experience all the pain as a result of their immoral behaviour. They want their victim to understand their motive and the meaning of it. They want them to know they deserve it.

Iran's case is a perfect example of how the perception of what good or bad behaviours for a woman could lead to her death.Furthermore, it illustrates how a structural hierarchy would find it morally justified to engage in open violence against women because the cultural norms support that narrative.

Unfortunately, it is not just Iran. Some of the worse crimes in human history have also been committed in the name of morality:The killing of Jesus Christ, the war against witches, the war in Iraq, violence against the LGBTQIA's community, the lapidation of unfaithful women by the masses, you name it…

RESTORING HUMANITY AND THE POWER OF BEING HEARD

Where do we take it from here? We may wonder. Because of the natural tendency of our brain to categorize, our biology makes us vulnerable to both dehumanization and moral exclusion. But luckily, having this awareness also contributes to reversing the process. 

We fight dehumanization when we are able to recognize other people's capacities for thoughts, emotions, desires, intentions, and consciousness. In other words, when we reconnect to their humanity when it is no longer possible to deny it. Existing research demonstrates that cues in speech, hearing the actual human voice, may enable partisans to recognize a difference in beliefs between two minds without denigrating the minds of the opposition. It demonstrates the presence of a humanlike mind capable of thinking and feeling (Epley & Kruger, 2005; Hall & Schmid Mast, 2007; Kruger et al., 2005; Zaki, Bolger, & Ochsner, 2009).

We combat moral exclusion by expanding the scope of justice by recognizing the intrinsic value of every human being. In other words, it happens when we remember that all living beings have inherent value and are deserving of dignity, regardless of what they contribute to society or their morality, when it becomes so evident in our minds that there is no value or morality above humanity.

So, if you've felt powerless and wondered how you could contribute to support the Iranian women's revolution, I would suggest sharing their voices and stories of courage, resiliency, humanity and value. To amplify what they want us to know or to remember about themselves. To stand in solidarity with women when they advocate for their rights to freedom and agency and to be treated with dignity.

Change takes time, but we get there through actions. Until we are all free…

“Be you and the world will adjust.”

— Rachel-Diane EPOUPA