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Throughout history, the disenfranchised have been viewed as “less deserving” by those in power or by mainstream society, which has caused vast injustice to be perpetrated. Native Americans and aboriginals were seen as savages, and slaves were considered animals without souls. The British upper classes viewed other segments of society as the “lower forms.” Early political and economic philosophers were concerned with the rising peasant class. British economist Malthous considered the reproduction rate of the uneducated masses to be the greatest threat to civilization, but never considered acting to uplift the poor. Although the ideals of the Enlightenment viewed all people as potentially free and rational, it took numerous social advances to prove that illiterate and malnourished people could be healthy and as mentally capable as any other class, after the disenfranchised and their children were provided with decent nutrition, education and opportunity. Almost all institutionalized discrimination can be traced to the tendency of the group in power to maintain the rationale for remaining in authority. [See System Justification] These prejudices are built on assumptions so etched into society that examples of bias are ubiquitous. Misguided scientists have misinterpreted tests to prove lesser intelligence, developed measurements based on physical attributes to categorize classes of people, etc. Dehumanization is deliberately inculcated in soldiers by military propaganda in combat training: “My enemies are sub-human—it’s OK to kill them.” In the fog of war, the trauma of combat can easily shut down humane considerations. |
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