dehumanizers
Those who objectify
Dehumanizers are people, systems, or forces that strip others of their humanity or dignity.
The term applies to those who treat people as less than human—whether through rhetoric, policy, or direct action.
Propaganda that portrays ethnic groups as vermin, workplace conditions that reduce workers to mere productivity units, or ideologies that deny personhood to certain populations all qualify as dehumanizers.
The regime's dehumanizers paved the way for atrocities by making victims seem subhuman.
Spreaders of biased messaging
- bigotsIntolerant, prejudiced people
- racistsThose biased by ethnicity
- supremacistsBelievers in group dominance
- xenophobesThose fearing outsiders
hatemongers · demagogues · ideologues · slurs · epithets · stereotypes · caricatures · tropes
Oppressive absolute rulers
- dictatorsRulers with total control
- autocratsRulers with unchecked power
- despotsOppressive absolute rulers
- totalitariansRulers with unlimited power
authoritarians · fascists · supremacists · colonizers · enslavers · persecutors · exploiters · tormentors
Ownership of people
- apartheidRacial separation policy
- segregationForced separation by group
- genocideSystematic annihilation of a people
- internmentWartime civilian imprisonment
gulags · caste · colonialism · imperialism · eugenics · trafficking · incarceration · surveillance
Those who inflict suffering
- sadistsThose enjoying others' suffering
- brutalistsProponents of unfinished concrete architecture
- abusersThose who harm others
- perpetratorsThose who commit wrongs
executioners · interrogators · brutalizers · violators · assailants · aggressors · monsters · beasts
propagandists
Spreaders of biased messaging
- bigotsIntolerant, prejudiced people
- racistsThose biased by ethnicity
- supremacistsBelievers in group dominance
xenophobes · hatemongers · demagogues · ideologues · slurs · epithets · stereotypes · caricatures · tropes · scapegoating
tyrants
Oppressive absolute rulers
- dictatorsRulers with total control
- autocratsRulers with unchecked power
- despotsOppressive absolute rulers
totalitarians · authoritarians · fascists · supremacists · colonizers · enslavers · persecutors · exploiters · tormentors · subjugators
slavery
Ownership of people
- apartheidRacial separation policy
- segregationForced separation by group
- genocideSystematic annihilation of a people
internment · gulags · caste · colonialism · imperialism · eugenics · trafficking · incarceration · surveillance · profiling
torturers
Those who inflict suffering
- sadistsThose enjoying others' suffering
- brutalistsProponents of unfinished concrete architecture
- abusersThose who harm others
perpetrators · executioners · interrogators · brutalizers · violators · assailants · aggressors · monsters · beasts · butchers
dehumanizershumanizers
Those who add warmth
humanitarians · liberators · emancipators · human rights defenders · advocates
dehumanizerscaregivers
Those who tend others
healers · nurturers · benefactors · altruists · philanthropists
dehumanizersempathizers
Those attuned to others' emotions
altruists · benefactors · nurturers · Good Samaritans · humanizers