Bestializing victims further erases moral restraints against killing

Evidence

Cold-blooded killings and barbaric executions require dehumanization of victims to eradicate any restraining moral qualms. It may be even easier to do it if victims are bestialized, with victims often degraded to “dogs.” … A photo showed him kneeling beside a decapitated corpse (El-Naggar, 2015). — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2449 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

In many organizational settings in which an action that is going to result in harm to others is taken, at least initially, there is no overt target for the actions committed, no salient other human who is seen to be a victim of the actions. The individual who decides to let the assembly line use substandard cord in the fabrication of radial tires is not thinking of the accidents that decision could cause; he or she is simply keeping the assembly lines moving. Because a good many of the forces that cause people to avoid doing harm to others rely on the salient presence of specific or specifically imagined victims, if they are not present, then restraining forces are considerably weakened. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4008 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Absent salient victims, moral restraints on harmful action weaken; Distancing executioners from the act weakens moral restraint against killing; Moral restraints weaken when no specific victim is salient — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4008 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Dehumanizing victims as animals makes killing psychologically easier for perpetrators #corroborates (0.95) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2449
• Dehumanizing opponents disables moral self-sanctions, enabling cruelty #corroborates (0.93)
• Moral restraints weaken when no specific victim is salient #complicates (0.72) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4008