Dehumanizing contained groups lets perpetrators deny racism is even possible

Evidence

The consequent counter-violence of containments cannot possibly be racist not just because no races exist but also because the threatening expressions it seeks to contain are unrecognized as properly human. It – the projected action as metonym for the person, for the (national) character – is beastly, monstrous, mutant, after all. It places itself outside the bundle of legitimate human preference expression or instrumentalization. As such, we can’t be racist just as we don’t torture. Even as a bad apple, even two perhaps do. The individualization of wrongdoing, its localization as personal and so private preference expression, erases institutional racisms precisely as conceptual possibility. — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1873

Categorization

• XREF: Causal chain here — dehumanization enabling denial — parallels how privileged groups can deny zero-sum threat by recasting out-groups as non-human claimants. — connects to: Dehumanizing entire groups makes persecution of them socially acceptable; Merely classifying people into outgroups triggers dehumanization that enables scapegoating; Dehumanizing targets as non-human makes racist violence self-excusing — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race: Reflections on…, 1873 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Dehumanizing entire groups makes persecution of them socially acceptable #expands (0.92)
• Dehumanizing targets as non-human makes racist violence self-excusing #expands (0.90) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1873
• Collective violence requires dehumanizing victims into abstract categories #corroborates (0.88)
• Merely classifying people into outgroups triggers dehumanization that enables scapegoating #corroborates (0.85)
• Perpetrators excuse harm by displacing blame and dehumanizing victims #corroborates (0.85)
• New racist rhetoric lets far-right groups deny racism while demarcating Muslims #exemplifies (0.80) — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 464