Wandering StarMay 25, 2024
Show threadKavana Ramaswamy
@pawsplay
Conversely, we're also very good at imagining/constructing conscious people and entities as non-conscious/less-conscious, making it very easy to abjectify large numbers of people because our imaginary conception of their existence is separated and devalued from our own. That's often how marginalisation happens.
May 25, 2024 at 8:48amWeb
Show threadMisuse CaseMay 25, 2024
@kavana @pawsplay Yes, absolutely. I have been thinking about how the same people will ascribe intelligence and consciousness to AIs because they can string words together, while dehumanizing people who can’t speak their language or who are non-verbal.
Show threadಚಿರಾಗ್ 🌹✊🏾Ⓥ🌱🇵🇸 (he/him)May 25, 2024
@MisuseCase @kavana @pawsplay And dehumanizing non-human animals 😕
Show threadPassengerMay 26, 2024

@MisuseCase @kavana @pawsplay

Yeah, this is a good point.

I've heard it argued that this is a common theme in transphobia and other fascist-adjacent movements. Transphobes love unborn foetuses and very young children because they can imagine them as being virtuous upholders of any values they project onto them. However, as soon as that child gets old enough to be able to express their own feelings, then those feelings will probably be different from what was projected onto them, and the transphobe reacts with horror that their child has been "stolen from them."