It’s a common and sadly effective tactic to label your adversaries as less than human. Propaganda and the labeling of “others” to shape public opinion goes back to the Roman Empire when Julius Caesar called the Germanic tribes just a bunch of “poopy-pants.” (I paraphrase here.) It was in high school on a Washington, DC, field trip when I first saw an exhibit of Joseph Goebbels, the chief propagandist and Reich Minister of the Nazi party that really kick started my curiosity about how people are influenced by BS.

We’re seeing it again right now with labeling people as rapists, thugs, poisoning the blood of our country, enemies of the people and vermin. That word in particular – vermin – has been used historically because it creates the image of a cockroach, mice, rats, pests and things that spread disease; creatures that disgust most of us.

 Posters produced by the U.S. Information Agency and almost every other nation during WWII dehumanized enemies. Unfortunately, it’s effective, and to counter it we need to recognize, learn and understand it.