Dehumanization

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Dehumanization is the denial of full humanity in others along with the cruelty and suffering that accompany it.^[1][2][3] A practical definition refers to it as the viewing and the treatment of other people as though they lack the mental capacities that are commonly attributed to humans.^[4] In this definition, every act or thought that regards a person as "less than" human is dehumanization.^[5]

Dehumanization is one form of incitement to genocide.^[6] It has also been used to justify war, judicial and extrajudicial killing, slavery, the confiscation of property, denial of suffrage and other rights, and to attack enemies or political opponents.