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The work of David Livingstone Smith, Ph.D., professor of philosophy, was quoted in a February 29, 2016 article on dehumanization published by the Huffington Post.

The author of the article argues that even people who fervently claim to believe in freedom, equality and justice—much like the American founding fathers—are capable of behaving in ways that are completely inconsistent with their beliefs. He points to the many contributors to the Declaration of Independence who were active participants in slavery as an example. He attributes the ability of people to manifest these inconsistencies to the phenomenon of dehumanization, the viewing of certain people as sub-human.

The author highlights a passage from Smith’s book Less Than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave, and Exterminate Others. “Dehumanization isn’t a way of talking. It’s a way of thinking -- a way of thinking that – sadly, comes all too easy to us” stated Smith in the book. “Dehumanization is a scourge, and has been so for millennia. It acts as a psychological lubricant, dissolving our inhibitions and inflaming our destructive passions. As such, it empowers us to perform acts that would, under other circumstances, be unthinkable.”