National media comes calling on UNE’s David Livingstone Smith

It was quite a summer for David Livingstone Smith, Ph.D., professor of philosophy.

He was quoted in publications, websites and by various media outlets across the county, including TIME magazine, The Washington Post and National Public Radio.

Most of his interviews centered around comments made by President Donald Trump.

Smith says the media attention comes and goes, depending on what is happening in the latest news cycle.

“It's like a chronic ailment which occasionally flares up,” he explains. “You get a bunch of media attention, then it settles down, and everyone forgets about it. Then it flares up again.”

The most recent flare up for Smith came in May when Trump referred to immigrants from Latin America as animals. Trump tried to back track by saying he was referring only to members of a particularly violent gang.

The media turned to Smith because of his award-winning book Less Than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave, and Exterminate Others.

In a Washington Post opinion piece, columnist Kathleen Parker wrote: “As Smith explains in his book, it’s much easier to hurt, maim or kill another when you no longer see them as quite human. World history’s catalogue of atrocities confirms this. Which is why no one living today should be comfortable with the language of dehumanization, no matter how relatively minor the degree. Least of all the president.”

Smith realized there wasn’t much literature on the phenomenon he specifically calls dehumanization. He wanted to begin to theorize it, so he read through the literature of many different fields, including philosophy, psychology, history, anthropology and political science to find examples of dehumanization. The result is his book.

“By referring to certain people as a subhuman, you can not only label them as enemies but create beings to be feared,” Smith states. “They are always some sort of creature, something that's regarded as a monster or contemptible or dangerous.”

Smith says dehumanizing others is an old trick that politicians have been using for years.

“Politicians need to be skilled at manipulating the attitudes of the populace to create solidarity and to polarize people against one another,” he says. “Trump’s dehumanizing rhetoric does that very effectively.”

Smith spoke about dehumanization in American history during a report that aired on National Public Radio.

"Dehumanization was a very, very, very, important feature of the bloody history of this nation. You know, all nations are born in violence, but we Americans have a very difficult time coming to terms with the truth," Smith told NPR reporter Shereen Marisol Meraji.

Smith says violence is the most dangerous aspect of dehumanization. He says that is why he feels compelled to jump into political frays and choose sides.

“These are morally serious issues, and I think there's something wrong if we discuss them without outrage,” Smith comments.

In the classroom Smith says it is not about convincing his students to pick sides.

“I'm not interested in getting them to believe anything,” he explains. “I'm interested in developing their intellectual muscles. I want my students to be courageous, disciplined thinkers who are curious. My goal is to cultivate their intellect.”

Smith says he’s more than happy to respond when the media comes calling, and he will continue to do so.

“It’s important to speak up about these issues,” he says. “I think we, particularly as philosophers, have a responsibility to do this and not to be tucked away.”

Smith most recently spoke to WIRED about the migrant caravan headed towards the United States border.

He is currently working on two more books on the subject of dehumanization. One to be published by Harvard University Press and the other by Oxford University Press. His paper "Manufacturing monsters: dehumanization and public policy" just appeared in The Palgrave Companion to Philosophy and Public Policy.

View the Washington Post article, WIRED article, listen to the NPR report, view the TIME Magazine article, listen to the WNYC interview, listen to the Alaska Public Media interview, listen to the Wisconsin Public Radio discussion, read the Portland Press Herald article.