The Importance Of Dehumanization In The Civil War

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“’What a cruel thing war is…to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors,’” (“Robert”). This quote by the famed Confederate General Robert E. Lee expresses in short the myth of war. This myth brings with it many lies and dark secrets. From the destruction of culture, to the desensitizing of one’s moral compass, the things brought forth by the myth of war have a profound effect on all those actively involved with it whether they realize it or not. The darkest of these lies however is the dehumanization of one’s opponents, the “bad guys” in the war. Did the soldiers that fought in the civil war face this phenomenon during their great war? The answer put simply is yes, the civil war soldiers faced the dehumanization of their enemies. This dehumanization drove them to commit atrocities not seen since the American Revolution almost a century before; war against their own families and nation.
To understand how the soldiers in the civil war faced such a process one must first understand what dehumanization is and what it does to those that deal with it. Dehumanization is the process of forcing into someone’s mind the idea that their opponent is something less than human because of any number of reasons. These reasons can …show more content…

The fact that Newport was able to see through the lies of war means that he would have surely been subject to the forces that cause dehumanization in war. He admits that he allowed the dehumanization to take place as he says that he “went home mad at everything that was called rebel and remained so for 5 or 6 years,” (Newport, 1). This is a hate that permeated through everything that the man was. It was not just anger at the soldiers; no he admits that he hated everything that had to do with them. This kind of hate can only be bred in a time of war through the process of dehumanization further proving that there is never truly a “good guys” side in any

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