?American journalist Dorothy Thompson asks, “Can one preach at home inequality of races and nations and advocate abroad good-will towards all men? ” Although technology keeps us up to date with stories of people around the world being animalized by others, we still give the impression of blindness to these hardships. By knowing about these atrocious actions and failing to relieve the amount of abuse, fear and violence these human beings face, we are subsequently adding to their dehumanization. The authors Preston, Hedges, and Urrea give clear depictions of just how some people are being dehumanized on a daily basis in their communities.
?In Ebola River, the amount of dehumanizing factors the Sudanese people face greatly surpasses anything we have ever encountered. First, unsanitary conditions play a part in the native people’s misfortune. Preston explains how the hospital aided in spreading the virus by reusing contaminated needles. Further, Preston adds that the virus could have been contracted from insects imbedded in threads or from rats that called the factory home. (Preston 20-21) The patients were being infected without any knowledge to them which to most is dehumanizing.
The pain of being disease stricken in one of the few places you are supposed to be safe demoralizes the ill. Next, the medical staff’s ignorance is responsible in aiding the dehumanization of the native people. Preston narrates how the virus “hit the hospital like a bomb”, causing it to be contracted by the medical staff. Soon the virus devastated the hospital, rapidly killing the infected. The remaining medical staff soon after, deserted the hospital. (Preston 21) Thoughtlessly, the medical staff infected the very same patients who come to them for safeguard against killers like the Ebola Virus.
One could even argue that some people’s lives could have been spared if the medical staff would have been more conscientious about the care they were providing. Last, fear contributed to the hardship of the Sudanese people. Patients at the hospital were rapidly dying, causing others to panic. Some ran away and were spotted roaming around, aimlessly, oblivious to what was happening to them. Preston reports that patients were exhibiting “mental derangement” and “zombie-like behavior. ” (Preston 21) In times of alarm, fear can really animalize a person.
When my aunt was to get liver surgery, fear made her behave and do things that a normal person would not do. She would become discombobulated and forget full. The terror she felt, much like those who suffer with the Ebola virus, dehumanized her. The people in Gaza Diary also faced many demoralizing factors on a day to day basis. To begin with, the inhabitants of Khan Younis were brutalized by fear. For example, Hedges describes how the men that lived in the camp must retreat further into the settlement at sundown in fear of Palestinian triggermen opening fire on their whereabouts.
(Hedges 27) Like in America, the occupants of Khan Younis should be able to enjoy the night life without constant fear of being killed. When the residents were forced to withdraw from their spot of leisure because of alarm, this infringed their humanity. Second, a lack of basic sanitary conditions persecuted the civilians of the camp. For instance, Hedges recounts how the residents had to drink “brackish and brown” water that “often does not flow for more than a couple hours a day. ” He adds that “during the rains the camp floods with wastewater.
Crude septic tanks, called percolating puts, [lay] outside homes, covered only by a thin layer of sand. When the pits [overflowed], the dirty water may [sloshed] into the dwellings. ” (Hedges 26) Many Americans take for granted the technology that is made so available to us. While we enjoy bottled water, the villagers of the camp were forced to quench their thirst with potentially harmful water. The pleasure of having fully functioning sewage systems was unknown to the people of Khan Younis. Their homes were invaded by the foul waste that leaks from the tanks which many may consider dehumanizing.
Lastly, the constant violence taking place in the encampment terrorized refugees. For example, Hedges recalls the dunes being “dotted on top with Israeli gun emplacements, sandbagged bunkers, large concrete slabs, and a snaking electric fence. ” He also shares how “the houses facing the settlements, especially in the El Katadwa neighborhood, on the western edge of the camp, are pockmarked with bullet holes. ” (Hedges 26) The citizens of the camp were exposed to guns, ammunition, and depressing sights of war. In order to survive another day in hostile conditions, they must adhere to these surroundings.
Daily they were dehumanized by having to trade tranquility for another breath. ?The characters in “Boarder Story” were susceptible to many dehumanizing agents in a variety of ways. To begin with, violence belittles the people in Tijuana. Urrea shares how “In town you face endless victimization if you aren’t streetwise. The police come after you, street thugs come after you, petty criminals come after you; strangers try your door at night as you sleep. ” (Urrea 31) What if you had to look over your shoulder all the time in fear of being attacked? That is how it actually is in my friend’s neighborhood.
Because of demoralizing gang violence in his neighborhood, he does not feel safe in his own community. For him to feel the need to hide in fear of savage acts is dehumanizing. Next, the board patrol’s system for scouting out unwelcome travelers diminishes the humanity of the people passing through Tijuana. Urrea narrates a representation of “monstrous Dodge trucks speeding into and out of the landscape; uniformed men patrolling with flashlight, guns, and dogs; spotlights; running figures; lines of people hurried onto buses by armed guards; and the endless clatter of the helicopters with their harsh white beams.
” (Urrea 30) The strategies exerted by the boarder patrol are comparable to the way criminals are tracked down in the United States. Vehicles, along with helicopter blades echo through the night, instill fear into the heart of the escapee. Much like the people in Tijuana, they are zoned in on with excessive force is, dehumanizing them. Finally, extortion within Tijuana downgrades the drifters in the story. Urrea reiterates many times how police in Tijuana are “corrupt” and might “come after you if you aren’t streetwise.
” Urrea adds that the dumps some of the wanderers stay at are administrated by gangs, who “want money, and if you can’t pay, you must leave or suffer the consequences. ” (Urrea 31) The people passing through Tijuana are not alone in their misfortunes; many United States citizens have been extorted in their own neighborhoods. For example, James “Whitey” Bulger, an organized crime force, extorted a lot of money from the people of Boston, Massachusetts. The police were also part of the racketeering which made the residents of Boston more susceptible to the shakedowns.
Not having any protection from wrong doing demoralized both the people of Boston, and Tijuana. ?Ultimately, the dehumanization exposed in these articles remains because of our inability to take action against those misusing power. For example, war and violence is protested constantly by many in the United States, but this is only when it involves us. In order to put an end to these forms of dehumanization, the world must come together, not under what race or nation we belong to, but for all human beings alike.