Dehumanizing the Vulnerable: When Word Games Take Lives (Values and Ethics Series) [Paperback]

William Brennan (Author)

Book Description

Series: Values and Ethics Series | Publication Date: April 1995

Shockingly relevant today, this hard-hitting study shows how dehumanizing language was and is being used to justify violent acts against vulnerable peoples--past and present--including the unborn, the elderly, women, Jews, and victims of Soviet tyranny. Dr. Brennan's argument focuses on the plight of today's unwanted, before and after birth and in the later stages of life.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 287 pages
• Publisher: Life Cycle Books (April 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0829408223
• ISBN-13: 978-0829408225
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,210,113 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent exposition on verbal corruption, June 26, 2000

By 

Kevin Jones "Gentleman of Leisure" (Denver, CO, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dehumanizing the Vulnerable: When Word Games Take Lives (Values and Ethics Series) (Paperback)

In this surprisingly compact book, Professor Brennan documents characteristics of the dehumanizing rhetoric which has accompanied so many atrocities of history. His text provides persuasive evidence that the rationalizations used to justify destroying other human beings are rather uncreative, falling into only eight categories. Brennan classifies these alibis of destruction into "Deficient" humans, nonhumans, animals, parasites, diseases, inanimate objects, waste products, and the Orwellian "legal nonperson." He focuses upon the plight of women, European Jews, American blacks, the unborn, and the disabled.

Brennan's commentary on the "semantic gymnastics" by which some people have dehumanized others is sharp, though pedants like myself would enjoy several hundred pages asking whether semantic corruption precedes mass oppression, or merely rationalizes oppressive actions already in progress.

While reading the concluding chapters, I was reminded of Simone Weil's comment that force turns a person into a *thing*, an object, a non-human. Brennan shows us the powerful force of words, those mere utterances that have for too long confined men and women to toil, terror, and death.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very, VERY important book, April 12, 2000

By 

Tim Drake "Author and Journalist" (Saint Joseph, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dehumanizing the Vulnerable: When Word Games Take Lives (Values and Ethics, Vol 11) (Paperback)

Author William Brennan takes a much-needed look at the semantics of oppression. He effectively shows that the language used to justify the treatment of Native Americans by the U.S. government, African Americans prior to the end of slavery, and European Jews during World War II is the same language used to speak of the unborn in today's culture.

This is an eye-opening book and there can be no denying the author's powerful thesis.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Consistent Pro-Life Ethic Illustrated, May 28, 2001

By 

Sarah Wood "Pro-life, patriot, activist" (Bandon, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dehumanizing the Vulnerable: When Word Games Take Lives (Values and Ethics, Vol 11) (Paperback)

One of my favorite books, Dehumanizing the Vulnerable illustrates how human beings are reduced to non-human status by those who wish to destroy them, and it starts with the power of words. Everyone from unborn babies to people of certain ethnic backgrounds have been the victims of those who were the "pro-choice" movement of the time. ("Pro-choice" in owning a slave, murdering Jews or "terminating" an unborn baby.) This book is relevant not only to those who oppose abortion, but those like myself who oppose the entire spectrum of aggression (including war and the death penalty). Invaluable for all human rights activist, whether your focus is on the rights of humans in the womb,out of the womb---or both.