How to do it:

We all absorb dehumanizing messages growing up. Sexism teaches us that women are literally worth less. Transphobia says the flesh between our legs defines us. Fat-phobia and ableism strip people of human traits like sexuality and intellect. Racism varies with target, often reflecting cultural guilt. In 2016 nearly half of American medical students believed that Black people feel less pain. Rooted in racist mythology that Black people were animal-like (so slavery wasn’t so bad!) the real world result is that Black patients’ pain is still systemically under-treated today.

All bigotries dehumanize, but the forms vary. Some examples are obvious: calling a transgender person “it” or depicting Michelle Obama as an ape are easy, but did you know depicting Stephen Miller as a ghoul is classic antisemitism?

Maybe you’re thinking “but Stephen Miller IS a ghoul!” He’s a genuinely awful man, but minorities are routinely blamed collectively for our worst members, so it’s still important to avoid bigoted tropes. Rooted in the displacement of Roman guilt for crucifixion onto colonized Judeans, antisemitism shifts blame in illogical ways. Israel is a nation the size of New Jersey and there are more people in New York than all Jews alive today. Israel isn’t controlling the U.S. government, whether you’re MAGA trying to explain Trump’s betrayal, or someone on the left. Trace this outsized power to an original source like Farrakhan, and you’ll find a supernatural explanation: Jews made a pact with the devil.

Of course most of us don’t believe in supernatural power or ghouls, or think Black people are really animals, but bigots think there’s some truth in these tropes. We don’t have to give them cover.

There is one fail-safe tactic: dehumanize no-one.

Yes, that means don’t share cartoons of Trump as a pig. Depicting Trump as a pig doesn’t do the same level of harm as depicting Michelle as an ape, and you might argue that “Quiet Piggy” was an open invitation, but we’ve been depicting him as a pig for nearly a decade, because that’s how we dehumanize fat people. When we dehumanize truly awful people, we often reach for tropes that apply to groups they’re in, dragging innocent neighbors in on the harm. If we need to explain why this particularl dehumanizing image isn’t bigotry, there’s a good chance we’re wrong.

So avoid dehumanizing anyone. Speak up when you encounter dehumanization, and if there is some community you think is a special case, whether it’s transgender women, Muslims, Jews or even MAGA, challenge internalized biases. Criticize them on their human failures — it should be easy, right?

Everyone deserves human consideration and individuality. Erasing our human individuality is what fascists do.