Humiliation as a tool of war
We’ve all witnessed children bullying and humiliating their peers. It’s uncomfortable, even painful to watch. What motivates humiliation? What reinforces its use? Are there limits to its effectiveness?To the victim, humiliation is shaming, cruel, embarrassing and hurtful. To the offender, it’s an exercise of power that attempts to redefine another’s identity.Subordination through physical intimidation or threats challenges the integrity of the victim’s identity. It happens on the playground and in the boardroom. It’s awkward to witness, evoking embarrassment or concern for the victim and sometimes even for the offender who may not realize how damaging their words or actions are.Humiliation’s power evokes images from childhood spats to slavery and the Holocaust that range from uncomfortable to repulsive. Its power can leave a deep imprint upon the psyche that results in lasting trauma.Similar dynamics exist between nations. Just as individuals have a psychological self-definition that can be challenged by a bully,…
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The article discusses humiliation as a tool of war, tracing its use from historical examples to modern conflicts. It explains that humiliation, while shaming to the victim, is an exercise of power for the offender, aiming to redefine identity. Historical instances include Vlad the Impaler's use of impalement to deter invasion and Iran's release of American hostages to humiliate President Carter. ISIS escalated this in 2014 with widely broadcast videos of atrocities. Hamas, on October 7, 2023, further intensified this by live-broadcasting systematic sexual violence, mutilation, and murder, often to victims' families via stolen phones. The article notes that "documentation and dissemination of humiliation became part of the assault itself," using digital media to amplify suffering and threaten viewers by proxy. This technological weaponization of mass humiliation, where images become extensions of the crime, forces society to confront a new level of horror and the risk of desensitization to real violence.
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