by Kathie MM & Pat Daniel
She’s only 30 years old, and her last job was as a waitress, but Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) is currently serving as the youngest woman ever elected to the U.S. Congress. And, most remarkable, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) is speaking truth to power. Moreover, while doing so, she has exposed the role of moral disengagement in politics–that is, the psychological methods people use to make themselves feel virtuous and convince others that they’re virtuous even when they are behaving abusively and inhumanely.
In particular, in her recent speech to Congress, AOC described her own experience of dehumanization, which is one of the most common forms of moral disengagement to which individuals and groups are subjected. [Dehumanizing or demonizing the other refers to portraying individuals or members of groups against whom you are prejudiced as less than human—as, for example, rats, pigs, vermin, dogs.]
Ocasio-Cortez describes her experience thusly: “Representative Yoho… called me, and I quote, a f—— b—-.” She goes on to say, quite rightly: “Dehumanizing language is not new. And what we are seeing is that incidents like these are happening in a pattern. This is a pattern of an attitude towards women and the dehumanization of others.”
Follow her example. Look around in the halls of government and identify the messages of people in power with self-serving goals. You will see many instances of dehumanization.
AOC’s experience also provides an example of another form of moral disengagement demonstrated by Congressman Yoho–specifically, the use of pseudomoral justifications to justify immoral behavior.
In his pseudo-apology for AOC’s “misunderstanding” of his words, Yoho said “Having been married for 45 years with two daughters, I’m very cognizant of my language” and “I cannot apologize for my passion or for loving my God, my family and my country.”
Yes, there is moral disengagement in action–just one more example of the ways in which people have preened themselves for being the good guys, the superior class, the born leaders while promoting inhumane behavior ranging from psychological abuse to war.
AOC, for her part, is not buying it. Check in again for an example of how she demonstrates moral engagement (courageous insistence on behaving humanely even when being pressured to disregard the humanity of others). We can all use some good role models these days, and we all need to call out dehumanization and other forms of moral disengagement when we see or hear them. Please send us the examples you find, and we will publish them in a post.