Teach me about this quote: “The purpose of propaganda is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human.”― Aldous Huxley
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Teach me about this quote: “The purpose of propaganda is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human.”― Aldous Huxley
The quote comes from Aldous Huxley’s 1936 essay “Words and Behaviour,” published in his 1937 collection The Olive Tree and Other Essays.
In the essay, Huxley explores how language shapes (and distorts) human thought, emotion, and action—especially in the context of war and politics. He argues that words allow us to sustain hatred or justify violence by abstracting reality into comfortable fictions.
Full Context from the EssayHuxley discusses how propaganda and political language dehumanize opponents to make atrocities psychologically tolerable. He writes:
Huxley gives examples of euphemistic or abstract war language:
In essays like this one and later in Brave New World Revisited (1958), he warned about both overt dictatorial propaganda and subtler democratic forms (advertising, distraction, emotional appeals).
Why This Quote Matters
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“All propaganda directed against an opposing group has but one aim: to substitute diabolical abstractions for concrete persons. The propagandist’s purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human. By robbing them of their personality, he puts them outside the pale of moral obligation. Mere symbols can have no rights—particularly when that of which they are symbolical is, by definition, evil.”
He contrasts this with how animals experience fleeting hatred that distractions easily interrupt. Humans, however, use words like “enemy,” “the Other,” or collective abstractions (e.g., “forces,” “sabres,” “the aggressor”) to maintain consistent enmity. This verbal sleight-of-hand turns individual humans—each with families, fears, and dignity—into impersonal symbols or monsters.
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- Talking of battles between “sabres” and “rifles” instead of people.
- Personifying nations or armies as single entities (“the enemy” strikes).
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Using terms like “force,” “attrition,” or “manpower” to sanitize mass killing.
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- Dehumanization as a tool: Propaganda doesn't just lie about facts; it erodes empathy. Once a group is seen as “vermin,” “terrorists,” “infidels,” “capitalist pigs,” or any other label, normal moral restraints dissolve. This pattern appears in genocides, wars, lynchings, and ideological purges throughout history.
- Language as power: Huxley emphasizes that how we speak and label shapes reality. Abstract or demonizing words create psychological distance.
- Timeless relevance: In the age of mass media, social algorithms, memes, and polarized online discourse, this mechanism is faster and more pervasive. Opposing sides often reduce each other to caricatures, making dialogue or compromise feel like betraying humanity’s “side.”