28th November 2016 ¦ Adam Clay.

Violent crimes and massacres perpetrated by individuals or terrorist groups are frequently referred to as ‘barbaric’ or ‘savage’ (1). But what exactly is meant by that? If you turn to a dictionary, you will find that these words refer to ‘wild,’ ‘uncivilized,’ even ‘animal (non-human) behaviour.’ In other words, not only is it tempting to draw a line between ‘them’ and ‘us,’ but this line also usually deprives ‘them’ of their humanity – if not completely, certainly to a significant extent.