Why dehumanising explanations make cruelty easier.
The first danger is not cruelty. It is the story that makes cruelty feel reasonable.
When a person is described as not fully human, not really themselves, possessed, defective or empty, harm becomes easier to justify.
This pattern appears across the timeline, from folklore to institutions to eugenics to behaviour control.
Awareverse must keep language human. The person is still there, even when communication, behaviour or distress is hard to understand.
When looking at difference as not human, ask: who had power, who was being labelled, and what would have changed if the human being had been seen first?