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ChangingMinds Blog! > Blog Archive > 07-Sep-12

 


Friday 07-September-12

Don't name the pig

I was talking with a friend recently who told me that a friend of his would keep a pig. It's an old tradition and a very ecological one too. The pig is a waste converter: you feed it your scraps and it turns them into meat. At one time, many families would keep a pig at the end of the garden. The meat would then be preserved as salted pork and bacon to help them survive the harsh winters.

The problem, however was that they gave the pig a name.

What's wrong with that, you might ask. The real problem came when it came time to kill the pig. They couldn't. Poor old Doris. They look at her and she looked back. And they couldn't do it. I suspect they still have her.

If you name a pig, then you humanize it. And when you humanize it, you'll have great problems when it comes time to kill and eat it. It's like murder and cannibalization. It's the opposite of what happens when we create stereotypes and de-personalize people so we can treat them in inhuman ways. When we characterize out-group people as 'all the same', when we deny them their humanity, we legitimize cruelty and killing. It's what we do in gangs and in wars. The opposite is when we see them as human, which is why meeting people in person is so important for peacemaking.


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Site Menu

| Home | Top | Quick Links | Settings |

Main sections: | Disciplines | Techniques | Principles | Explanations | Theories |

Other sections: | Blog! | Quotes | Guest articles | Analysis | Books | Help |

More pages: | Contact | Caveat | About | Students | Webmasters | Awards | Guestbook | Feedback | Sitemap | Changes |

Settings: | Computer layout | Mobile layout | Small font | Medium font | Large font | Translate |

 

 

Please help and share:

 

Quick links

Disciplines

* Argument
* Brand management
* Change Management
* Coaching
* Communication
* Counseling
* Game Design
* Human Resources
* Job-finding
* Leadership
* Marketing
* Politics
* Propaganda
* Rhetoric
* Negotiation
* Psychoanalysis
* Sales
* Sociology
* Storytelling
* Teaching
* Warfare
* Workplace design

Techniques

* Assertiveness
* Body language
* Change techniques
* Closing techniques
* Conversation
* Confidence tricks
* Conversion
* Creative techniques
* General techniques
* Happiness
* Hypnotism
* Interrogation
* Language
* Listening
* Negotiation tactics
* Objection handling
* Propaganda
* Problem-solving
* Public speaking
* Questioning
* Using repetition
* Resisting persuasion
* Self-development
* Sequential requests
* Storytelling
* Stress Management
* Tipping
* Using humor
* Willpower

Principles

+ Principles

Explanations

* Behaviors
* Beliefs
* Brain stuff
* Conditioning
* Coping Mechanisms
* Critical Theory
* Culture
* Decisions
* Emotions
* Evolution
* Gender
* Games
* Groups
* Habit
* Identity
* Learning
* Meaning
* Memory
* Motivation
* Models
* Needs
* Personality
* Power
* Preferences
* Research
* Relationships
* SIFT Model
* Social Research
* Stress
* Trust
* Values

Theories

* Alphabetic list
* Theory types

And

About
Guest Articles
Blog!
Books
Changes
Contact
Guestbook
Quotes
Students
Webmasters

 

| Home | Top | Menu | Quick Links |

© Changing Works 2002-
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