Very interesting and useful to understand for our preventative work. “Dehumanizing and vilifying a person or group of people can provoke what scholars and law enforcement officials call stochastic terrorism, in which ideologically driven hate speech increases the likelihood that people will violently and unpredictably attack the targets of vicious claims. At its core, stochastic terrorism exploits one of our strongest and most complicated emotions: disgust.”
Some great examples to explain the concept. Coming to response, it’s interesting to note that no single intervention is likely to reduce the boil of this toxic stew.
But a better understanding of how disgust works and how we can be manipulated by our sense of revulsion may help us turn down the heat.
Just as we can overcome our fears, Taylor said, we can break free of disgust.
Interventions based on compassion, empathy and trust-building can help weaken its contribution to prejudice.
Awareness and education, one of United for All strategies, can uncover unconscious biases and expose the tactics of those who weaponize it, like those inciting the current wave of ugly antisemitism.
