"We know that the harming or killing of men and women is wrong, and we are reluctant consciously to do what we know to be wrong. But when particular men and women [and we must add, sadly, children] are thought of merely as representatives of a class, which has previously been defined as evil and personified in the shape of a devil, then the reluctance to hurt or murder disappears."

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Added on April 10, 2026
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Original Language: English

Sources

Aldous Huxley, 1937. Quoted in Benesch

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Incitement_to_genocide