David Smith interviewed for article on Slate.com
On June 3, 2014, Slate.com featured an article titled “How to Dehumanize a Trans Person in Three Simple Steps,” in which David Livingston Smith, Ph.D., professor of philosophy, was quoted extensively.
The article, a reaction to Kevin D. Williamson’s piece in the National Review on actress Laverne Cox, seeks to explore three common ways (employed by Williamson) in which people dehumanize transgendered individuals. The author of the article, Mark Joseph Stern, interviewed Smith, the author of Less Than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave and Exterminate Others.
When asked for his insights into why people feel compelled to dehumanize those who are transgendered, Smith responded: “My very strong suspicion is that these people are insecure. They see trans people as a threat to their value systems, their frameworks, and develop a peculiar view laden with fear and ideology. And this view comes out in their propaganda.”