On objectification

To objectify people is to de-humanise them. It is to over-emphasise their physicality and utility over the myriad of non-physical traits such as those regarding the mind, soul and virtues and spirituality which gives a person a certain sacredness unique to human beings. To objectify is to degrade, diminish or even de-sanctify a person from their rightful status as a human being with complexities and depth, and to assign them instead with a lower status by refusing to see the person beyond the limited plane of their physicality and perceived utility. By objectifying others, you objectify yourself also because you are also part of the human race the members of which you objectify. This is granted to cause misery because our youth, our bodies decline day by day and will fail us ultimately. Under objectification, when we occasionally make mistakes, we render ourselves, our being, useless. We are not more than our utility. By objectifying ourselves we reap what we sow, which is to witness our ‘failure’ according to the standard we mercilessly deployed to judge others.

Another gravely unfortunate consequence of objectifying other people is that we do so at the expense of the opportunity to get to know the unique individual on a deeply satisfying level. Instead, we see a creature, a mere constituent of the object that we have created in our minds, among the numerous other victims that make up such ‘objects’. This will deprive us of one of the greatest joys of life. One that derives from meaningful connection with another human being. And I believe if left unchecked and allowed to continue, it is certain to rob us of ‘life’ itself.