@Alon it’s certainly true that dehumanizing language by leaders doesn’t always portend atrocity, but i think it’s the converse that’s more relevant, how often is there atrocity that is not preceded by dehumanizing language from leadership? 1/

@Alon also, although certainly social media has been full of dehumanizing language about Russians, I think Ukraine’s leadership has been surprisingly free of that, continually emphasizing that, unlike the Russian military, they are not terrorists, and any strikes into Russia are carefully targeted at military objectives. 2/

@Alon at the beginning of the war, Zelensky spent a huge amount of rhetoric *humanizing* Russian soldiers, telling Russian mothers we have no desire for your sons to die here. i think it plausible that meaningfully conditioned, both at the level of international support and in actual practice, how Ukraine has prosecuted the war, for the better. /fin