Oh yes, we're a bunch of vicious bastards at times...but there are still a lot of good people out there, and there is still reason to hope for improvement.

The reason these atrocities are so abbhorent, is that we have the capacity to understand that they are wrong and still commit them- ie, we are able to formulate and live by moral codes, and that is what i mean by humanity. Therefore, when i say an action is dehumanising i mean it is contrary to our morality.

I do not appreciate being patronised, by the way.