Arthro-Pod(Cast)

Instructor Introduction

Ruby’s Arthropod(cast) exemplifies the kind of research-driven storytelling that great podcasts are made of. Her podcast is intellectually rigorous and deeply affecting, weaving together several historical case studies to look at how language (and especially metaphor) can shape systems of power and harm. Ruby’s voice is steady, precise, quietly powerful, especially her attention to the weight of words like “vermin,” or “parasite,” or “infestation,” and how they can transform violence into something that feels justified, perhaps even necessary. By connecting past atrocities and present-day rhetoric through the lens of dehumanizing bug language, Ruby’s podcast invites us to listen more carefully and think more critically about the language we are swimming in all the time. With its thoughtful production and grounded ethics, Ruby’s podcast is a model of what can happen when careful research, intentional writing, and purposeful delivery converge. 

— Cat Cassel

Transcript

[Sound of an old crackling radio turning on]

“We must kill them big and little. . . . Nits make lice.”

- Colonel John M. Chivington, exhorting his troops to massacre a Cheyenne community, including women and children, in 1864

“If you gave me a pesticide to throw at these swarms of insects to make them breathe and become exterminated, I would use it.”

- Iraqi general Maher Abd al-Rashid, 1984

“They breed their filthy race like the cockroaches that they are.”

- Post on Rush Limbaugh Campfire website, 2002

“Bugsplat is the official term used by US authorities when humans are killed by drone missiles.”

- Jennifer Robinson, human rights lawyer, 2011

[Radio static fades out, replaced by a soft, ominous music bed]

Ruby: You know, these clips might sound exaggerated. What __(bleeped)__ up human talk, right? But these quotes are real, spoken by military and political generals.

[dark music]

The main goal of politicians is to represent the people—to make decisions and influence the policies that affect our everyday lives. So what they say matters. A lot. Their words don’t just float in the air—they land. They sway opinions, legitimize ideas, and sometimes, they plant the seeds for real harm. Careful analysis has revealed an eight-stage process towards genocide, as it is such an otherworldly idea. The first three steps involve cognitive restructuring, in which the enemy is classified, symbolized, and, dehumanized.

Clearly, political speech has a way of crawling into our minds and biting our perceptions. Today, in Arthro-Pod(cast), we’re talking about how bugs show up in political language to describe, or, truly, to demean people. Metaphors and analogies influence power and public opinion, and when bugs crawl into political language, it is not poetic—it’s strategic. It shows how metaphor can reduce complex human beings into something easier to dismiss or destroy. What does this say about us, our leaders, and our history?

Insects make us squirm. They’re strange, alien, and can be hard to understand. Politicians know that. That’s why bug metaphors are so useful—because they make people into monsters without having to say it directly. Think about it: bugs are mindless, invasive, overwhelming in number. They’re easy to kill. So, when someone is described as a bug? It tells you EXACTLY how to treat them—without actually saying it out loud.

Matthew Continentti poses the question: “When does it cross the line?” Sometimes, it’s just harsh rhetoric. Sometimes, it’s the beginning of something much darker.

[short pause]

That brings us to two of the worst atrocities of the 20th century, both fueled by propaganda comparing people to insects: The infamous Holocaust, and the Rwandan Genocide.

In 1994, over the course of just 100 days, at least 800,000 people—mostly Tutsis, along with moderate Hutus—were slaughtered in what became one of the most horrifying genocides of the 20th century. Language laid that groundwork—specifically, bug language. Tutsis were called “Inyenzi”—cockroaches. Again and again. On the radio, on posters, at checkpoints. A station called RTLM, which posed as a lighthearted talk-radio channel, spent years normalizing hate. It started with jokes. Then warnings. Then countdowns. One RTLM announcer declared, “If you are a cockroach, you must be killed. You cannot change anything.” Another said, “We will exterminate them.”

Kennedy Ndahiro, a Rwandan journalist, explains that this wasn’t spontaneous. This language was decades in the making, used to sow division, desensitize, and eventually, dehumanize. Radios were even distributed to rural communities to ensure everyone could hear the broadcast. “Radio Rwanda” is how they referred to the country at this time. “Cockroach” became a death sentence. Because when people are bugs, they’re not people anymore. They’re infestations to be cleared.

[pause; music?]

Now, let’s go back even further. To Nazi Germany. Jews weren’t just othered—they were vermin. Worms. Lice. Parasites. Heinrich Himmler, a leading member of the Nazi Party, said: “Antisemitism is exactly the same as delousing. Getting rid of lice is not a question of ideology. It is a matter of cleanliness.”

[radio static]

Cleanliness. That’s part of how they framed the Holocaust—as hygiene. As pest control. As extermination. But truly, in camps like Auschwitz, extermination wasn’t just a metaphor—it was the literal word used to describe genocide. This wasn’t accidental. It was state-sanctioned psychological warfare, priming a population to believe extermination was necessary, even righteous. Because if you’re delousing a mattress, you’re not committing murder—you’re just cleaning. Right?

[static; American music plays?]

In November of 2023, at a campaign rally, Donald Trump referred to his political opponents as “vermin.” Historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat noted that this was the exact word used by authoritarian regimes of the past—Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin. All used “vermin” to dehumanize the people they targeted. Trump has repeatedly called immigrants an “infestation.” This word doesn’t just imply that someone is unwelcome—it implies they are contagious. Dangerous. Something to get rid of.

According to The Washington Post, Trump’s rhetoric echoes a dark lineage. One where language isn't just divisive—it's deadly. And it matters, because when we hear “vermin” on the lips of power, history tells us what can happen next.

Why are bugs the go-to? It’s simple: they provoke emotion. Fear and disgust. They’re the perfect tool for dehumanization, because they’re already below us—literally and figuratively. And when you see someone as less than human, it’s easier to ignore their rights, their safety, and their suffering. This isn’t just about harsh words. It’s about how metaphors shape perception, policy, and, ultimately, action.

So next time you hear someone on the news talk about a group of people as a ‘swarm,’ or a ‘plague,’ or an ‘infestation’—listen carefully. Because under those metaphors? There are lives. And if history has taught us anything, it’s that once we stop seeing people as people…things can get ugly fast.

[outro music]

Thanks for listening to Arthro-pod(cast). I’m Ruby McKillips. Thank you to _____ for his dramatic reenactment of the scholarly quotes used in this episode.

[outro music]

Sources:

Ch. 3 of Learning to Fear: Little Miss Muffet’s Lesson “Entomophobic Practice Makes Perfect”
Elizabeth Baisley, “Genocide and constructions of Hutu and Tutsi in radio propaganda”

https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=99be1f551304c713e028c1f9e
940e6241d4f034f

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2020/6/7/music-to-kill-to-rwandan-genocide-survivors-reme
mber-rtlm

https://www.npr.org/2023/11/17/1213746885/trump-vermin-hitler-immigration-authoritarian-rep
ublican-primary

https://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/rwanda/Geno1-3-10.htm