My theory: Leftists dehumanize us because they inversely correlate prosperity and development with moral character. A poor or underdeveloped country must be so due to resisting Western hegemony and asserting its sovereignty. Any developed country must be so due to its complicity and subservience to Western imperialism [SIC]. Right-wingers dehumanize us because we’re brown and Muslim. I vastly prefer the latter; much less condescending and pretentious.