军队花费了大量的时间和精力来训练士兵不要将敌人视为人类。如果你认为它们是危险的动物，那么杀死它们就容易多了。问题是，战争不是为了杀戮。这是为了让敌人停止抵抗你的意志。就像训练狗不咬人一样。惩罚他只会让你变成一只被殴打的狗。杀了他是一个永久的解决办法，但你没有狗。如果你能理解他为什么咬人并消除导致他咬人的条件，有时也可以解决问题。狗还没死。他甚至不是你的敌人。
(Armies have spent a lot of time and effort training their soldiers not to think of the enemy as human beings. It's so much easier to kill them if you think of them as dangerous animals. The trouble is, war isn't about killing. It's about getting the enemy to stop resisting your will. Like training a dog not to bite. Punishing him leaves you with a beaten dog. Killing him is a permanent solution, but you've got no dog. If you can understand why he's biting and remove the conditions that make him bite, sometimes that can solve the problem as well. The dog isn't dead. He isn't even your enemy.)
在《帝国》中，作者奥森·斯科特·卡德探讨了军队用来使敌人丧失人性的心理战术。这种心态简化了杀戮行为，因为将对手视为动物，更容易为针对他们的暴力辩护。然而，卡德强调，战争不仅仅是造成死亡；它还包括战争。从根本上讲，这是关于克服阻力和强加自己的意志。将敌人视为受控实体而不是对手可以带来更有效的结果。
卡德用训练狗的比喻来说明，惩罚或杀死敌人可能不会产生有益的结果。相反，了解他们敌意的根本原因并解决这些不满可以带来更和平的解决方案。通过关注反对派的驱动因素，人们有可能将敌人转变为合作者或中立方，从而避免经常导致冲突升级的暴力循环。
