Have you ever caught yourself thinking that you are acting superior towards the other people around, including your relatives and coworkers? That could be stemming from the subconsciously acquired patterns and beliefs you had soaked up in the childhood. So how much are you worth? Are you worth less because you have nothing? When you age prematurely and will lie on the deathbed, do you think your worth as a human being will be diminished? After all we are constantly judged by people on our appearance (even if the judges themselves are lacking in that respect), clothes, intelligence, problem solving skills and what not. When you cannot measure up to someone's standards you are bound to feel worse, or to make things even more complicated, when a crippled person on a wheelchair is considered a hindrance, a giant obstacle to the society's existing order, then how much worth is she or he?
From the sociological point of view, in light of wars and conflicts, the dismissal of the other people is easy to achieve by the us and them division. Even if we are feeling some distaste towards the way the others are treated and we perfectly well know they also are counted as human beings, the brainwashing and siding with one party is enough to direct our behavior. Simply speaking, our own thinking and actions can be easily manipulated to a large extent with the techniques unbeknowst to us. Dozens of experiments prove the point. One does not have to search far to understand for example the halo effect of those considered highly attractive by the society's standards, while any deviations from the norm are as esily picked on and even commented loudly. One online test, available long ago, was aimed at disproving how worthy we believe we are and how generous towards the others when it comes to tolerance and acceptance. Another interesting point observed is that those people judging the others consider themselves much superior, but the thing is even a physically impaired person will not be free from any judgmental outlook. Guess it is in our genes and it is a biology driven phenomenon, as even babies react somehow differently to faces with perfect features as opposed to ugly ones. Most would say now that is obvious, the truth is some of us do not measure up to the highest standards. But politically speaking, we have been there before, with my ideas and my religion being better than yours. The science has long observed the practices and behaviors of different sects and the causes of the international conflicts where the superiority of one clan is clearly demonstrated, but mostly in the number of the victims, hacked to pieces. It happens on those other levels too so why not catch yourself judging others and elevating your own status. You could easily excuse yourself that is nothing and a commonly observed behavior but does it not stink of selection and contempt to your fellow people?