When Is A Person Not A Person?

Why should non-persons like us in the West be considered any different from Palestinians or immigrants by the powers-that-be? And why aren't we fighting back?

When Is A Person Not A Person?

by C. A. Matthews

This question kept popping up in my mind this week: When is a person not a person? Could it be the particulates in the Canadian wildfires messing with my brain? Probably, but even before the worst of the smoke from up north came rolling into our area giving us a record-breaking 800+ AQI reading (301+ is considered “hazardous”) this question had been bothering me.

When is a person not a person? first came to me after I read an article about artificial intelligence. Many in the Big Tech field claim that AI has obtained “consciousness” and has “feelings” like a normal human being has, and it should be treated as such. However, there’s also a growing number of scientists, psychologists, and others who make the opposite claim.

AI is a sophisticated “large language model” that mimics life, but it isn’t alive. It can’t be conscious, which essentially means it’s able to suffer pain and joy like humans do. A computer with an LLM program has large memory banks and access to the internet, so you can say it has intelligence, but since it doesn’t have consciousness, it can’t put the two together and become what we’d call a person.

AI can’t use all the knowledge in the world it has at its digital fingertips and say, “I know what it feels like to be an AI, and I’m suffering a heartache today.” Well, it could say things like that, but does it actually feel things like a heartache or the loss of a close friend or the joy of eating ice cream on a hot summer’s night or holding your newborn baby for the first time? There’s the rub.

Professor Anil Seth puts it this way:

“Consciousness is all about feeling and being, intelligence is all about doing – about performing functions of one kind or another. A common mistake people make when it comes to AI is to confuse the two – to take signs of intelligence as evidence for consciousness.” —Once again we are told AI may be conscious – I study consciousness, and I have my doubts

That pretty much sums up the argument for me. AI is not a person because it hasn’t been proven to have achieved consciousness or have actual feelings and a sense of what it means to be itself. Am I a human chauvinist? Probably, but even my cat knows what it means to be a cat—and if you don’t give him the treat he likes when he wants it, he’ll demonstrate quite loudly how he feels. Now, that’s consciousness of a non-human kind!

Sticking with just human beings, however, When is a person not a person? For this next part you must suspend disbelief and consider who persons are through the eyes of the law. The law states quite clearly when a human being is not considered a person or has the rights of a person. It’s confusing because most of us define a person as a human being who possesses consciousness, self-awareness, and the capacity for moral reasoning. But that’s the psychological definition of a person, not the legal one. There is a difference—a big difference.

According to Cornell Law School:

“In legal terms, a person is defined as an entity that has legal rights and responsibilities, which includes both natural persons (individuals) and legal persons (such as corporations and organizations) that can enter into contracts, sue, and be sued.” https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/person

Under that legal definition, an AI could be called a person if it can enter into contracts, sue, and be sued, but so could my cat if it has this quality. If you think it’s too far-fetched to claim that a cat could sue for damages but some human beings can’t, let me give you some examples where this was indeed the case.

The US Constitution originally declared that enslaved Africans were to be considered “3/5 of a person” for the census count, and they had no legal rights. They didn’t meet the legal definition of a person. Sure, the Constitution was later amended to give emancipated African Americans legal rights, but for almost a century Americans treated the majority of those with African ancestry as non-persons.

African Americans weren’t the only humans in the United States to be considered non-persons. Indigenous human beings (Native Americans) and humans with Chinese and Japanese ancestry held onto their non-person status well into the 20^th century.

The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 finally recognized Native Americans as US citizens, yet for decades after many states blocked indigenous people from actually voting. The Chinese Exclusion Acts of 1882 excluded Chinese immigrants from entering the country along with denying citizenship to anyone with Chinese ancestry already living in the US. The Chinese Exclusion Acts weren’t repealed until December 1943.

Of course, we all know about Japanese American internment camps during World War II. Innocent men, women, and children were locked up in remote prison camps because they resembled the airmen who bombed Pearl Harbor. At the stroke of FDR’s pen, Japanese Americans lost their freedom, their homes, farms, jobs, and businesses all because human rights don’t apply to legal non-persons.

Do you see how “natural persons” aren’t always considered “legal persons” when it’s inconvenient for the powers-that-be? This fact is important because it makes a big difference to how a human can be treated by those in authority.

Pretend you could ask an enslaved African if he ever had any say so over his ill-treatment. Or ask a Palestinian what’s it like living under the rule of genocidal Israel. Or ask immigrants in the US nowadays how safe they feel whenever they see ICE agents. When you’re a non-person with no legal rights it can be dangerous dealing with authority—you could very well lose your life.

When is a person not a person? is a matter of life and death when ICE comes knocking at your door. Just ask the people of Biddeford, Maine. A Colombian immigrant with legal status was shot dead by ICE in front of his three year old daughter. He wasn’t even the target of the warrant the agents were looking for, but somehow, it didn’t stop them from pulling the trigger on an unarmed man.

Tell me this isn’t a case of a non-person of color without human rights. Joan Sebastian Guerrero of Biddeford was eliminated by ICE agents as easily as they would swat a fly. I’m sure they’re not losing any sleep over it, but those in charge of ICE are. They’ve announced a “pause” in trapping and arresting those they believe to be without legal status during traffic stops.

ICE should pause. There have been 60 deaths caused by ICE. Fifty of those deaths were in ICE custody, but others like Alex Pretti, a white US citizen, were shot dead simply for protesting ICE abuses. Apparently it isn’t always those with darker skin pigmentation and foreign accents who are seen as non-persons.

When is a person not a person? applies universally and not just to those living in the US. For example, Congressman Ro Khanna recently went on a fact-finding mission to the West Bank of Palestine and discovered that he is considered a non-person by the people of Israel.

Rep. Khanna’s title didn’t help him when the bus he was traveling in was pulled over and its occupants harassed by Israeli settlers. These European colonizers illegally and often violently evict the indigenous Palestinians from their lands and homes. Israeli citizens have murdered and raped Palestinians with impunity and have even become national heroes for doing so. Rep. Khanna pinned all his hopes on IDF soldiers to come and rescue him and his entourage.

Little did Rep. Khanna know, but Israeli soldiers are of the same opinion as the settlers. Khanna was seen as a non-person of color by them, which is pretty much the same way Palestinians are viewed by Israelis in general. The soldiers happily joined in with the settlers’ terrorizing of the bus occupants. In an interview recorded soon after the incident, Khanna sounded shaken and confused. Is this the same kind of ill-treatment Palestinians of the West Bank suffer daily?

The pro-Palestine resistance was happy to hear that Rep. Khanna had finally seen the light and come out of the darkness that is Israeli hasbara (propaganda). Maybe he would persuade Congress to stop arms sales to Israel and end the genocide now? Maybe he could inspire his colleagues into sending aid ships to Gaza to relieve the thirst, starvation, and suffering there?

Alas, no. A few days later, Ro Khanna gave another interview with indie journalist Jeremy Scahill. This time Khanna didn’t admit to being upset by the IDF’s lack of propriety when it comes to its treatment of foreign dignitaries such as himself. He admitted on camera that he wasn’t going to push for an end to arming Israel or bring aid to Gaza.

Scahill caught him out on several hypocritical comments, but Khanna defaulted to the Democrat party line. Rep. Ro Khanna is yet another Israeli apologist, upset that his bus got held up in the West Bank, but in the end, he’s more than willing to let Palestinian people die than to stop arming Israel.

Israelis can drop bombs on Palestinian children all day long, but Palestinians are supposed to be patient and docile and not fight back according to Khanna. To put it simply, his AIPAC and MIC lobbyist donations are worth more to him than human—or should I say non-person Palestinian—lives.

When is a person not a person? When those in power don’t give a shit whether you live or die—and maybe they prefer your kind dying since it’ll make things easier for them.

The US and their Israeli allies could easily steal the natural gas fields located off the coast of Gaza if the Palestinians are all gone. They won’t have to worry about kicking Palestinians off their land to build an “Israeli Riviera” in Gaza or a “New Temple” in the West Bank, either.

When is a person not a person? Anytime those with power say so.

Checking the AQI and then looking for my rescue inhaler, I’m getting the hint that the billionaires who run things in the US think I’m a non-person, too. If human beings like me stopped breathing, there would be far more land and resources for the billionaires. There would be far less irritations and annoyances coming from millions of poor people demanding their rights.

By turning us into legal non-persons at the stroke of a pen, the billionaires’ problems are solved. The genocide of average Americans (of all colors) through the use of AI military programs and drones field-tested in Gaza—along with those trigger-happy ICE agents—would be as easy as apple pie. That is, if we don’t fight back.

Don’t think it could happen? Hey, if FDR could do it, Trump could very well do it, too. Why should non-persons like us be considered any different from Palestinians or immigrants by those in power? I rest my case.

Conscientious Objectors: Call the G.I. Rights Hotline at 1-877-447-4487 or the Center for Conscience & War at 1-800-379-2679.

Things All People Need to Know…

Roger Waters & Mona Miari – Comfortably Numb Re-Imagined (Official Music Video) youtu.be/WBmrT3uqmeM

The truth about Artificial Intelligence - admitted by Artificial Intelligence itself (This article is in French, but well worth the translation.) rseauinternational.substack.com/p/la-verite-sur-lintelligence-artificielle

Lawsuit of Mahmoud Khalil against anti-Palestinian actors and the Trump admin. https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/mahmoud-khalil-kkk-lawsuit-trump-administration-conspiracy.pdf

ICE Reports 22nd Detention Death of 2026 https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/ice-reports-22nd-detention-death

Charting the Crackdown: The misuse of crowd-control weapons in immigration enforcement protests across the United States, June 2025-June 2026 https://phr.org/charting-the-crackdown/

How Israel is using thirst as a weapon against Palestinians in Gaza https://palestinewillbefree.substack.com/p/how-israel-is-using-thirst-as-a-weapon-against-palestinians-in-gaza

Babies in Gaza Die Preventable Deaths Due to Medical Shortages Imposed by Israel https://truthout.org/articles/babies-in-gaza-die-preventable-deaths-due-to-medical-shortages-imposed-by-israel/

The Performance of “Progressive” Politics: Ro Khanna’s Interview Shows Congress Still Protects Israel’s War Machine https://mandissent.com/p/the-performance-of-progressive-politics

No, Israel does not have ‘a right to exist.’ Quite the contrary, actually. https://mondoweiss.net/2026/07/no-israel-does-not-have-a-right-to-exist-quite-the-contrary-actually/

US leaves 10,000 Iranians without drinking water following strike on desalination plant https://thecradle.co/articles/us-strike-on-iran-desalination-plant-leaves-10000-without-drinking-water

How Iran’s elite Lego team reverse engineered US propaganda https://thegrayzone.substack.com/p/how-irans-elite-lego-team-reverse

ICE Keeps Killing Immigrants in Cars It Claims Were “Weaponized” Against Agents https://truthout.org/articles/ice-keeps-killing-immigrants-in-cars-it-claims-were-weaponized-against-agents/

‘We Are Grieving, We Are Furious’: Mainers Protest Fatal ICE Shooting in Biddeford https://scheerpost.com/2026/07/14/we-are-grieving-we-are-furious-mainers-protest-fatal-ice-shooting-in-biddeford/

Democracy Necessitates Resistance (w/ Roger Hallam) | The Chris Hedges Report https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/democracy-necessitates-resistance

They’re Launching A New COINTELPRO For The 21st Century https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/theyre-launching-a-new-cointelpro

Soon It Will Be Illegal To Oppose Imperialism https://www.donotpanic.news/p/soon-it-will-be-illegal-to-oppose

China Won. The CIA Can’t Get Over It. https://chroniclesofhaiphong.substack.com/p/china-has-won-the-cia-cant-get-over

Why Honduras? A brief contextualization of a massive scandal https://wormlesstree.substack.com/p/why-honduras

Largest Gathering Of Service Members For Anti-War Protest Since Vietnam https://popularresistance.org/largest-gathering-of-service-members-for-anti-war-protest-since-vietnam/

A Garden and a Library. https://raddy101.substack.com/p/a-garden-and-a-library

The Strongest El Niño Ever: With all the July runs in, dynamical models give a ~90% chance of a record-setting event https://www.theclimatebrink.com/p/the-strongest-el-nino-ever