Being soft and not dehumanizing are two different things. The fact you can't tell the difference doesn't change that. I'm willing to do hard things to dangerous people. I don't need to trick myself that they aren't people in order to do that.

I agree that fascists are bad people, and I agree that fascists won't go away by ignoring them or presuming their good intent.

But dehumanizing the people you decided are "bad" is literally the attitude that enables fascism. Not only does it set a low bar for what's required to dehumanize someone, but it weakens the kind of self-reflection that helps people avoid falling into fascism. Think about all those MAGA folk who say they only wanted to deport the "bad" immigrants. How's that working out?

People we feel are "bad" should be treated like human beings. Because what's deemed bad depends on who's doing the finger-pointing, and dehumanizing others isn't a great way to bring the information that there's something bad happening to those who don't already agree with you.