Quote Originally Posted by Cleretic View Post
Some argue that when Emet's saying this, he doesn't really believe it and is mostly just convincing himself. I've never seen clear proof of this, nor do I necessarily think that makes it better (might actually make it worse, in fact, because now it's just him knowingly dehumanizing and justifying the murder of humans)... but also most of the Ascians seemed to be on the same page on this, so it's not exactly dismissable just because Emet might be lying.
Ascians deceive. And Emet-Selch deceives even himself, for he is Tempered*, and has no choice but to carry out Zodiark's plan to revive the ancients. This requires him to cause widespread death and destruction, contrary to his skills as a builder of civilizations. Dehumanizing mankind is how he can cope with the cognitive dissonance, because for Emet-Selch, even bringing back his brethren cannot justify murder of mankind.

* At least, considers himself to be Tempered. There's some argument on whether Ascians are in thrall of Zodiark, and I believe they are.