Misanthropy

[darkwall]

There should be some sort of alternative country where people can go to not be surrounded by hate-filled cretins. Years from now, people are going to look at this society of ours where most people follow a church where thousands of its members would rather quit than see a woman bishop, where people kill sentient life-forms because they taste good, and obsess over people they never meet arriving in their country to get jobs they wouldn't touch with a barge-pole. Where smug idiots use sustainable shopping bags but own two Land Rovers, and blanch at the word "paki" but wouldn't let their daughter marry one.

I am being slowly smothered by a thousand little feathers falling around me all the time, and they are the little touches of hypocrisy that fill other people's lives until they begin to perpetrate mine. I read what Socrates said about tragic plays being therapeutic for us, and it clicked: ALL is therapy for me. I have no-one to tell this to - I can't say to a friend 'Oy, Philip, get over here and let me complain about how much I hate humanity' ... I worry about being selfish on here, but I hate to say it - I don't want to entertain you; I'd rather just scream at you.

The thing about misanthropy is that if you're not witty about it, you just alienate people and also sound strange when you say it, because so many parts of it apply to you. We misanthropists are either unbelievably arrogant, then, or self-haters, and I am one of the latter. I know that a lot of the above could be said about me. I reread the debate I had on here a few weeks ago and thought, “perhaps I am becoming a racist too.” We all read it in the papers - "four Asian youths" ... why stick the "Asian" in? What actual difference does it make? So we are forced to think that way, because that's what others are reading, too.

This is what I mean about the tiny feathers. I miss being colour-blind.

 

[Sinnin]

I'm not racist, I hate everyone equally.

Fellow misanthrope checking in.

 

[sappy]

i understand where you are coming from ...i am somewhat misanthropic but for me its more of a love/hate thing.....i see all these people and how they are and act and i just think about how i cant stand most of them....but for me i hate people because i cant stand to see them act the way they do , its beacause i love people so much , that i dislike them...because many do not see or use the potential for good that they have within and they only reveal the bigotry and ignorance and everything else that keeps them disillusioned and acting like an ass most of the time

 

[darkwall]

In the Brothers Karamazov there is a doctor who loves humanity but hates individuals, and there is a someone else who thinks humans are weak but loves people individually. The doctor is constantly disappointed by the people around him failing to live up to his ideals, while the other person is sometimes pleasantly surprised.

 

[heretostay]

In the Brothers Karamazov there is a doctor who loves humanity but hates individuals, and there is a someone else who thinks humans are weak but loves people individually. The doctor is constantly disappointed by the people around him failing to live up to his ideals, while the other person is sometimes pleasantly surprised.

I tried reading that book but never could get through it.

I used to hate society for all its idiosyncrasy's and contradictions. but then i realized it doesnt really matter. so society is stupid...who cares. what difference does it make? im a little stupid myself. been depressed for years and cant seem to get out of that. i do stupid stuff all the time, just like anyone. its all about evolution anyway and not really about 'right' and 'wrong' 'good' vs 'evil'. i think we're all a little naive to the fact that our bodies and our external environment run us and we're just along for the ride.

 

[darkwall]

See, that's exactly what I mean. You have also realised that a lot of the things wrong with society are wrong with yourself, but unlike me you are not a hypocrite. All misanthropes are hypocrites, even if they are able to recognise the parallels on an intellectual level. I totally agree with everything you say - particularly about how our external environment runs us, which I have debated long and hard on ALL - but I am incapable of distancing myself enough to stop the disgust I sometimes feel for other people.

 

[heretostay]

but I am incapable of distancing myself enough to stop the disgust I sometimes feel for other people.

well, not incapable, but you're getting something from dwelling on your disgust for others. maybe it makes you feel better, some how boost a low self esteem, makes you feel better then "them" some how. maybe you're afraid of being average. maybe its a distraction so you are in control of your loneliness. who knows. on the surface of course its obvious that you are a hypocrite. but that's only the surface. You just have to find out what you are getting out of choosing to dwell on this, and if what you are giving yourself is what you really want.

 

[h i]

i just like to complain.

 

[darkwall]

True misanthropy isn't a choice but more comparable to a phobia. If I was a kleptomaniac say, I would say to you that stealing is wrong and at the same time be unable to prevent myself doing so. This form of hypocrisy is at the root of my misanthropy: it is the result of being outside of groups and hating what's on the inside, and it has been conditioned into me since I was a child.

 

[heretostay]

True misanthropy isn't a choice but more comparable to a phobia.

well, as i used to tell my brother- hows that philosophy working for you?

 

[sappy]

In the Brothers Karamazov there is a doctor who loves humanity but hates individuals, and there is a someone else who thinks humans are weak but loves people individually. The doctor is constantly disappointed by the people around him failing to live up to his ideals, while the other person is sometimes pleasantly surprised.

and i find myself both feeling somewhat let down by people and at the same time i get surprised... as soon as someone does something that gives me faith in humanity another does or says something that makes me feel like the human species is doomed.....

 

[epileptic]

Maybe we are expecting too much from humanity. Expecting them to be someone like us, or similiar, because we think we are more right, while they are thinking they are more right. I, myself, can't change the way people think, nor do I care to try. If people want to get to know me and see what I am all about, then I will tell them anything they want to know. If people want to hate on me for whatever reason, thats their prerogative. I am here to enjoy myself and teach myself new and interesting things. I am not concerned what everyone else in the world is feeling or thinking. Why is it so important anyways?

Btw, this above statement can also be hypocritical of me. Somedays I could be just like how I stated above and then other days It can really bother me while I feel so many people are so "ignorant". But thats whats so awesome about it. I can just change my mind about particular topics or feelings. Nothing has to be set in stone and/or considered the right way. I guess the big thing about it is if you actually realize this or not.

 

[Brian]

Where smug idiots use sustainable shopping bags but own two Land Rovers, and blanch at the word "paki" but wouldn't let their daughter marry one.

This is relevant to my laments. I will one day invent a fist to punch a thousand people in the face at once. It won't make me rich like a machine to punch people through the internet would, but it'll feel really good.

 

[epileptic]

This is relevant to my laments. I will one day invent a fist to punch a thousand people in the face at once. It won't make me rich like a machine to punch people through the internet would, but it'll feel really good.

Violence is not the answer!!!!!

 

[wretchedofthepond]

I'm not racist, I hate everyone equally.

Fellow misanthrope checking in.

---

Where smug idiots use sustainable shopping bags but own two Land Rovers, and blanch at the word "paki" but wouldn't let their daughter marry one.

This is relevant to my laments. I will one day invent a fist to punch a thousand people in the face at once. It won't make me rich like a machine to punch people through the internet would, but it'll feel really good.

I'm going to have to write a movie on this.
:club:
Sort of like the Illiad, which was about the Achilles's wrath. But instead, we will witness the epic face-punchiness of a physical misanthropist.

 

[4OneLastSoul7]

Im to the point where if someone doesnt think that humans are scum I immediately dont trust them/think they're stupid. Its just far too obvious

 

[lonelygirl87]

I had never thought about, but I realize now I'm a misanthrope too, I think humanity and our society is rotten, I'm so decieved by them, I mean, we're suposed to be the most intelligent species... but to me we are stupid and irresponsible as such, not only because we can't take care of our planet or other species, but because we are a species in which there are parents who are violent with their kids, or sexually abuse them, who do them harm. And also there's people who hate certain races o certain sexual orientation when it's not any of their business to beguin with, and sometimes they even kill driven by that hate towards other. And well, I'm sure some people here could add many things to list. My point is, in my opinion, human race disgusts me and disappoints me everyday. Even when from time to time I hear about something that might bring a little bit of light into the darkness, overally it means nothing, as I see it, the bad traits in humanity as a global concept are predominant and always will.
It's possible that some people may consider my rant too harsh, but well, until humanity demonstrates me that I'm wrong... I have the right to have my own vision of things.

 

[Thomas Crystalstick]

Agree with most of what is written here. The thing is, humanity is capable of incredibly beautiful, transcendental things at certain moments, and abominable behavior the rest of the time. It seems the longer I live and the more mistakes I make, the more I see that I am no different from anybody, and that circumstances permitting, I could be that crusty old man, that killer on the nightly news, that corrupt politician, that lascivious Don Juan, etc. We are capable of anything. The only difference between the teenager that murders his classmates and the so-called "normal" teenager is that one of them did not check their anger sufficiently.

 

[darkwall]

Is it just me or does anyone else hate all the comments on here (including the OP - ahem)? The amount of stupid honeysuckle being said proves that misanthropy is not a moral thing, an intelligent thing or an original thing, but probably just a direct result of feeling ignored.