Misanthropes: I don't get you.

[xitel]

The media reports fairly accurately actually. Its just its hardly going to report on that organ donation that saved a girls life, or that man who gave blood and saved a terminal patient. Its going to focus on the war or the fire or the riots, and maybe rightly so. But it makes the world look worse than it actually is. Im not claiming there is more nice than bad, im saying assuming you know is silly, i make no claim to a lovey dovey flowery world full of bunnies. It is what it is with a mix of people everwhere some good some bad in different ratios and the best you can do is try and be a good person while being nice to everyone around you no matter who they are. My opinion isnt drawn from anytihng because im not making a massive assertion. I accept the balence and the variety of life and say any broad statement on the nature of any one thing as large as "people" is a waste of time and more than likely wrong.

Misanthropy seems to basically flawed on this point. Sweeping generalisations are always always wrong. I cant argue with your opinion. But its a FACT that the world isnt all bad or all good. Or have any particular leaning either way.

Yet again, I have never claimed to know one way or another. And I've never said that the world is all bad or all good. I have, however, stated that for me it makes far FAR more sense to assume that the world is full of shit. Because then you can either be happily disappointed or proven right. And you can find the good in the news if you know where to look. Paying attention to only one news source is shortsighted and blinds you to all the other news from around the world. The internet has made a complete global culture that means I can go from looking at CNN and seeing how people are being blown to pieces halfway around the world to reading a blog about how my neighbor found a wallet and returned it to its owner.

 

[Commissar Sae]

I straddle the line between misanthropy and hope for humanity. I think the average mass of humanity is kind of bleh, but there are rare gems out there that make up for it. I spend a lot of time studying history, and for all the horrible stuff people do to each other, there are a lot of highlights you can see too. Also on average people are fairly decent.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

The media reports fairly accurately actually. Its just its hardly going to report on that organ donation that saved a girls life, or that man who gave blood and saved a terminal patient. Its going to focus on the war or the fire or the riots, and maybe rightly so. But it makes the world look worse than it actually is. Im not claiming there is more nice than bad, im saying assuming you know is silly, i make no claim to a lovey dovey flowery world full of bunnies. It is what it is with a mix of people everwhere some good some bad in different ratios and the best you can do is try and be a good person while being nice to everyone around you no matter who they are. My opinion isnt drawn from anytihng because im not making a massive assertion. I accept the balence and the variety of life and say any broad statement on the nature of any one thing as large as "people" is a waste of time and more than likely wrong.

Misanthropy seems to basically flawed on this point. Sweeping generalisations are always always wrong. I cant argue with your opinion. But its a FACT that the world isnt all bad or all good. Or have any particular leaning either way.

Yet again, I have never claimed to know one way or another. And I've never said that the world is all bad or all good. I have, however, stated that for me it makes far FAR more sense to assume that the world is full of shit. Because then you can either be happily disappointed or proven right. And you can find the good in the news if you know where to look. Paying attention to only one news source is shortsighted and blinds you to all the other news from around the world. The internet has made a complete global culture that means I can go from looking at CNN and seeing how people are being blown to pieces halfway around the world to reading a blog about how my neighbor found a wallet and returned it to its owner.

Id rather assume things will be good so that despite all the dissapointment i still have something to strive for, and i can honestly say the feeling of being right when you have faith in someone is a billion times better than either of your feelings when you are either proven right by an asshole or surprised by a nice person. Putting all your faith in someone and being rewarded in turn is very fullfilling. Im sad that seemingly misanthropes never get this feeling.

You know what. Im sorry. I get angry at misanthropes a lot, its an opinion that really rubs me the wrong way. You seem decent despite your admition you are shit, and thats the saddest part. Im willing to bet you are not. And misanthropy takes that and crushes it beyond recognition. Its just a little sad really. Even if you think you are shit. Im confident you are not.

Yet again, where in any of this are we personally attacking you? And where is anyone claiming to be BETTER than anyone else? I'm a shit person, I'm fully willing to admit it. And yet, you're the one who is claiming that the world would be better off without a group of people, simply because their views differ from yours. You are in fact the one being arrogant, by refusing to even entertain a valid and legitimate view of someone else. You're saying that everyone who doesn't love the world is just flatout wrong, for no reason. That is arrogance. Stop thinking everything is a personal attack on you, and stop trying to insult people in order to belittle their point so you don't have to consider it in a valid and intelligent manner.

While im sad you consider yourself shit you make a poor example of who im talking about. Most misanthropes never include themselves in their everyone sucks theory, putting themselves instead in a niche of high beings. This outlook couldnt irk me more.

This wasnt aimed at you. Aimed at the guy who implied everyone who wasnt a misanthrope was a degenernate. Honestly i have no issue with you. I dont think any view is better than any other. I think these people who go on about how much everyone sucks and brings everything down dont add anything, and are in fact part of the problem or failing that definately not part of the solution. Sorry. This topic gets me riled up. Im sure youre a good guy, your views seem the most mild and agreeable of some im seeing. I just happened to include that with yours.

And i take every notion that "most people suck" as an attack on me. Because it is. Everyone who makes this claim never seems to point out who these PEOPLE actually are. Am i one? Its safe to assume i am? Are my family and friends one. Hell these people assume and basically accuse everyone of being an asshole right of the bat, what isnt there to be offended by? I am part of everyone. Thus i take offence.

The more aggressive and loud misanthropes who maintain everyone sucks all the time except them for some unknown reason really really get to me, and if they are so confident they and other misanthropes are so much better than everyone, why wouldnt they want to go live by themselves. It seems they only reason why they wouldnt is so they have people to look down on. These people get my goat.

You are very polite and im sad to say i started this by being overly aggressive unneccessarily. And im sorry. That wasnt kosher.

 

[xitel]

You are very polite and im sad to say i started this by being overly aggressive unneccessarily. And im sorry. That wasnt kosher.

I'm sorry as well, I got a bit annoyed at the end there too. Hugs? I vote hugs.

 

[Sleipnir]

Primarily, about 10 years of being bullied/getting the crap kicked out of me for no good reason. But I figure now it's more a case of the fact that I don't have any interest in the prevention of humanity's decline. Not a single fuck is being given.

As for the "positive outlook on life", I have a general rule of "expect the worst and you can only be one of two things: pleasantly surprised, or right." (which is pretty positive for me)

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

You are very polite and im sad to say i started this by being overly aggressive unneccessarily. And im sorry. That wasnt kosher.

I'm sorry as well, I got a bit annoyed at the end there too. Hugs? I vote hugs.

I also vote hugs. Hugs for you.

 

[gabe12301]

I hate you.

I love you.

 

[gabe12301]

You know. I like to....


But seriously looking at the bright of life is just better. You can't really argue against it. Plus it's better for your health.

 

[TheDoctor455]

Hmm... I don't think I'm a misanthrope per se... but...
I don't trust groups of people in the slightest... I also think people are generally assholes that can and will dick each other over for an ounce of power. But individual persons? Them... I give them the benefit of the doubt... by throwing out a few subtle test questions and judge them based on their responses.

 

[TheDoctor455]

You know. I like to....


But seriously looking at the bright of life is just better. You can't really argue against it. Plus it's better for your health.

Uhh... no. It isn't. Trust me, I tried that for a while. And people inevitably let me down so badly that its impossible to see people in general as anything but assholes.

Individuals though, I still give them a chance... a chance many still manage to muck up... but still.

 

[Hatchet90]

It's not that I hate people; it's that I feel a general distrust toward them. My philosophy in life is that everyone's an asshole until proven otherwise, and I don't think it's a bad way of looking at things.

It just seems that walking down any street in America, you're guaranteed to find that 99.9% of the people walking are egotistical and snobby. Just listening to the vapid conversations when waiting for my college class to start or when someone's on their cell phone. Especially conversations that go on in the hallways and hangouts around college. It just seems that everyone is just... STUPID. None of them seem to care about anything, but their own little problems, and none of them want to ever have an intelligent conversation, EVER.

I don't know, everyone has their problems, including me, and maybe this comment is making me look like an elitist. Please understand that I've found some great friends in life; friendships that I want to keep. I've also met people that are unbelievably narcissistic and have no handle on what's going on outside their perfect little bubble.

I dunno, this is what I get due to four years of dealing with assholes in high school.

 

[sumanoskae]

Saying an emotion or opinion doesn't have a point is like getting angry with someone because they have cancer. You don't take up emotions on purpose or to work towards a goal, an emotion or opinion is an involuntary reaction.

Why do I think people are shit?, not because it's easy, just look at them. They're rude, ignorant, close minded, selfish, stupid, greedy, evil degenerates. There are exceptions of course, but they're not common and either end up trying to fit in and becoming idiots themselves, or they become misanthropic and lonely, and it takes time to pry them from their shells.

Pretending otherwise won't change anything, and ignoring a problem won't make it go away.

Besides, valuing everyone really just means that you value no one, and I'm not wasting my time on idiots when I could be spending it with the few exceptions.

The arrogance... it HURTS US.

Who ARE these idiot filth scum you think are so rubbish? Me. My parents? My friends? I dont understand why someone could feel so much better than everyone for no reason. Its just jugdemental and pretentious. Eugh. I dont really have words. Yes you are special, you are better than everyone, everyone else is a dirty filth drinking animal who should be euthanised but because you have that magic hate for them you are better for some arbitrary reason. Congratulations?

This further reinforces my misanthrope leper colony plan outlined above. Send em all away to live with the rest of the "enlightened" who believe themselves so much better than everyone. That way we all win. You can look down on us from afar still and we can be merry.

Misanthropy is looking to be another word for pretentious arrogance and a way of feeling better than everyone else by assuming you are one of the chosen none douches in a world of scum. What a shitty outlook. Also horrifically offencive, jugdemental, presumptuous and wrong.

Signed, A loving degenerate. Im sorry my claws couldnt reach my computer made of childrens crushed hopes and dreams. Sometimes i cant pour enough of my own evil into the fire to get it running.

First let me make one thing clear, I'm not saying everyone is stupid, evil and psychotic, I'm saying most people are either stupid, evil OR psychotic.

So you're calling me arrogant for looking down on people and all the while you're looking down on me for my opinion?.

You talk about misanthropes like they're some kind of disease to be eradicated, like their the few stains on an otherwise shinning world, all the while you make the assumption that I have no experience with any of this in real life.

You're assuming a lot more about me then I'm assuming about you.

I knew a guy who broke his kids leg, another guy who held my father at gun point, someone else who knocked my grandmother out, numerous people who tried to steal from my mom, and some guy who killed my dog.

It would be bad enough if I just couldn't relate to them, but I've met precious few people who've ever held by any degree of loyalty or compassion when it stopped being convenient.

P.S: The ability to judge is a function of intelligence. Being able to judge the safety of a situation is just being smart. Understanding people is just being smart. Having and opinion is just proof that your brain works.

If you don't posses the intellect to analyze and form an opinion, you're not a kind or accepting person, you're just blind.

 

[The Arc of Eden]

Apparently sir, You have not seen the world I have. Only then can you truly understand us broody, misunderstood, sparkly vampire misanthropes.

 

[gabe12301]

You know. I like to....


But seriously looking at the bright of life is just better. You can't really argue against it. Plus it's better for your health.

Uhh... no. It isn't. Trust me, I tried that for a while. And people inevitably let me down so badly that its impossible to see people in general as anything but assholes.

Individuals though, I still give them a chance... a chance many still manage to muck up... but still.

That's because you look at people the wrong way. People aren't shit and people aren't great. People are just people. people are selfish and greedy, people are generous and kind. How you choose to look at them, and at life for that matter is your problem.

 

[Xanadu84]

The world has improved so much, so rapidly, and in such a profound way, our vision of what life should be like has also had its standards increase dramatically. The world is so incredibly awesome that even minor acts of stupidity and shortsightedness get interpreted as an atrocity.

Today, a random person says something sexist about a woman's place being in a kitchen, and the person seems to be only half joking, then its the decline of civilization. Go back in time an amount that in the grand scheme of things is an imperceptibly small amount and beating your wife might get you a stern shake of the head if your unlucky. A kid uses a racial slur in a song with highly questionable artistic value and people suck. Go back almost no time whatsoever and giving a black man syphilis because hell, why not, and no one cares. America uses a vague connection between a country and an attack on their civilians in order to attack that country which, to be fair, is being led by an asshole, try to free civilians even if the whole plan is rather half baked, and still ends up being a horrifically unpopular war, and the world is obviously coming to its ultimate destruction. Rome tries to commit genocide because killing people sounds awesome and the populace cheers. Jersey Shores versus Minstrel Shows. Glenn Beck versus Joseph McCarthy. I mean really, the fact that people are capable of being Misanthropic is a surefire sign that people are unbelievably dedicated to making the world a better place, and succeeding.

 

[Iron Criterion]

This. I generally view humanity as a different species to myself and I am constantly disgusted by their terrible habits and traits, but I do not hate everyone or everything about humanity.

Though it might not have been your intent, that statement right there makes you sound like an ass hat. So maybe you're not so much different from this big ol' species you loath so much.

How does it? A lot of people display behaviour that confuses me, therefore I distance myself from them unless I learn that they are otherwise ok. No ass hat behaviour there, since that's pretty much what most humans do. I've just taken to its logical conclusion and applied to the species as a whole.

 

[loc978]

It's funny... most people dealt with individually are just fine. They may or may not be confrontational bigots, irresponsible douchebags, or ineffectual slaves to their own emotions... but as long as those things don't pop up in conversation somehow, you'd never know.

My particular version of misanthropy does nothing to keep me from going out and enjoying the world and its people... I'm just of the mind that anywhere people gather regularly in groups greater than ten or so (and more importantly, identify themselves as a group), any idiocy within that group will rise to the surface and control said group.

In short, I love people... but I hate society. Most people would be just fine if they were forced to fend for themselves just a little when they're young... but people (at least in western first-world nations) simply aren't. They're provided with everything they need and told what to believe... I know, I was one of the ineffectual until I was about 20 years old.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

Saying an emotion or opinion doesn't have a point is like getting angry with someone because they have cancer. You don't take up emotions on purpose or to work towards a goal, an emotion or opinion is an involuntary reaction.

Why do I think people are shit?, not because it's easy, just look at them. They're rude, ignorant, close minded, selfish, stupid, greedy, evil degenerates. There are exceptions of course, but they're not common and either end up trying to fit in and becoming idiots themselves, or they become misanthropic and lonely, and it takes time to pry them from their shells.

Pretending otherwise won't change anything, and ignoring a problem won't make it go away.

Besides, valuing everyone really just means that you value no one, and I'm not wasting my time on idiots when I could be spending it with the few exceptions.

The arrogance... it HURTS US.

Who ARE these idiot filth scum you think are so rubbish? Me. My parents? My friends? I dont understand why someone could feel so much better than everyone for no reason. Its just jugdemental and pretentious. Eugh. I dont really have words. Yes you are special, you are better than everyone, everyone else is a dirty filth drinking animal who should be euthanised but because you have that magic hate for them you are better for some arbitrary reason. Congratulations?

This further reinforces my misanthrope leper colony plan outlined above. Send em all away to live with the rest of the "enlightened" who believe themselves so much better than everyone. That way we all win. You can look down on us from afar still and we can be merry.

Misanthropy is looking to be another word for pretentious arrogance and a way of feeling better than everyone else by assuming you are one of the chosen none douches in a world of scum. What a shitty outlook. Also horrifically offencive, jugdemental, presumptuous and wrong.

Signed, A loving degenerate. Im sorry my claws couldnt reach my computer made of childrens crushed hopes and dreams. Sometimes i cant pour enough of my own evil into the fire to get it running.

First let me make one thing clear, I'm not saying everyone is stupid, evil and psychotic, I'm saying most people are either stupid, evil OR psychotic.

So you're calling me arrogant for looking down on people and all the while you're looking down on me for my opinion?.

You talk about misanthropes like they're some kind of disease to be eradicated, like their the few stains on an otherwise shinning world, all the while you make the assumption that I have no experience with any of this in real life.

You're assuming a lot more about me then I'm assuming about you.

I knew a guy who broke his kids leg, another guy who held my father at gun point, someone else who knocked my grandmother out, numerous people who tried to steal from my mom, and some guy who killed my dog.

It would be bad enough if I just couldn't relate to them, but I've met precious few people who've ever held by any degree of loyalty or compassion when it stopped being convenient.

P.S: The ability to judge is a function of intelligence. Being able to judge the safety of a situation is just being smart. Understanding people is just being smart. Having and opinion is just proof that your brain works.

If you don't posses the intellect to analyze and form an opinion, you're not a kind or accepting person, you're just blind.

I know i assumed a lot. Im sorry, this topic really rubs me the wrong way. I just dont like the idea of viewing everyone else as rubbish and assuming i or a group of people are better. It is wrong to look down on you. I know. I apologise, i was angry, thats no excuse. Misanthropes just hit me as pretty arrogant. Who are these people who suck? I dont see anyone who deserves that title, and from the wording used a lot in this thread it seems to be everyone that isnt a misanthrope. I dont look around on the train and see this:

http://xkcd.com/610/

I see real people. Its sad to think that we are so bad at relating now a days we assume everyone sucks. Even poor randomers who have done nothing to offend you and would more than likely stick their neck out for you. I know i would for a stranger.

 

[Iron Criterion]

Double post. Oops.