We've lost our faith in humanity.

[similar.squirrel]

Although it appears to have been largely supplanted by 'I don't want to live on this planet any more', the 'I've lost my faith in humanity' brand of sentiment still seems to run through our thoughtful and intellectual little community.
You see it cropping up beside eugenicist tirades in almost every thread concerning the exploits of unintelligent/nasty folk, or reports about proposed anti-videogame legislation. It has, by this point, become something of an Escapist staple.
So, does anybody have an idea why the socially inept cat-ears crowd seem to be drawn towards unthinking misanthropy? Is it an extension of some victim complex, or maybe an RTS state of mind where the world seems like an easy place to run? Or could it be attributed to a general lack of life-experience?

Discuss.

 

[Lilani]

Shut up! Make it go away! People on these forums have only recently begun to get over their fascination with that phrase! BEGONE DEMON OF THE BLACK REALMS! BEGONE!

 

[JoJo]

I think it may be down to typical teenage mind-set, same reason why there's a lot of child-haters around here, though there are older people who retain it too, from what I can see mostly through bitterness for being rejected/disliked in the past by peers, or through trying to feel superior to other people. You'll generally find that most of these people don't class themselves or their friends as being among the supposed bad majority of our species.

 

[Neverhoodian]

Um, it's not just limited to the Escapist, believe me. Try visiting any number of other forums and chances are good you'll run across the phrase on a semi-regular basis.

People tend to gravitate towards such hyperbole (and it is hyperbole a good 99% of the time) because it's convenient. It's easier to go with a glib "everything and everyone sucks" approach than it is to compose a thoughtful, measured response. It also has the added bonus of being confrontational for the more attention whore-ish types out there. Moreover, it's human nature to focus more on the negative aspects of the news and life in general (probably an evolutionary holdover, when paying attention to danger and peril meant one had a much higher chance of survival).

 

[Doclector]

I used to be rather misanthropic, then I took an arro...

Seriously though, I've come to learn that I don't truly hate normal people, I just don't understand them. There are so many puzzling things about them, they speak in code, they don't do the things they want to because of unwritten rules that no one ever spoke, and they buy x-factor winner singles.

I will say this though, most people around me consider me intelligent. Think about that for a second. I'm considered intelligent. That's pretty bad.

 

[TheSnarkKnight]

Oh please, this is such a ridiculous attitude I don't know where to start. You're portraying all misanthropes as people madly and unthinkingly following some kind of trend; a bunch of cynical naysayers who fail to understand how lovely and peachy everything is.

Well it's not lovely and it's not peachy. It's disgusting some of the things humanity is capable of, you understand? It's disgusting how we can set up systems that are so blatantly unjust and unfair and then do nothing to fix them. It's hideous how people are so unthinking, so close-minded and don't even realise it. Have you seen race or sexuality or gender or nationality or lifestyle mentioned on these forums? Have you seen the bile, the hatred and the ignorance inside people who, in any other situation, would be as nice as day to ya? I'm sorry that my standards are an inconvinience to you, that I want to live in a world where ignorance, willfull stupidity, close-mindedness and bigotry are frowned upon. But I don't, so I'm gonna complain about it online to an unlistening crowd until things improve.

Anyone got a problem with that?

 

[Vern5]

The whole "I have lost my faith in humanity" is a poorly disguised ego-boost to whomever is stating that phrase. Just look at the sentence itself: I have lost my faith in humanity. This implies that this person had some higher understanding and respect for other human beings before those hopes were dashed by some irrelevant event. But, if humanity itself is so bad, would that not mean that the speaker, being human, is also a terrible creature just waiting to show its true colors? Anyone who says "I have no faith in humanity" has already subconsciously decided that they are somehow better than their peers and is now relaying their lofty dissapointment in the "others".

I've never lost my faith in humanity because we all live up to our different potentials of depravity and morality. I can admit that I'm mostly a terrible human being whose sarcastic comments and generally mean spirit seldom make up for the genuine moments of sensitivity other people say I display. I expect that anyone who wishes to judge their peers as a whole be prepared to judge themselves!

Basically, what I'm saying is that anyone who says "I've lost my faith in humanity" is an egotistical jerkoff.

 

[Vault101]

I HATE humanity!! it sucks

mean, greeydy, selfish,narisistic,violent, judgmental, ignorant, evil evil evil EVIL!!

(not me though) it pains me to live in such a horrible world while I sit here in my own room, in my comfy chair on a computer good enough to play games..steam currently downloading a game, usuing internet to type this which is payed for by my mum (my games too)

OHHH fuck my life indeed

 

[Hazy992]

Although it appears to have been largely supplanted by 'I don't want to live on this plant any more', the 'I've lost my faith in humanity' brand of sentiment still seems to run through our thoughtful and intellectual little community.

Yeah I don't want to live on this plant anymore either

OT: I think a lot of people who claim to be misanthropic actually aren't and they're just saying it for attention or hyperbole. I sometimes say shit like that but I don't mean it; I try and see the good in humanity. Although sometimes you read something in the news and you can't help but weep for your species just a little.

 

[Confidingtripod]

I have dyspraxia which can be associated (and is with me) with both a tendancy to not pick up on some things when talking to people, and getting stressed easily, this means I have a dislike of meeting new people, though I am quite a optomist I have noticed that this lack of will to meet people can make me feel a lack of connection to humanity as a whole, one period of my life when I was rather down I hated humanity, esspecially my own, I am fine now but my anger was a mixture of a state of mind and mild depression, if people hate humanity "cos they do" then they are either stupid, acting or have something wrong with them

 

[SilentCom]

You can only lose faith in humanity if you had faith in the beginning. Sometimes I don't like the direction humanity is heading however I try to keep optimistic that most people aren't incredibly bad or stupid.

 

[toolateforsundown]

This is a reality of life, I'm surrounded by goddamn idiots, and there's little I can do about it.

Personally, I like to take this state of mind. Now when people are actually reasonable, intelligent, or compassionate, I'm pleasantly surprised. It's quite nice.

 

[MassiveGeek]

Yeah, the world is a dark and horrible place and humanity is essentially irrepairable.

However, I don't give a flying fuck. I'm not going to go broodingly sob in a corner over crap like that, I have tons of opportunities to enjoy myself and have a great time.

I don't see how accepting stuff like this automatically has to make you depressed and angsty, shit happens. Get over it and move the fuck along, it is absolutely possible to do so, so stop whining like a little ***** about it.

If you really can't stand it, then fucking do something about it, no one's going to do it for you.

 

[Korak the Mad]

I myself am a social outcast (I was always one, even when I was little), even among the outcasts. I find very few people who I can actually be friends with, let along get along with.

I have very little hope in humanity, because the majority is ignorant, arrogant, and downright hateful towards anything that is somewhat different than them. Yet there is that tiny sliver of hope that humanity will change for the better.

This is a reality of life, I'm surrounded by goddamn idiots, and there's little I can do about it.

Personally, I like to take this state of mind. Now when people are actually reasonable, intelligent, or compassionate, I'm pleasantly surprised. It's quite nice.

I fully agree with on that. When people are kind, it's actually quite nice, otherwise I don't want to be part of that species.

 

[similar.squirrel]

I love how every objective explanation afforded so far has a corresponding case study a couple of posts down.

 

[OmniscientOstrich]

Speak for yourself Escapist community I never had any faith in humanity to begin with, just as I do not have faith in anything, as I deem faith to be an illogical concept. My incensement over the semantics of this phrase aside, I don't take any issue with people holding humanity in a low regard, particularly as I am among that crowd, though I don't delude myself into thinking I am somehow superior and generally hold myself in an even lower regard. However, I do take issue with the reasoning behind the statement, the fact that they give up on humanity as a whole over an isolated incident, usually something that has no impact on them and if it does it's typically just an inconvenience. It's as if to say; 'sure up until this point humanity has been responsible for thousands of years of genocide, slavery, bigorty, oppression, indoctrination, avarice, venality, demagoguery and all that, BUT THIS GUY WAS MEAN TO A DOG!! OMGWTFBBQ?!#! IS WRONG WITH HUMANITY?!' Yes, that kind of impetuous and myopic line of thinking I am against. Similarly, I also cringe a little at the inexorable platitudes made in retort towards the misanthropically inclined in general; asserting that they uphold this attitude 'just to seem edgy/cool', or that they'll grow out of it, or that they're just bitter and all they need is a hug and some warm cocoa and just cry it all out and then everything will be all fucking rosy. Blehhhhhhh...bleh, I say! You're making the exact kind of smug and petty generalisations of the people which you're deriding and quite honestly it's not a particularly original or insightful thought. Thankfully though, it seems threads of this dreaded title seemed to have significantly died down over the past few months.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

I guess you could call me a misanthrope because I don't trust people. I know people are capable of great good as well as great evil , but it's the fact that they could do either that mkees me cautious. Or maybe I'm just paranoid...

 

[TheSnarkKnight]

OT: I think a lot of people who claim to be misanthropic actually aren't and they're just saying it for attention or hyperbole. I sometimes say shit like that but I don't mean it; I try and see the good in humanity. Although sometimes you read something in the news and you can't help but weep for your species just a little.

I think there is some level of hyperbole to it, but at times it seems rather justified, does it not? If you're reading about the horrendous treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany, I think you're kinda justified in saying that you that your species and going on about the bottomless well of evil that mankind seems capable of tapping into.

Also, I'd like to point out, that just because someone may hate humanity at the moment, it doesn't mean they don't have hope that they'll improve one day.