Why do people have such faith in humanity?

[Doclector]

Before i get started, i just want to say that I don't want this to come across as an emo thread, although I'm not feeling great at the moment, I largely just feel curious as to this:

Why do so many people have such faith in the "good" in humanity?

See, I've studied history alot. I've found that we seem to spend 90% of our time on pointless warfare. Even all those great steps we made; mostly made in the name of war, or in the course of war.

Also, it seems 90% of the people I have met in my life have been murderous bastards. See, I'm not wanted here. I'm not meant to be alive, I'm an evolutionary dead end. I'm faulty, and they hate me because of it, want me dead. That's how evolution works, right? The faulty elements must die before they breed, otherwise it brings in another generation of faulty beings. Such trials in life have made me very resilient, but it's me against most of the people i will ever meet. I don't expect to die a natural death, so I do all I can to improve things for other people like me while I'm still here. It isn't a nice way to live, but I suppose in a way I deserve it.

This evolutionary system is terrifyingly effective, but certainly not nice. Not ethical, not morally right. So why? Why do people have such faith in a species that is as successful as it is because it is cruel?

EDIT: hmm. I didn't expect such a strongly aggressive response. Not here, anyway. I knew this would get some flak, but I hoped I was asking a question that is rarely asked; people always ask about having no faith in humanity, but rarely about having faith. I was curious, like I said. Sorry to have offended so many of you.

EDIT 2: this thread isn't about my opinion, it's about yours. Of course, you're entitled to insult my opinion if you feel it is wrong, but I do expect you to answer the question at hand as well by giving your own opinion. Just don't fling "emo" insults. I'm not asking for pity, just a discussion.

 

[Irridium]

Because I don't let a (relatively)few dickholes sully my view of all six(or so) billion humans alive now, and all the humans that have ever lived.

There's plenty of good [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Heartwarming/RealLife] in the world. About as much good as there is bad.

 

[Jonny49]

Spoiler: Cue the inspirational music, mistro. This shit is going to get deep.

 

[Nimcha]

Oh dear. You have absolutely no clue as to what evolution and in specific natural selection is. This sort of thinking is very dangerous, assigning your own values and morals to things that do not have them.

I suggest you study evolution and natural selection in stead of history and you will see that people aren't inherently evil. Or good, for that matter.

And some people like the thought of humanity as a whole being "good", so they cling to that.

 

[The Elcor Batman]

Why? Who else will i put my faith in?

 

[Asti]

For me, it's Oscar Wilde's "The basis of optimism is sheer terror".

Or, mundanely put:

"They can't really be that stupid, can they?"

 

[lobster1077]

Sounds like you need an intervention. There's plenty of pleasant people knocking about but I can assure you most wouldn't associate with one who has such a pessimistic and cynical world view. Ah hohoho.

 

[Hiikuro]

That's how evolution works, right? The faulty elements must die before they breed, otherwise it brings in another generation of faulty beings.

If we're speaking in evolutionary terms. A creature is only faulty if it doesn't breed, which essentially means that if a creature dies without breeding, it was faulty. In this way, no creature can be faulty before death or sterilization. Meaning, you can't know whether you're faulty or not before you've had offspring or are dead.

Granted, that is not true for all species (considering ants).

On the topic of "faith in humanity", I'd say that things works quite well. I'm just horrendously badly adjusted to it, and that is causing me a great deal of unhappiness. I consider this unhappiness a good thing, considering it drives me to reflect upon myself and find ways to improve to achieve my goal. I'm not positive I will ever attain happiness though, as my psyche might be beyond repair.

 

[HardkorSB]

Before i get started, i just want to say that I don't want this to come across as an emo thread, although I'm not feeling great at the moment, I largely just feel curious as to this:

Why do so many people have such faith in the "good" in humanity?

See, I've studied history alot. I've found that we seem to spend 90% of our time on pointless warfare. Even all those great steps we made; mostly made in the name of war, or in the course of war.

Let me tell you what I've learned studying sociology (among other things):
Conflict leads to progress. Real peace means that we are fine with how things are and don't feel the need to improve our lives. When there's something wrong with how things are going, some people will genuinely do something about it and push humanity forward.
Sure, we make many mistakes but we're not regressing as a species, we're progressing.

Also, it seems 90% of the people I have met in my life have been murderous bastards. See, I'm not wanted here. I'm not meant to be alive, I'm an evolutionary dead end. I'm faulty, and they hate me because of it, want me dead. That's how evolution works, right?

Eh... what?!?

Why do people have such faith in a species that is as successful as it is because it is cruel?

Because they're successful. We've come from cavemen to our modern global society. We can still improve a lot and things will never be perfect for everybody but that's the point. There is no end, the path goes as far as the people who want to walk it.

 

[aba1]

Why? Who else will i put my faith in?

thats what I was thinking if I cant put at least a little faith in others than I will fail at everything nobody likes sombody who is just waiting for them to slip up so they can pounce.

 

[Rawne1980]

Some of us just get along with life safe in the knowledge we are happy.

We make our own happiness and don't let other peoples misery bring us down.

Some people just really couldn't care about the problems of the world therefore it doesn't bring them down.

Others like to look at the good in life despite the bad ... "Ahhh damn, another war ... but oooh cookies".

Others don't let self hating misserable bastards bring us down to their level.

You can scream and yell about empathy all you want but the simple fact is unless it's shown to you in the media or you intentially look for the suffering yourself you couldn't possibly care about someones problems because you wouldn't know about them.

I'm a happy guy, I love life. Life is there to be enjoyed and it is what you make of it. You take your own happiness and choose how to live it.

If a person is in a terrible situation then I would indeed wish them all the luck in the future and hope it gets better for them. I can't do anymore than that. However if people hate life for the simple reason of hating then i'd suggest to them perhaps removing head from anus and get a grip. As I keep saying, I have no time at all for people that self hate or are misserable and have no good reason for it.

 

[Doclector]

Oh dear. You have absolutely no clue as to what evolution and in specific natural selection is. This sort of thinking is very dangerous, assigning your own values and morals to things that do not have them.

I never said I was a scientist, I just understand the basic principle, anything else aside from the functional ones must not breed, but how is it dangerous? Much more dangerous to assume humanity has good in them, and eventually fall to such an assumption, I would think.

 

[Macgyvercas]

Because in small communities like neighbourhoods, cul-de-sacs or apartment buildings, people know eachother and need to pretend to be "nice" and "wholesome".
i for instance, DETEST kids and go "awwwww!" when I see a puppy. People would murder me for hating kids and look at me as some sort of monster, ignoring the fact that I pet every dang puppy I see.

People in the end are selfish - more or less masked by their current interests, needs or social situation. A "good husband" during the day may be a "bad cheater" during the night....

I have no idea why, but you just made me think of this song:

 

[lord.jeff]

Also, it seems 90% of the people I have met in my life have been murderous bastards.

Where the hell do you go to meet people? I'm pretty sure if you knew that many murders you'd probably have been offed by now.

 

[Akytalusia]

because life feeds on life, and the crueler species will prevail. it's the nature of the beast(life). people put faith in themselves and have hope because there's no other option. without hope or faith that there's some good reason for it all, then we would do the sensible thing and destroy the world to end the suffering, not just for us, but for everything that lives here.
but guess what happens to the sensible guy who wants to do that? obviously, he gets eaten. majority rules. follow the crowd or die. so the clueless cruel live blissfuly ignorant happy lives, and the folks who think too much about the true nature of things, suffer or die. and this is the way the world perpetuates ad infinitum.

 

[Slick Samurai]

Because I know that no matter what happens, humans act like humans because humans are humans. It's what we are, we adapt from the moment we're born to be who we are. Sometimes who we are is a person who harms other people, but it doesn't change the fact that they're just human.

We're the most intelligent species on Earth, maybe in the galaxy. We're dominant over so many things, and we continue to rise over other forces of nature. That's right, I said "other forces of nature" because you have to remember that Humanity is a natural species. Everything we do and everything we will do is as nature intended.

Besides, if you don't like your own species that much then why don't you go live with the bears. I hear they're a very hospitable species.

 

[Dragunai]

Hahaha, Humanity is a word that, with every passing day, applies less and less to our species.
Look at the Holocaust, 9/11 and now the Oslo tragedy.

What part of mass genocide, ruthless murder of innocents and the near constant oppression and greed of Governments breathes life into ANY positive facet of our kind.

Yes, we have the innocence of children and the heroism of the brave but those things are easily swept aside by the torrent of evil. Besides the innocent children of today are simply the corrupted adults of tomorrow and despite the our best efforts even our greatest heroes eventually become the punchline of some disgusting joke.

And before anyone comes charging in to counter my apathetic outlook ask yourself this 1st.

How many jokes have you heard (not told but heard said or read somewhere) about the Holocaust?

How many times have you seen a reference to Pedobear which, lets face it, is just an avatar of the molestation of children which seems to gain HUGE support from the internets users.

How many different situations have you or someone you know been in where you said "Yeah and the guy I met at / on X game started being really racist / nasty (delete as appropriate) for no reason"

Those are just basic localized instances of the corruption that IS our species and I can assure you if anyone brings up love as a counter point expect me to bombard them in a follow up post with 101 stories I will track down online of cheating lovers and betrayals.

 

[Doclector]

Sounds like you need an intervention. There's plenty of pleasant people knocking about but I can assure you most wouldn't associate with one who has such a pessimistic and cynical world view. Ah hohoho.

The great catch 22 pounces yet again.

Also, it seems 90% of the people I have met in my life have been murderous bastards.

Where the hell do you go to meet people? I'm pretty sure if you knew that many murders you'd probably have been offed by now.

I spent a lot of my childhood near thamesmead. You'd be surprised.

 

[Sordak]

quite frankly cause im part of it, humanity is fucked up. But i kind of think i should stick to my species.

 

[GigaHz]

Simply because there are genuinely good people in this world. People who have the strength of will to disregard the naysayers and strive for the greater good. People who will sometimes devote their entire lives to something they strongly believe in, in the hopes that it might make some kind of difference in the long run, big or small.

Then there are also those relatively useless people who do nothing but criticize every attempt made by the aforementioned, all while contributing nothing to society. Those who genuinely believe that everyone is as selfish and ugly as they are. They will warp the aforementioned into an egotist, someone who is simply doing everything so that they may receive credit for their accomplishments. A truly good person doesn't subscribe to this defeatist mentality and simply shrugs it off.

I won't say that I have seen a lot of genuinely good people in this world, but I have seen a lot of people with good intentions. Considering the alternative, it could be a lot worse. If there wasn't any good in this world, we wouldn't have all the nice things we take advantage of now. Health care, Entertainment, Freedom (at least in a 'living' sense), Protection, Art, Human Rights, and many more. Someone had to fight, or devote part of their lives to achieving progress or discovery in those areas. I would say the fact that we as Human Beings were able to accomplish that is more than enough reason to have faith in humanity.