Why does humanity suck so much?

[Neverhoodian]

I think it bears repeating that most media coverage tends to cover the negative stories over the positive. You don't hear about decent people because quite frankly that's how most people are. Thus, it's boring and not worth their time going over.

Take one of my most recent jobs as an example. I got a temporary job last year as a census worker for a few months. My work consisted of going door to door collecting basic information on the living status of addresses that for whatever reason hadn't sent their forms in. While I did have to deal with some rude and uncooperative residents, the vast majority were happy to provide the necessary info. Many of them had simply forgotten about it, and some had actually deliberately ignored the form so folks like me could get a job in these hard economic times. During the summer months, some people invited me inside and offered me water or soda. Stuff like that wouldn't even make the back page of the local newspaper, but an incident where a census worker was threatened at gunpoint in a different state gets all the attention because it's so unusual.

Now I'm not saying everything's star bursts and butterflies. Everyone has an evil side to them that shows through from time to time. All I'm saying is that in my experience, most people are friendly or at least cordial. It's just so commonplace that you don't even think about it most of the time.

 

[Hiikuro]

I think humanity appears to suck simply because we remember the negatives and discard the positives too often. Possibly because many of us have (through culture or otherwise) learned to focus on that we suck, thus ignore events where we don't suck. The news rarely show good news as they are judged as of little value, even if good things likely happen quite frequently. See the related mean world syndrome .

In addition, our own focus on the belief that we suck in turn might makes us more likely to behave that way, thus it becomes a sort of disease that spreads through society. A self-fulfilling prophecy.

However, when it comes to people behaving badly online, I'd attribute that to a biological defect in humans that not all manage to overcome.

 

[Togs]

Generic adolescent existential angst, OP will grow out of such BS son enough (EDIT=or not so adolescent, at 31 years of age it would be expected that a person would have enough experience for these type of overblown statements to seem ridiculous, but I guess not.)

People are animals mate- suck it up and try to make your corner of the world a better place- being a moraliser doesnt make you moral, looking down on everything around you doesnt make you superior.

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

We're only faulty by our own standards...

Imposing your own idealism on a species of sentient individuals is a mistake. There is no hive-mind, we're not striving for anything, it's just chaos...

Such idealism requires us to suspend everything we know about our own biology, our history and our finite resources. There is no "should" for human behaviour, only what is...embrace it.

 

[The Human Torch]

Generic adolescent existential angst, OP will grow out of such BS son enough (EDIT=or not so adolescent, at 31 years of age it would be expected that a person would have enough experience for these type of overblown statements to seem ridiculous, but I guess not.)

People are animals mate- suck it up and try to make your corner of the world a better place- being a moraliser doesnt make you moral, looking down on everything around you doesnt make you superior.

30 Years old actually, don't make me feel so old!.

We are animals indeed, and given the ability ponder over our existence, which is why I was pondering about the evil that man does. I also have a bit of a distaste for these "if you are saying that it won't make you this" sayings. You are always the bad guy when those get mentioned.

And I am trying to make my corner of the world better.

 

[Batfred]

I wouldn't go as far as to say that we suck as a race, but are pretty shitty. A few have already pointed out that it is just because these days we are more aware of it than ever before, but I have also commented in recent posts on other subjects that society is going down the pan due to a Nanny State and PC gone mad.

I agree with the "Cheer the fuck up" sentiment, but not completely.

We are arses when it comes to raping the planet and what do all do about it? Squat! Yeah, we try to recycle and catch a train when we can instead of driving, but I'm no better than the reast of us. I am running 3 computers across 4 screens while I type this which really is a little excessive. Multiply this by a couple billion of us and no wonder we are going to lose polar bears, giant pandas et al and up to 2% of all biodiversity by the end of the century.

Saying that, once you put these points aside, it is a great time to be alive. I could think of no time that I would rather have been born in in all of history.

 

[Trogdor1138]

Why does humanity suck so much? It doesn't. Turn off the computer. The Internet tends to warp the minds and faiths of people who are just waiting to have their own narrow-minded biases confirmed.

Get out there and deal with real people in the real world and you'll find them generally decent, hard working, intelligent, and well worth befriending. But stick to the cesspools of online space and you'll just become a bitter, hateful boil on the ass of society.

And if that's not enough for you, then you are the problem, not the solution. We can't all be Einstein, but we can all be "everyman". And Joe Everyman's a damn fine fellow.

I agree with this.

It's not actually all that bad out there in the world, it's not perfect, but it wasn't supposed to be. Life is the most amazing and interest thing we can experience, humanity is quite wonderful and complex. If you don't look for the good parts you're wasting your time completely and missing the big picture. We're actually extremely privileged to be living in a time like this, compared to the dark ages etc.

 

[Ulvai]

It's because we a bastards, that's why! Think about it: every successful species became successful be destroying every other species which dared to threaten them, their resources, their territory, or simply looks at them funny. While niceness and "team spirit" are incorporated in people too, as biological imperatives, there are so many of us that people break up into smaller sub-societies (races, nations, cities, hoods, sub-cultures...) and treat all others as outsiders.

 

[Theron Julius]

Not everyone is that bad. Look at the millions of people who devote time and effort to charity. Are they all douche bags wasting their potential? Are the thousands of scientists in the world who are trying to increase mankind's collective knowledge all ass holes? Don't be so cynical. Not all men are evil.

 

[Crazycat690]

Because humans are greedy, even the ones who claim they aren't, like christians, even those who would claim they are the purest humanity has to offer, they do good deeds to get to heaven, so they can have a pleasent afterlife. And what they're doing in underdeveloped countries are also quite evil, forcing their religion upon locals in exchange for food and supplies...

I say, the best thing you can do, is not to add to the evil humans do, I, a teen gaming nerd, might seem like a relative harmless fool, however I use the earth's resources, I eat meat, which means some innocent animals have had to die when I could instead have gone for a vegetarian meal.

As long as we humans care to live a "civilized" life, we have no choice but to be evil. The only thing you really can do is to accept that there are no saints, and do the little things, like holding up the door for a fellow human, or get a injured animal to a vet.

For a world without evil, or the least evil, I will point at John Lennon's song "Imagine", where he describes a world without countrys and religion etc. However that would be socialism, or even communism, which you decent folks are pretty quick to say is evil, indeed, there are often dictators that abuse their power making it evil, but wouldn't it be the best world where we just helped each other instead of watching only over our own interest? However, I don't think humanity don't have the willpower, to give up our current capitalistic way of life and possessions to give everyone a chance to be happy. I wouldn't, I like living in a big house, having a ps2 & 3, two PC's, I wouldn't give it up so other poor people would have a happier life. Go ahead, call me a bad person, but would you give up your luxory life for the sake of helping people you don't know, and would probably not even meet?

If you would, I say good, those are needed, however I wont waste time helping people that operate on greed.

 

[Togs]

30 Years old actually, don't make me feel so old!.

We are animals indeed, and given the ability ponder over our existence, which is why I was pondering about the evil that man does. I also have a bit of a distaste for these "if you are saying that it won't make you this" sayings. You are always the bad guy when those get mentioned.

And I am trying to make my corner of the world better.

Not the bad guy in this case, just a little naive and to be brutally honest a little pretentious.
I used to think in the exact same way and slowly descended into a depressed misanthropic fugue- everywhere I looked I saw things that repulsed and perplexed me, until those 2 statements and a series of (un)fortunate events made me realise that things are never as bad as they seem; and that people are always worth giving the benefit of the doubt to.

And as for your last statement, good on you.

 

[LavaLampBamboo]

Good and evil are entirely subjective concepts. Don't get bogged down in looking at the world thinking "Oh there are so many terrible things in the world", just get on with your life.

You claim things like rickrolling are evil because they do nothing to further our progress as a race, but neither do so many things. Eating a sandwich. Playing video games. Reading a comic. This forum post.

Thinking about humanity as a whole makes it difficult to notice the good, because bad things tend to get reported on the news. Like someone said "No-one reports when buildings don't fall down."

Humans aren't naturally evil, but in the same way they aren't naturally good. We are blank. Tabula erasa. What you think of other people is entirely correct, but only to yourself. One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter and such.

Stop looking at life, and start living.

 

[ulan bator]

I think it is mostly because of instinct, which tells us to step on everything and everyone to improve and to satisfy ourselves.
I don't necesarily think humanity is "evil", it's just the way we were wired to survive and thrive in this world, and the reason that rapists and sadist murderers exist is probably because a chemical imbalance in their brains.
I think the only way that humanity could unite globally in the name of progress would be if we completely abolish free will, like ants and other insects. yes, it would probably suck in some aspects, but it would probably be for the best, considering the self-destructive path humanity is heading to.

 

[Kair]

Righteousness is difficult. It is easier to fool one self that something is right when it benefits yourself or your group than realize that your actions are wrong and suffer the personal consequences of doing what is right.

 

[rutger5000]

The behavior of man is 50% environment and 50% on how man respond to that environment. That's why most people are so alike, because most people of the same environment experience the same situations and are trained to react in a similar way. There are exceptions of course, but those are rare. An environment can be either positive or bad and people can respond to it rightly or wrongly. Reacting wrongly is often easier, and as a law of nature people will tend to do so, unless they are influenced to react differently.

 

[LilyB]

As an idealistic kid, I used to wonder why people became alcoholics, why they smoked, why they did dope, and more. These were clearly self-defeating behaviors even though they involved fleeting pleasures. As an adult, I realized that it is easy to lose hope, or to lose sight of goals, or about the right way to live, and to submerge oneself in short-lived pleasures temporarily as a way of numbing pain. That part of the suckage has to do with being afraid, or feeling insignificant, or not trying, or being sad, or tired. Or angry and trying to impose our will on the world and on fate. How else to explain young people who smoke? Daring the odds, or just hopeless? Either way, it's self-destructive.

As we all know from childhood, some kids are just mean. Maybe they're getting kicked around at home, or maybe they're sadists. If they hit us, does their backstory really matter? No. Do they grow up to be wonderful people? A few do, but others continue to be mean. Do some segue into criminal violence? Sure. Do they get away with it? Yes, and no. Most criminals get caught, but only after they do their bad stuff. Sigh.

Hopelessness is the big issue here. If other people are jerks, you do not have to despair. You can live your life as a good person, and make the world a better place. One person can make a huge difference, whether to the entire planet, or to just one other person's life. Don't worry too much about the suckage; focus on what works, and how you can make more of it work. We are here with the opportunity to do neat stuff, or simply to do good, so go out and do it.

 

[Vault101]

Because it is in our nature to focus on the nagative

in regards to humanity there is equal good and evil

 

[teebeeohh]

because a world in which eeryone is nice and happy would be VERY(hey, there is something stuck under my "v" key) boring

 

[fenrizz]

We have conquered the oceans, we have conquered the air.

We conquered space, at least a little, and we put a man on the moon.

We have progressed further in the last hundred years than a man from the 1700's would even dream was possible.

We do not suck.
Any problem we can deal with, no challenge is too big.

We will conquer the universe, we will learn all the secrets it has to teach us.

 

[Shia-Neko-Chan]

Why does it suck so much?

Because you personally choose to perceive humanity as such.

Why don't you try weighing in the good humanity has done? You can find it if you actually want to.

Humanity's worth is not that of the most worthless. It's much less black and white than that.