Why does humanity suck so much?

[Faladorian]

Insanity aside, I would say the majority of the world's issues would be resolved if everyone was knocked down a few pegs.

My religion is better than yours, so you should die!
well since there's no proof of your god or theirs, how about you shut up and deal with the fact that people live their lives differently

I hate women, let's go rape some!
You don't hate women, you hate bitches.

Let's cut funding for schools that teach evolution! It's only a theory!
Evolution is scientific fact. There are mounds of evidence, and "not believing in evolution" means "denying evolution." Also, gravity and time are theories.

What we should do with these situations:
If you're not sure that you're right, let it go.

What we do with these situations:
Kill each other, argue, fight, go to court, bomb establishments, fly planes into corporate buildings

It's pathetic. The world would be a better place if everyone just got over themselves and stopped being so damn stubborn.

Side Note: It may seem like I'm picking on religion here, but I'm not trying to. The truth is a lot of problems arise when people suggest that others are living their lives the wrong way. Also, a ridiculous amount of people have died due to religion: 9/11, the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the Witch trials, the Holodomor, the Holocaust... the list goes on. It's sad to think how many people could have been saved if they had just agreed to disagree, since God is an unfalsifiable hypothesis (meaning it can't be proven wrong because its nature is tentative) so you're not wrong to believe in God, but you're not right either. Stop killing each other, honestly.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

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 will highly agree to this, the internet is not a good place to be looking for good people.

Plus i garuntee you see good people doing good things all the time you just don't even realize it, the simple notion of giving someone a ride to work/school, the simple notion of holding the door open for that stranger behind you, that person who tapped you on the shoulder saying you lost your scarf,etc...

between that and your average hard working person who works there butt off to make ends meet everyday, they are plentiful out in the real world.

 

[Zaik]

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Both of you make a good point, the same point mostly, so i'm just going to address you together.

I'll be the first to admit I don't troll people for their own good, I do it for mine. But to try to deny that my actions ever bring about favorable outcomes as well is pretty misleading. Just as I said, if I can get enough info on you to troll you IRL, i *could* have used that info to max your credit card(s) and drain your bank account with paypal. If by rickrolling 10,000 people I teach 20 not to just go clicking every link someone posts, that's a service. You may hate me, but don't say I never did anything for you.

Saying people know what the human created ideals of good and evil are is...well, not incorrect. After all, we made them. However suggesting that by being "good" you can ignore any result of your actions just because your intentions were pure is borderline hypocrisy. I'm not saying you should feel guilty for every single bad outcome and lost potential that ever happens from all the good you do, but you are drawing a line based on personal perception rather than reality. Where does doing good end and enabling evil begin? I certainly don't know, and I won't ever know no matter how much I might potentially want to.

Addressing the last part, "The road to heaven is paved by evil intentions." Kind of humorous, but a little inaccurate in my case. The point to all of this isn't trying to suggest that good is evil or anything crazy. Your primary goal seems to be the "advancement of humanity" effectively. What I believe is that the only thing required to progress is to move forward. No matter how I behave or feel, as long as I act, we will advance. If by being the antagonist I rally just 2 protagonists to go about righting my and others wrongs, I caused more good than any one man could ever do. I might not have been good exactly, but if it would have never happened without me, I caused it. I guess to take it to a quote of a more spiritual origin(sorry, all I really know here is Christianity), Jesus says "You are saved not by works, but by faith." Most likely a precursor to, or the origin of, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." Basically, all the good in the world you could ever do is meaningless to him if you have no faith in him. If you heart isn't in playing hero, doing it anyway is going to be pointless and useless and serve nothing but to stroke your ego. Mine isn't. I may very well accurately fit a human description of "Evil", but to suggest I do nothing to "advance humanity" is a flat out lie.

 

[RatRace123]

Humans don't suck, certain individuals who also happen to be human suck, and you don't hear about the good aspects on the news or on the internet. You just hear about the violent, mistrusting, frivolous aspects.
Just today I'm betting hundreds of people have helped eachother out, I'm betting someone somewhere made a donation to a charity or volunteered at a shelter.

With all the negative threads regarding people lately it feels weird to be on the optimistic side.
I've always considered myself a pessimistic misanthrope, so why am I leaping to humanity's defense?

Ah well, I still stand by my answer.

 

[New Vegas Samurai]

I did a forum search for a topic like this, but it didn't net me the result I wanted, but please forgive me if this gone up before.

The past few months I've been getting extremely frustrated with the EVIL that man does. It's absolutely uncanny. This ranges from rickrolling someone on YouTube, to raping a woman, or to cause a giant massacre at a high-school. You can fill in plenty of other possibilities, from simple trolling to downright murderous behavior. Even though you can't compare rickrolling to a real rape, they do have a thing in common, that is that it does nothing to progress us a species.

No matter what the underlining motivation is (gloating, religious views, superiority issues, abused as a child, corporate greed), it does nothing but harm and the world won't be better for it.

We are filled with such unbridled potential, whether you chose to use that potential to make your partner and family happy or if you want to cure cancer, it's there. There is so much good in us, yet most people completely squander it, waste their time with stupid trolling, horrific acts of mutilation, pollute the environment, fighting in a bar or whatever else you can imagine.

That's not to say that we should always work hard at improving us and the world 24/7, we should definitely take time to enjoy our own lives, but what harm is it if you treat your fellow man with the same respect that you want to receive, to actually do something worthwhile, so that this planet we call Earth won't be a big stinking ball of shit and debris in 100 years.

Whether it's donating money to a cause, to thanking your baker for the bread he just sold you or to not allow your own insecurity to fester and beat the crap out of your wife, why can't we all just get along? And if you don't like someone else, just raise your hands and go another way, instead of fighting it out.

I am honestly not sure why we does this? All these wars and evil deeds may have had a reason in medieval times when superstition and stupidity ruled, but this is the 21st century, we should be more enlightened.
Can anyone provide me with a reason before I finish tearing the hairs out of my head?

All I know now is that I am going to raise my kids to be better than what we are now.

Humanity doesn't suck, it's all a matter of how you look at the world...
Sure you may see rape and murder commonly, but have you ever given pause to someone that does the opposite?

When someone rickrolls, do you take heed to the one that warns you, or even helps you in the forums?
When someone rapes anyone, do you remember the stories where there was a person who was there to stop it?
when there is genocide, do your remember the countless people who died in the act of stopping it?

for every misgiving, there is good, it's just that as a race we tend to focus more on the evil..
we do advance as a species, but as long as we concentrate on what evil has been done and complain about it, rather than try to change anything, it's no better than doing the act itself.

Pinning humanity as a sucky race doesn't help, it just makes it easier to deal
Rather than that do whatever you can to make everyhting better
I respect that you said you would raise kids well, and that can be a part of the solution

 

[Thaluikhain]

Humanity sucks because it is judged against humanity...it's not quite correct to say half the time, it's below average, but you know what I mean.

Of course, that's not a great comfort to those fucked over by the people lowering the average.

In regards to turning off your computer and going outside...nah, doesn't work. The media might exaggerate things and stick the most shocking on, but by the same token, much of the boring same old stuff isn't newsworthy. Even in the civilised parts of the world, a shockingly high number of people are victims of serious crimes.

 

[New Vegas Samurai]

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.

Hey, that's very well said. I agree.

Not much to add, but to enforce the message: It doesn't. That image you have is very distorted and overly simplified. Humans are rather complex creatures; someone can torture others, while another gives a warm bed and food to a person who desperately needs them, but won't even ask for. And that can easily be the same person, just in a different situation, environment or a month later.

well said exchange, I Agree with this

 

[neoman10]

Hello, misanthrope, I have been waiting for you to show up again. Now stop complaining, go outside, and enjoy life. Thank you and have a pleasant day

 

[DonMartin]

I spend plenty of time in the real world, and even though there are plenty of people who do good, I only have to turn on the news to see that real life people are doing their best to destroy civilization as we know it.

I remember his holiness the Dalai Lama saying something like human nature is kindness. That is why we sometimes feel like there's only evil in the world - the goodness is part of our nature, just like for an example eating. You dont think about eating, and neither does kind or good deeds you hear about linger in your mind for long. The impression that mankind is evil derives from the fact that we are chocked by hearing about bad deeds and remember them easier, because they are in actuality alien to us. That is, aside from the commercial value, the reason the news mainly show bad things. All the people who dedicate 100 % of their lives to improving the planet and helping each other hardly ever end up on television.

Personally, I find that anytime someone is rude to me, or does seemingly irrational bad things, I try to just smile and remain calm and collected. Sometimes Ive even managed to cheer sad or angry people up this way, complete strangers.

 

[The Stonker]

The internet is a disgusting place.
Humanity? Sure, if you hang around those people.
But saying that humanity is disgusting makes you a man who thinks his right and that means that you're no better.

 

[New Vegas Samurai]

\
I am just looking for answers, opinions and ideas, since I was thinking hard about this and came up with no answers myself. I am sorry if me not agreeing with your opinion pisses you off, it wasn't my intention to insult, I just gave you my honest view on it. Perhaps I should reword the title of this thread to: "Why does part of humanity suck so much?"

And also (this is odd coming from me), lighten up.

I think you're looking for a personal answer, in which case why try to think on it through other people's views?

FInd your answer and settle, as this thread has very much shown, people have vastly different Ideas and opinions, find the your own about the human race and you'll be more satisfied

 

[beniki]

Because it's the only way to get coke up the damn straw.

But really, humanity doesn't suck. We're doing way better than every other species on the planet, and can only improve. Don't let those hippies and green peace idiots out there fool you.

We're doing okay.

 

[fates_puppet13]

the reason the human race sucks is cause we are a bunch of corrupt selfish amoral dick on the most part and those that are not get to eat the boots of the majority
in all honesty we suck cause we're too good a living

 

[DonMartin]

(Just so you know, these are just thoughts in general and arent directed at you, The Human Torch!)

On a side note, it always perplexes me how easily some call a misanthrope a deep intellectual with great insight and philosophical relevance, whereas someone who lives a life of love is simply naive and simple.

The misanthrope laughs at the latter, calling him silly and saying he knows nothing of life. The kind man feels no need to generalize the human race: He meets different people, and treats these people the best he can. It seems to me that he is the wiser: The unaware intellectual, the great, unaware philosopher.

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes."
-Charles R. Swindoll

 

[carpathic]

It is not humanity that sucks, it is an outward expression of your own self-loathing. On balance humanity manages to feed the vast majority of the members of its species, believe it or not there are more trees now in the industrialized world than there were 100 or even 500 years ago (the average sailing vessel took something like 500 mature trees to build). Even in some of the more oppressive places in the world, things are less oppressive than they were 100 years ago in the least oppressive countries (think about the restrictions on people in Victorian England, or perhaps 50 years ago in the southern united states if you were black). I think it is more fair to say "Why did humanity suck so much and why is it not getting better faster?"

 

[Fearzone]

Nice existential trolling there. You've categorized human behavior and nature into "good" and "suck." Mature thinking reconciles the two.

 

[The Human Torch]

Another one of these? The fuck is up with you?
Your profile says you was born in 1980, yet you talk like an overly emotional and generally irritating 15 year old. Get the fuck off the internet, go out, and do something that is not ridiculous, annoying and pathetic.

Thank you, shit-for-brains.

(I hope that was offensive. I meant to be offensive. It feels so... good.)

You are indeed offensive, and also extremely sad. You have my sympathies.

 

[Kagim]

The past few months I've been getting extremely frustrated with the EVIL that man does. It's absolutely uncanny. This ranges from rickrolling someone on YouTube,

I don't see how that's in the slightest evil... Just annoying...

to raping a woman, or to cause a giant massacre at a high-school. You can fill in plenty of other possibilities, from simple trolling to downright murderous behavior.

Alright, Rape and Murder are not frequent things in the developed world. The massacreing of a highschool? You know those almost NEVER happen right. That's why columbine was such a huge deal.

Even though you can't compare rickrolling to a real rape, they do have a thing in common, that is that it does nothing to progress us a species.

Neither do video games, masturbating, taking my wife out to dinner.... Lots of things don't do anything for the species. At least anything you would likely consider good.. but i will get into that later...

No matter what the underlining motivation is (gloating, religious views, superiority issues, abused as a child, corporate greed), it does nothing but harm and the world won't be better for it. We are filled with such unbridled potential, whether you chose to use that potential to make your partner and family happy or if you want to cure cancer, it's there. There is so much good in us, yet most people completely squander it, waste their time with stupid trolling, horrific acts of mutilation, pollute the environment, fighting in a bar or whatever else you can imagine.

I can't help but repeat myself on how infrequent these things happens, and how much 'good' things don't amount to jack. You can be the nicest guy in the universe and you will not have helped the species one bit.

Mutilation and such, once again, rarely happens in the developed world.

Your contributing to the pollution by using the internet, one of the biggest energy wasters out there.

And 'whatever else you can imagine' is situational. Take abortion. Is that evil? Because people have been fighting tooth and nail for decades over whether it is or not.

That's not to say that we should always work hard at improving us and the world 24/7, we should definitely take time to enjoy our own lives, but what harm is it if you treat your fellow man with the same respect that you want to receive, to actually do something worthwhile, so that this planet we call Earth won't be a big stinking ball of shit and debris in 100 years.

Once again, it seems to be the problem that your assuming people are constantly beating the fuck out of each other and spitting on the dying. This is not true. Your average person is respectful of those around them. You remember the bad people you meet because people are more likely to remember the one guy who was rude then the sixty who were nice.

You remember that one day where shit was horrible and not the three hundred where you were content.

Whether it's donating money to a cause, to thanking your baker for the bread he just sold you or to not allow your own insecurity to fester and beat the crap out of your wife, why can't we all just get along? And if you don't like someone else, just raise your hands and go another way, instead of fighting it out.

People DO get along. This is very, very important to realize. You talk like people are constantly pounding the shit out of each other. The truth is most people would rather just say fuck it and walk away, and they do. While things like rape, murder, and abuse are serious and terrible things they are not the norm. Your looking at the minority that get blared on TV 24/7 and ignoring the majority that isn't news worthy.

I am honestly not sure why we does this? All these wars and evil deeds may have had a reason in medieval times when superstition and stupidity ruled, but this is the 21st century, we should be more enlightened.

And time for an ugly truth your not going to like.

War.
Equals.
Change.

As much as you want to condemn war it is the driving force behind change. War changes cultures, war advance technology. War creates struggle, and hardship, and pain, and stress.

Which leads to growth or annihilation. What happens when a species over populates it's environment? It destroys it. That's why there is always a bigger predator. Humans don't have that predator. We are our own predator. War means conflict. Conflict means change.

When at peace a species, of any kind, does not change. It stagnates. Conflict makes change. War breeds technology. Look around your room. Almost every piece of technology, including your computer, was created due to war.

You don't get stronger lifting a weight that isn't heavy. A species doesn't grow when there are no problems to face.

As much as you want to believe war is a bad thing, it's not. It's a necessary thing.

Can anyone provide me with a reason before I finish tearing the hairs out of my head?

Stop watching fox news and CNN. People on the majority are decent people. The quiet majority is overshadowed by the loud minority. Your only wasting your time. You won the genetic lottery and your upset that a small amount of the over privileged are assholes.

Your comparing the human race to an imaginary race that, for all we know, doesn't even exist.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

Nice to see someone shares my nihilistic opinions. I understand why some people say you should just relax and look at all the good things... But we can't forget how assholish people can be either.

I was on 11 year old when September 11th hit, and the year afterwards I learned about the Holocaust and other such atrocities. It seems the more I learned about what humans are capable of, the more I learned to hate them.

Now, before anyone jumps on me, I will admit that I haven't lost ALL my faith in humanity yet. I think this quotes sums up my thoughts:

"I love mankind! It's people I can't stand!" - Linus, Peanuts

 

[LaughingAtlas]

Ignoring the philanthropists, charites, caring parents, dedicated teachers, and hopeful scentists fighting presently uncurable diseases, yea, mankind is pretty fucked up. The way I see it, though, is that if we didn't make a mess of things, who would? Plants and animals don't do much beyond survive and natural disasters don't seem to slow us down much, so it's up to humanity to screw with things. In Dead Rising (fine example of human error, in-character and out) a character whose job it is to clean up zombie-related, apocalyptic mistakes of others says "Humanity has proven quite adept at making mistakes, it's the only thing we truly excel at!" I suspect he has a point. Can't do everything (or anything at all, it sometimes seems) right, can we? If we did, would we know what "right" or "wrong" even were?