Solitary man
Well-known member
What follows is a piece I wrote some time ago, in a bid to reassure misanthropes (like myself) that there is really nothing wrong with not liking other people, and that usually it's unavoidable. I hope you enjoy:
If you are an honest, decent person it's very difficult not to be a misanthrope. For me, misanthropy was not a choice, it was a simple, natural response to the way most people are, or at least seem to be. I've seen and experienced too much selfishness, egotism, narcissism, megalomania, phoniness, duplicity, nastiness and just pure downright evil in people for them to be even remotely likeable. And I don't use the term "evil" in the religious sense of the word, just as an accurate descriptor of the malice which seems to reside within a great many people.
There just seems to be an excessive amount of corruption within people, and "good natured people" seem to becoming increasingly hard to find. I'm not claiming to be an angel, I have my faults, inconsistencies, and am far from perfect myself, but at my core I consider myself to be a good person (remember "good"?). I value truth, honesty, and sincerity. I have zero tolerance for disingenuous people, and once I get a whiff of phoniness from another person I automatically and immediately erect my protective barrier and block them out.
Everywhere I go I see anxiety and fear in people, and out of that fear comes a terrible hostility. People do not trust one another. There is too much selfishness, competitiveness, egocentrism, fear and prejudice within people for them ever to fully empathise and happily get along. Most social interactions feel like a power struggle and a poorly disguised battle for control, with everyone wanting to be in control and dominate or humiliate the other person. I think human insecurity lies at the root of a lot of this, and whilst understandable, it's not pleasant to experience.
I avoid people as I don't like most of them, it's that simple. I have found it impossible to find anything likeable about most people, and I do not enjoy interacting with them. Some people might think of me as "a weirdo" or "an oddball", I really couldn't care less. I would much rather be a loner and a recluse and be honest with myself and my feelings about other people than put on a façade and pretend to like people whilst feeling a natural contempt for them.
There is nothing remotely wrong with misanthropy or misanthropes. Misanthropy has been defined as "a generalized dislike, distrust, disgust, contempt and hatred of the human species, human nature, or society." As misanthropes we are people who have seen and experienced enough of the inherent corruption within the human species and the society which humans have created, based upon selfishness, ruthlessness, duplicity and greed to feel any admiration for humankind.
A misanthrope is someone who values selflessness, integrity and authenticity, and who rejects the corrupt nature of the human condition as it has become, knowing that most people have allowed themselves to degenerate to such an extent that any positive attributes still remotely traceable within human nature have become minimal. The positives have been so greatly overshadowed and eroded by the beast that continues to ravage what little goodness which may still exist within humankind so as to render it negligible and virtually meaningless.
I am proud to call myself "a misanthrope", as I do not dislike people out of a gratuitous or misguided sense of malice, but from having experienced enough of the bastards to realise that regrettably you must protect yourself from most people if you wish to survive. That's a pretty damning indictment of the human species, but it comes from life experience, and it's just as truthful and valid as any antithetical rose-tinted view of human nature.
Having said all of this, I still believe in love, compassion and understanding, and haven't give up hope entirely. I tread cautiously and curiously, hoping that the small element of "goodness" still to be found amidst the abundance of negative human qualities can once again begin to grow and find strength, and that people shall begin to lose their fear, selfishness and highly competitive natures, and develop a desire to embrace a spirit of utilitarian co-operation, dispensing with the ruthless, individualistic, self defeating aggression of the past.
Misanthropes are the biggest disapprovers of humanity. Our disapproval comes from a very natural repulsion to all of the negative characteristics of human nature; characteristics which have proven impossible to appreciate, value or respect. For this reason I shall always be an outsider, a loner, a recluse and a misanthrope. I take no sense of moral superiority from this mode of being, just a very deep sense of sadness, and a simple self preservational desire to protect myself from my fellow man in his current condition.
If you are an honest, decent person it's very difficult not to be a misanthrope. For me, misanthropy was not a choice, it was a simple, natural response to the way most people are, or at least seem to be. I've seen and experienced too much selfishness, egotism, narcissism, megalomania, phoniness, duplicity, nastiness and just pure downright evil in people for them to be even remotely likeable. And I don't use the term "evil" in the religious sense of the word, just as an accurate descriptor of the malice which seems to reside within a great many people.
There just seems to be an excessive amount of corruption within people, and "good natured people" seem to becoming increasingly hard to find. I'm not claiming to be an angel, I have my faults, inconsistencies, and am far from perfect myself, but at my core I consider myself to be a good person (remember "good"?). I value truth, honesty, and sincerity. I have zero tolerance for disingenuous people, and once I get a whiff of phoniness from another person I automatically and immediately erect my protective barrier and block them out.
Everywhere I go I see anxiety and fear in people, and out of that fear comes a terrible hostility. People do not trust one another. There is too much selfishness, competitiveness, egocentrism, fear and prejudice within people for them ever to fully empathise and happily get along. Most social interactions feel like a power struggle and a poorly disguised battle for control, with everyone wanting to be in control and dominate or humiliate the other person. I think human insecurity lies at the root of a lot of this, and whilst understandable, it's not pleasant to experience.
I avoid people as I don't like most of them, it's that simple. I have found it impossible to find anything likeable about most people, and I do not enjoy interacting with them. Some people might think of me as "a weirdo" or "an oddball", I really couldn't care less. I would much rather be a loner and a recluse and be honest with myself and my feelings about other people than put on a façade and pretend to like people whilst feeling a natural contempt for them.
There is nothing remotely wrong with misanthropy or misanthropes. Misanthropy has been defined as "a generalized dislike, distrust, disgust, contempt and hatred of the human species, human nature, or society." As misanthropes we are people who have seen and experienced enough of the inherent corruption within the human species and the society which humans have created, based upon selfishness, ruthlessness, duplicity and greed to feel any admiration for humankind.
A misanthrope is someone who values selflessness, integrity and authenticity, and who rejects the corrupt nature of the human condition as it has become, knowing that most people have allowed themselves to degenerate to such an extent that any positive attributes still remotely traceable within human nature have become minimal. The positives have been so greatly overshadowed and eroded by the beast that continues to ravage what little goodness which may still exist within humankind so as to render it negligible and virtually meaningless.
I am proud to call myself "a misanthrope", as I do not dislike people out of a gratuitous or misguided sense of malice, but from having experienced enough of the bastards to realise that regrettably you must protect yourself from most people if you wish to survive. That's a pretty damning indictment of the human species, but it comes from life experience, and it's just as truthful and valid as any antithetical rose-tinted view of human nature.
Having said all of this, I still believe in love, compassion and understanding, and haven't give up hope entirely. I tread cautiously and curiously, hoping that the small element of "goodness" still to be found amidst the abundance of negative human qualities can once again begin to grow and find strength, and that people shall begin to lose their fear, selfishness and highly competitive natures, and develop a desire to embrace a spirit of utilitarian co-operation, dispensing with the ruthless, individualistic, self defeating aggression of the past.
Misanthropes are the biggest disapprovers of humanity. Our disapproval comes from a very natural repulsion to all of the negative characteristics of human nature; characteristics which have proven impossible to appreciate, value or respect. For this reason I shall always be an outsider, a loner, a recluse and a misanthrope. I take no sense of moral superiority from this mode of being, just a very deep sense of sadness, and a simple self preservational desire to protect myself from my fellow man in his current condition.
