Justified Misanthropy

Photo: Justified Misanthropy - Follow the Way of People or the Way of Nature?

Psychologists are people who get paid big bucks to invent fancy names for common human traits, such as laziness or ignorance.

— self

I keep asking myself – is it possible, in this day and age, for a reasonably aware person, to not be disappointed with mankind? World leaders make promises to end wars in order to get the office and when the office is theirs, they go right ahead and expand the war. And general public, instead of calling for impeachment and worldwide condemnation of these war criminals, goes out of their way to worship them. Indeed, when it comes to going out of their way, the public goes twice the distance justifying their idols and defending them when faced with people who retain a reasonable level of sanity and virtue.

Photo: Justified Misanthropy - Follow the Way of People or the Way of Nature?
Photo: Justified Misanthropy - Follow the Way of People or the Way of Nature?

My whole life I was looking forward to the day when we as a people embrace one another and the world will once and for all live in peace. They sing about it in songs, they write poetry about it, and by right, considering how advanced we got as a civilization, you’d expect us to grow up and make killing for money and power history. Sadly, it ain’t happening.

Our existence in the universe is almost exclusively detrimental with no redeeming qualities to it. We destroy even as we create. We consume, we multiply, we lay waste. We pollute the air we breathe, we poison the water we cannot be without, we choke the very planet without which we perish and on top of it all, we treat one another with prejudice, egocentrism and selfishness and desire power to dominate and humiliate the other person.

True enough, I did live my life looking forward to the day when we as a people embrace one and another and the world starts to live in peace but it didn’t last long. I realized early on that throughout thousands of years of documented human history, there has not been one decade without war. How foolish of me to think that after millennia of embracing war we would magically turn around and embrace peace… How foolish of me to raise my voice against war hungry leaders and violence craving citizens.

Still, things seemed to have been different only a couple of decades ago. Most people opposed unjustified wars, such as that in Vietnam and condemned soldiers for their (whether voluntary or involuntary) participation in slaughter of innocent civilians. Back then people rallied to protest wars (hippie movement) – nowadays they rally by the millions to celebrate murder (alleged killing of Osama bin Laden). It would seem we have not evolved one bit since the time of the Romans when people flocked to watch men slaughter each other in coliseums.

Peace loving pacifists are a minority so small that compared to the war-happy killing-supporters, they literally do not exist. I would know, because being one of them, I get trampled by the hatred-spewing war zombies left and right like there’s no tomorrow, with voice of peaceful sanity nowhere to be found.

War is the way for sick-in-the-head individuals to go on a killing spree and get away with it. The wars of today are as unjustified and immoral as they were 40 years ago, but the people changed. Instead of condemning each and every killing machine out there, people of today “thank them for their service” and some even go as far as saying that these war criminals “protect our freedom”. Honestly, is this really how far we’ve descended as a species in a matter of a few decades?

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell!

Psychologists have all the answers as to why there is such a high occurrence of suicides among veteran soldiers yet they seem to fail to see the bigger picture. Perhaps the premise of consciousness has not made it to their textbooks? It’s simple, really – being able to kill and get away with it gives the soldiers a god-like status. While they can’t give life (and could care less), they have the power to take it and they’re more than happy to put that power to use.

Must be hell of a rush to handcuff a one year old and shoot it in the head just because you can. All your soldier-buddies pat you on your back as you entertain them by addressing the frightened civilians with offensive names. You look forward to your next kill but as the years go by, the screams of your defenceless victims start hunting you and flashbacks from your days of “glory” turn into spooks that never leave your side. You’re left to live with it and get slowly consumed by the ever growing remorse until you can’t take it no more.

It makes perfect sense that so many veteran soldiers respond to their immoral past by hating themselves to the point of no return. As it goes among soldiers, they do not ask, they do not tell. What really happened on the battlefield is a secret those who were not there will never be disclosed. But upon return to “normal” life, when the roaring of the falling bombs quiets down, and their soldier buddies are no longer around to laugh with them at people they’d murdered, the screams of their victims take over. In order to keep the secret a secret, they silence the screams by taking their own lives. And if they don’t, someone will take it for them and make it look like suicides. The secret must remain a secret.

Justified Misanthropy

If you got to the very underbelly of your problems, you’d realize that it’s people who are the root cause of them. The negative emotions you experience are almost exclusively the response to something somebody did. Something a person, or a group of people did. If you feel angry, it’s because a person did something you disagreed with. If you feel betrayed it’s because a person backstabbed you. If you feel left out, it’s because your friends turned to someone with prettier face than yours.

Remove people from your life and many negative feelings or experiences will be alien to you. That could include fear, sadness, broken heart, isolation, disappointment, back stabbing, betrayal, foul play, or other.

Certain unavoidable events or circumstances, such as passing of a loved one (human or not) could also evoke the feeling of sadness or loneliness, but they don’t happen out of spite and are often a natural part of life.

This leads me to a conclusion that misanthropy is not only justified, it is the only feasible alternative for anyone who’s reasonably intelligent and upright. Misanthropy is a natural reaction of decent, honest people to deplorable behaviour and the inherent corruption of the human species and the society they’ve created.

Those who resent misanthropy either lack mental capacity to comprehend the bigger picture, or succumb to hypocrisy in fear that it would affect their status among peers. This self-delusional cowardice tricks others into falsely perceiving them as all-loving mankind apologists, but it also tricks themselves by robbing them off honor and integrity.

Those who put their hearts into seeking truth, find it. Those who find truth but suppress it to avoid the negativism labels are cowardly hypocrites. Therefore to get the whole truth, one must seek negative people.

Is it possible to really love mankind if you don’t even understand it? Is it possible to love mankind if you seek truth? Is it possible to love the seeker of truth?

Misanthropy and Repentance

We the humans have so much potential yet we’re using most of it for the wrong purposes. People are not merely evil, they are as evil as can be and will readily go over and beyond.

An expression of disappointment in mankind, is an expression of care. We can only move forward as a people if we take notice of the reality for what it truly is and take appropriate action. Without it, we could be doomed to follow the wrong path and as the saying has it, it matter little how hard you paddle, if your boat is facing the wrong direction.

You can’t have good without evil, you can’t have devil without god, you can’t have love without hate. In a world dominated by two types of people – those who are evil at heart and those who support them – misanthropy is justified.

5 thoughts on “Justified Misanthropy”

  1. I stumbled across your website, I am an American in Istanbul and agree with everything you said and have even said exactly the same things. Glad to know there are like minded people.

    1. I’ve come to roughly the very same conclusion as well. It seems that, for the most part, the only people who behave decently toward others are doing it only because they want something from those others. Few seem to actually have any manners worth speaking of and fewer still seem to be genuinely altruistic or considerate of others. I find Jews, (especially Israeli Jews) in particular, to be the worst, by far! There are some notable exceptions to be sure, but not very many.
      That’s why I prefer my own company to the company of most others. I do have a few friends who think, more or less as I do, but even these are seldom consistent in their commitment to behaving like mature, reasonably well educated human beings.

  2. I agree sooooo much with what you said here. It was very relieving to read words (thoughts) that are so similar to my own.

  3. I am from Singapore. It’s so strangely heart-warming to read about thoughts that resonate with mine so much as if you are speaking my mind for me. Really appreciate your sharing!

    1. I’ve only met 2 people from Singapore, a married couple. They were very pleasant and friendly people. Folks from Singapore, I salute you!

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