Humanity; is my disgust rational?

[Ace of Spades]

If you let yourself become worked up by humanity's faults, you're going to spend a lot of your time angry. The problem is that idiots attract a lot more attention than normal people. It's like when you're going down a highway and think that you aren't going fast enough when you see a lot of cars pass you, but you need to take into account all the ones that aren't.

 

[dark-amon]

I find your -disgust- as you prefer to refer to it as, higly irational. Are you aware that such prejudgements and bad faith (not religious faith, it is a term by Sartre)are pretty much the same core as the one that lead to the iraq-war.
The way you said it made it look like you turn the entire humankind into an object, but think of yourself and those close around you into subjects (not the servant-term). This is exactly what Bush did on a national level when he decided that it was morally acceptable to do what he did.

 

[Jharry5]

I think that the answer here, like so many other things, lies in the middle ground.
Yes, you've got the real bastards; tyrants, mass murderers etc.
I've met my fair share of really unpleasant people. People who'd bully someone because they're smarter, or shorter than them or just because they got bored. But I've met a lot of decent, caring people as well. In the larger picture, there are people trying to make the world a better place.

I think this world view that 'everything sucks' can be blamed largely on mass media. Only the horrific stories make it onto the news, all for ratings. They rarely show the other side of things.
Anyway, that's my two cents...

 

[Spitfire175]

(Sorry this post is really long, I'm kind of hungover and my thoughts ran away with me. But please, don't just TLDR, I have quite a few points in here)

You are not alone, this is the internet, there will be hundreds of people willing to post there reasons for hating humanity. And, with luck, as many people trying to counter them.

You are part of humanity, do you hate yourself? "Huge issues of self esteem"? Well, hell brother, your self esteem issues cover the entirety of humanity. You are disgusted to be human.

So there is war, there is debt, there is poverty, starvation, rape, murder. There are so many things to hate about humanity. Hell, while I type this African children are dying for reasons as simple as expenditure. Britain and France burn excess food cause its cheaper then transporting it to Africa, if America were to spend its military budget on poverty then we could pull so many countless millions out of a life which no-one deserves to be forced to live in. I could go on about that for so many hours, so many thousands of words could be wasted outlining everything wrong with humanity.

Or I could point out everything else, which is slightly harder, takes more effort, and involves ignoring that lovely teenage angst which drives most people between the ages of 13-17 to have Columbine fantasies. Could pull the cliché card of "Love", but that's for slightly later in this hung-over life is fucking awesome rant.

For everything going wrong in the world there are people trying to make it right. Two MILLION people marched against the war. That's 2,000,000 people on the streets, trying to convince our government that for once public opinion is not divided and getting our balls shot off for no apparent reason is a BAD IDEA. And even though the British government ignored them all and, well, the war is killing hundreds of people, an evil man is dead, if we can succeed in the almost impossible task of re-educating and eventually stabilising the region, the world is a slightly better place. That put to one side, the war in Afghanistan is another controversial issue and reason for quite a few people to hate humanity. Yet look at it really, what are the soldiers doing out there? Shooting people who, to some degree, deserve to be shot. I'm not talking about the innocents, the countless civilians killed in bombing or "Friendly Fire", I'm talking about the, well, bastards, who blind woman for not wearing a veil, who are willing to kill fellow countrymen, fellow HUMANS, just to make a point.

Lets ignore war for a moment, put UN involvement in trying to stabilise some regions aside, and look at famine. Yes, the big governments could do something more about it, yes its bad that hundreds of people die every day, yes its bad that (with luck) one or two people are nodding along with what I am saying right now but are too desensitised to actually realise the magnitude of these problems, but isn't it a good thing that we are trying to do something about it? Why hate humanity when there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people who give money to charity, who strive to make the world a better place?

The major issues aside, just think of your friends. Don't be in disgust of your species, my friend. Yes, there are real bastards out there. People who kill and rape because they can. And then there are the people who you love (Have no choice but to take the cliché route now, sorry guys). Myself, I have a wonderful girlfriend, a brilliant circle of friends and a life full of options ahead of me. I spent an evening drinking, singing and dancing around a fire in a forest, having stupid drunken sex in a field with said amazing girlfriend and just generally feeling like life couldn't get any better. If you surround yourself with people you love and who love you, how can you be in disgust? If simply by seeing someone you smile, if you can look into someone's eyes and know without a doubt that they would risk everything for you and you know you would do the same for them, how can you hate humanity?

Life is good, my friend, humans are essentially good, at heart. We all have equal capacity to do harm and to heal, and most of us choose to make the world better for themselves and those they are surrounded with. You can sit at home, attacking the flaws in humanity, hating the war, hating the fact that homeless people are outside shivering to death. Or next time you hear about a protest, go join it. Go march with your fellow humans. Next time you see a homeless guy, give him some cash. Make his life better. Its winter here, buy some gloves and hand them out to those who cant afford it.

Don't detest humanity. Do your part. Make us a species we can all be proud to be a member of. I know I am.

Wiki out

A nice post. I agree in general, but there's one point that is wrong: humans are not good. We are not textbook evil either, but selfish, greedy, abusive and above all we have too much power. Why are there good things, then? Simple: humans are pack animals- we try to improve the position of out pack, herd, nation, or whatever you want to call it. When we do this, we also improve the position of other humans. The good bits, like democracy, free market economy, human rights, laws, equality, are a side product of kicking someone else in the head to get more powerful. Not perhaps directly, but there's a correlation.

 

[nickfurze]

If you let yourself become worked up by humanity's faults, you're going to spend a lot of your time angry. The problem is that idiots attract a lot more attention than normal people. It's like when you're going down a highway and think that you aren't going fast enough when you see a lot of cars pass you, but you need to take into account all the ones that aren't.

I love you. And I agree. That's kinda what I tried to get across in my post. But I have since then decided that I am not hungover, merely still drunk.

Regardless! This thread is giving me more faith in the internet. Seems anonymity brings out the douchebag inside everyone. Yet not today!

To try and stay on topic, I am an atheist, a Humanist (You can have a humanist who is not an Atheist, sometimes there is a bit of misconception on that point) and a self declared Marxist. Capitalism is bad. Yes. But we have to deal with it.

There always have, and there will always be, stupid, ignorant and moronic people in the world. And sadly, there will always be more idiots than anyone else. Luckily! katanas were invented for a reason!

Sorry, ser, I disagree. I think you will find that the majority of people are not "Idiots". Its just that idiots are louder then calm people. Don't let yourself be conned into thinking the loudest people are the majority. If I have a megaphone, I ain't that majority. But your comments on katanas amuses me. As does the fact that my spell check thinks that when saying "Katanas" I am really trying to say "Satanism"

disgust is a strong word I prefer disappointment.

I'm disappointed in the human race to allow, major crimes like poverty, climate change, genocide and financial/political corruption to continue because people think that it is out of their hands or that they are neccesary evils.

Go do something about it. Nothing else to say to you really. Cept that I agree. And do something about it.

quote]

I am trying to do something about it, I'm a member of Power 2010, which is a group seeking Political reform to make the British Government more democtatic and accountable. My belief is that once we have achieved the nessecary political reform, the government will be able (or have to,) sort out the evils within society. Naive, I know but I think it could work.

P.S. You're bang on the money about Humanism not meaning Athiesm, I'm a Humanist and I don't deny the existence of A God/ Supreme Being.

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

Don't worry, Humanity also disgusts me.
and likely many others.
not hard to realise why I am disgusted by Humans when you see the people I see.

Expand on your points so someone (Like me, maybe) can give you a few reasons to realise that humanity is far from disgusting. What's so wrong with the people you see? Do you live in a hell hole in which rape is a form of currency? If not then there are far more reasons to love your fellow man then to be in disgust of them.

Oh, I realise that there are some sterling examples of humanity out there, just not where I live.
I look around, all I see is greed, and animals.
violent yobs, who would rather stab someone for something than ask, bullies beating down the decent kids in the local schools, people who don't know the basics of the Highway Code.

I just wish there were some more of the better examples of humanity here, instead of these wretches. I'm disgusted by humanity, because most of the humans around me inspire disgust, loathing and fear.
One day I'll move out of this place, and then I'll see the better humans. Then I won't feel disgust for the many because of the few.

 

[Spacelord]

Disgust is an emotion and therefore by definition irrational.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Without the control group, no-one would ever notice the exceptionals.

 

[Sebenko]

If humanity disgusts you so, then destroy them. If you're too weak to do that, then you're as pathetic as the rest of them and have no right to complain.

I plan to end my life atop a mountain of corpses. Well, maybe not. But still, we all have to have our insane dreams, right?

 

[Communist partisan]

I look at humans like smart animals that the most of us would die if we wouldn't have everything that we have

 

[Bagaloo]

Yeah, there are bad people, but you have to look at the bigger picture.
For all the crap going on in the world, you can still find people who have done some good, who aren't out to fuck up the human race.

Effectively saying "Everyone in the world who I don't personally know and approve of is a disgusting idiot" is such a pigheaded way of viewing humanity. Good is out there, you just have to find it.

 

[BonsaiK]

never let it be said that i hate all humanity. there are certain people close to me who i like and admire, , and then there are people that i know, and i dont like, and simply being around them revolts me. my reasons are simply because of how blind and stupid almost everyone i encounter seems to be. for example; what did Iraq have to do with 9/11? nothing. well, perhaps not nothing, but surely not enough to justify an invasion, subsequent war and massive national debt. another thing that gets me down is the huge issues of self esteem and the like forced upon the children of western countries. pre-teens wearing makeup. ten yr old girls wearing wonder bras. children who are forced into the mold of their parents dreams before they even know what they want with their lives. stuff like this makes me wonder what the point of working towards a better world is, when everyone else seems to blindly accept this as reality and not bother to change it. what is there to do? what can i do? please, someone tell me im not alone in this?

Plenty of people feel exactly the way that you do. In fact, in many countries a majority of people feel this way. You don't hate humanity, what you hate is Western society's values.

 

[ctrl-alt-postal]

Yes, your disgust is rational. It means you are seeing the world for what it is. Humanity is not capable of being rational, but individual humans are. Learn to see the true nature of individuals, and act accordingly. What is there to do? That depends on your aim. The first thing to decide: What is your aim?

And then go have mini-raves in forests. Or maybe that's just me.

And I second that!!!! (it has been to long.....)

 

[Ophiuchus]

No, it's irrational. Furthermore, it's completely bloody childish.

Honestly, I get so sick of this "I hate humanity" nonsense and struggle to understand why it's so prevalent on The Escapist forums. The only explanation I can come up with is a correlation with the outrageous number of Internet Tough Guys that we seem to have around here. That in itself is a correlation with the number of people who worship a certain Australian dwelling British ex-pat as their deity.

Yes, there are some absolutely phenomenally stupid people out there. But guess what? That happens. It's called life. Right about now you've got two choices: get over it and realise there's plenty of good (or at least non-idiot) out there, or settle down to your life of misery, hatred and isolation.

EDIT:

Without the control group, no-one would ever notice the exceptionals.

This.

 

[Pyotr Romanov]

Humanity would be alright, if it wasn't for all the fuckin people...

Yes, or the people would be alright, if it wasn't for fucking humanity...