Misanthropy/Is Humanity Doomed?

[Mofo Rising]

"I wonder, frightenedly, if anyone has ever hated as intensely as myself--not other men or cultures or monuments or moments, but the sheer idiocy of living and the gutcord of Being about my throat that strangles off every flow of reason and sanity, and the very herringbone patterns of this time that relates me to nothing but the thing of me that thinks and realizes and terrifiedly causes me to know that it belongs to nothing, not stuff or woman or ideals; that belongs only to the next moment, and the next, like the springs of a clock, as even the mighty dourful regularity of Big Ben belongs only to the imbecile ages."

I wonder about this topic, because I am emphatically not a misanthropist.

Odd, because most of my beliefs do not disagree with a general distrust of humanity. But I have never seen that as a bad thing, just a general fact of life. I love the contrariness of humanity, even if I don't always enjoy its results.

But I find it very common in people to have a general belief that humanity is doomed because things just get worse and worse. It's a way of looking at the world, which may be true or not.

So you can answer this poll, even if my quick categories don't fit you, but do you think that humanity in general is going the way of the dodo? Are the people around you doomed?

[Jack]

The world's always going through its ups and downs.  The Mongols invaded most of Europe, the Roman empire declined and fell, the Black Death wiped out two-thirds of the population, there were a couple of world wars, etc.  But we're still here and doing pretty darned good.  6.8 billion people with 6.8 billion competing interests don't make for very smooth sailing, but we move forward and things generally get a whole lot better over time. 

[indianasmith]

I have very little confidence in the goodness of human nature, but infinite confidence in the goodness of God.  So I enjoy life as best I can, and hope things improve while not really expecting them to.

[FatFreddysCat]

Humanity is a belligerent species that's seemingly hell bent on bringing about its own destruction sooner rather than later.

[Mr. DS]

Take a look who seems to be overly fertile.........the folks on Murray.  I, uh, yeah...the gene pool is getting muddy.

[HappyGilmore]

I have very little faith in the human population.

So I just sit here in my room most of the time.

[Derf]

I'm with indy on this one, except that I think it will take a lot of work to "save" humanity even with God's help. People, at least in America, seem to be determined to reduce life to an animalistic level: eat, poop and procreate (or at least practice at procreation). We have elevated sex to the be all and end all of existence, almost to the exclusion of our higher brain functions. We alternate between hedonism and nihilism, and ridicule anyone with ambitions of self-betterment, labeling him as a religious nut case or a hippie freak or whatever. Compromise is diminishing, and we exalt forcing beliefs on others, whether it be "believe in my god" or "keep your beliefs to yourself" (i.e., practice your beliefs only in a way that is acceptable to me).

I'm not really as bitter as this post makes me sound, but this is how I see people behaving on general terms. There are good people out there, but we don't hear about them; we hear only about the misanthropes and the dregs of humanity. Reports on people doing good things either solicit a momentary "Awwww, isn't that sweet" and then are forgotten, or else are met with suspicion and an expectation that the do-gooder is secretly banging farm animals or some such. I don't have a solution; I, as a Christian, can only trust that God has a plan. I know that isn't a suitable approach for everyone on this board, but that is how I am.

[The Gravekeeper]

There are changes that need to be made, certainly, but we're still doing better than our ancestors for the most part. Wars? Worldwide peacetime has actually been quite rare in human history, so that's nothing new (but we could probably work harder to reduce the number of major conflicts). Stupid people? There have always been stupid people, and they have always bred like rabbits...and yet we still have plenty of fairly intelligent to brilliant people. Some of them have even come from dumb families.

Education is generally more accessible than ever, homosexuality isn't illegal in every country anymore (some even allow gay marriage), it's possible for women to support themselves without selling their bodies in more countries than ever before, people can live longer and healthier lives, and you can legally voice your dissent without risking your safety in more parts of the world.

We're doing okay. The news just makes the world seem like crap because they filter out all but the most pointless "good news" stories (and even then those only get shown near the end of the broadcast) because they know bad news sells.

[The Burgomaster]

We will prevail.  But it was easier in the 1950s when John Agar and Richard Denning were around to fight the monsters.

[tracy]

I have very little confidence in the goodness of human nature, but infinite confidence in the goodness of God.  So I enjoy life as best I can, and hope things improve while not really expecting them to.

Amen! My thoughts exactly.

[InformationGeek]

We've survived many things as a race before the past, right now I think we'll come out this as well.  As for society getting stupider, frankly I think the stupid and wicked are getting more attention than the intellgent and civil individuals.

[Raffine]

"In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart."
Ann Frank

[Mofo Rising]

I'm with indy on this one, except that I think it will take a lot of work to "save" humanity even with God's help. People, at least in America, seem to be determined to reduce life to an animalistic level: eat, poop and procreate (or at least practice at procreation). We have elevated sex to the be all and end all of existence, almost to the exclusion of our higher brain functions. We alternate between hedonism and nihilism, and ridicule anyone with ambitions of self-betterment, labeling him as a religious nut case or a hippie freak or whatever. Compromise is diminishing, and we exalt forcing beliefs on others, whether it be "believe in my god" or "keep your beliefs to yourself" (i.e., practice your beliefs only in a way that is acceptable to me).

"The media is like the weather, only it's man-made weather." -Natural Born Killers

Here's my take: We have a national story that permeates society, but it's the story that this mass communication of the media has fostered upon us. It's a story purely told for entertainment value, and it is perpetrated by mass media conglomerates because it is the fastest, quickest way to make money. If you buy into it, and so many people do, you might believe that the highest aspirations of American society is exemplified by people like the Kardashians and hoping you make it through American Idol try-outs.

But that story isn't the reality. I cut myself out of that story, I don't watch bad television, I get my news from other sources than broadcast television.

Now I can get back to real people I know, not these know-nothing nobodies glamorized on television. I make it my business to surround myself with smart, funny people. That's why I have hope for humanity, because I know actual people who are smart, literate and actually create things of value. If you talk to those people, who are everywhere, you don't need to worry about the stupidity of vapid entertainment.

The real work of humanity is done by those who don't chase fame like a heroin high, it's done by your next-door neighbor who really cares about whatever they are doing.

[RCMerchant]

"In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart."
Ann Frank

I'll go with that.

[Newt]

I'm with indy on this one, except that I think it will take a lot of work to "save" humanity even with God's help. People, at least in America, seem to be determined to reduce life to an animalistic level: eat, poop and procreate (or at least practice at procreation). We have elevated sex to the be all and end all of existence, almost to the exclusion of our higher brain functions. We alternate between hedonism and nihilism, and ridicule anyone with ambitions of self-betterment, labeling him as a religious nut case or a hippie freak or whatever. Compromise is diminishing, and we exalt forcing beliefs on others, whether it be "believe in my god" or "keep your beliefs to yourself" (i.e., practice your beliefs only in a way that is acceptable to me).

"The media is like the weather, only it's man-made weather." -Natural Born Killers

Here's my take: We have a national story that permeates society, but it's the story that this mass communication of the media has fostered upon us. It's a story purely told for entertainment value, and it is perpetrated by mass media conglomerates because it is the fastest, quickest way to make money. If you buy into it, and so many people do, you might believe that the highest aspirations of American society is exemplified by people like the Kardashians and hoping you make it through American Idol try-outs.

But that story isn't the reality. I cut myself out of that story, I don't watch bad television, I get my news from other sources than broadcast television.

Now I can get back to real people I know, not these know-nothing nobodies glamorized on television. I make it my business to surround myself with smart, funny people. That's why I have hope for humanity, because I know actual people who are smart, literate and actually create things of value. If you talk to those people, who are everywhere, you don't need to worry about the stupidity of vapid entertainment.

The real work of humanity is done by those who don't chase fame like a heroin high, it's done by your next-door neighbor who really cares about whatever they are doing.

Mofo: thank you for a very encouraging post. 

Derf: As a parent of younger children (two teens and a young 20's) I struggle with this on a daily basis.  I sometimes wonder if by 'buying' the picture of modern society that is presented to us, we are being sucked in by what it portrays just as much as the people who seem to 'buy' it as a map of the way 'everybody' lives?  IOW: the media tells us that that is the way life is/the way to success;  and we despair because it looks as though the majority do subscribe to that.  What if it is not as prevalent as the media would have us believe...what if Mofo's 'actual people' are truly a silent majority?  I have to find hope in that: which helps me to help my kids grow strong.

I have long suspected that one of the mistakes the terrorists made in planning 9/11 was that they 'bought into' the way the western media presents Western society.  It led them to believe the US could be brought to its knees by striking at certain icons.  They were wrong.