Misanthropy

Misanthropy is a general dislike, distrust, or hatred of the human species or a disposition to dislike and/or distrust other people. The term is also applicable to those who self-exile themselves or become loners because of the aforementioned feelings. The word comes from the Greek words μίσος ("hatred") and άνθρωπος ("man, human being"). A misanthrope or misanthropist is a person who dislikes or distrusts humanity as a general rule.

Contents 1 Forms 2 Literature 3 Philosophy 4 Popular culture 4.1 Comic books/graphic novels 4.2 Television 5 Movies 6 See also 7 Notes 7.1 tags

Forms

While misanthropes express a general dislike for humanity on the whole, they generally have normal relationships with specific individuals. Misanthropy may be motivated by feelings of isolation or social alienation, or simply contempt for the prevailing characteristics of humanity.

Misanthropy is commonly misinterpreted and distorted as a widespread and individualized hatred of humans. Because of this, the term often associates a great number of false negative tie-ins with the term. An extreme misanthrope may indeed hate the human race generally, but it doesn't necessarily entail psychopathy. In actuality, it exists as a form of elitism. Misanthropes can hold normal and intimate relationships with people, but they will often be very few and far in between. They will typically be very selective of who they will associate with. This is also where their aversion is most prevalent, because their perspective shows an overriding contempt towards common human faults and weaknesses in others and in some cases, themselves.

It's because of that aversion that most misanthropes will often be categorized as loners, living in recluse. They generally won't find solace or effective functioning in society as a result of their perspective.

Overt expressions of misanthropy are common in satire and comedy, although intense misanthropy is generally rare. Subtler expressions are far more common, especially for those pointing out the shortcomings of humanity.

Some religions, or schools of religious thought, maintain that humanity as a whole is inherently improper and needs to be saved, while some philosophers and their adherents view humanity as a futile, self-destructive species.

Literature

Misanthropy has been ascribed to a number of writers of satire, such as William S. Gilbert ("I hate my fellow-man"), but such identifications must be closely scrutinized, because a critical or darkly humorous outlook toward humankind may be easily mistaken for genuine misanthropy.

In 1992, southern American essayist and National Review columnist Florence King, a self-described misanthrope, wrote a humorous book on the history of misanthropy called With Charity Toward None: A Fond Look at Misanthropy.

Perhaps the most famous example of a misanthrope in literature is the protagonist, Alceste, in Molière's 1666 play Le Misanthrope.

The American satirical author Kurt Vonnegut often expressed misanthropic views in his books. In one of his most popular works, Slaughterhouse Five, the protagonist Billy Pilgrim "becomes unstuck in time." He is taken hostage by the Tralfamadorians, a race able to see in 4D, who can travel through time and experience all the events in their lives, not necessarily in chronological order. Through the novel, they teach him a fatalistic philosophy, summed up in the book's signature phrase, "so it goes."

In another Vonnegut novel, Breakfast of Champions, the protagonist Kilgore Trout, a science fiction author, writes many books about man destroying the world and the pointlessness of human existence. The book has passages throughout showing the destruction of Earth due to man and man's pointless existence.

Some works by Franz Kafka, such as The Metamorphosis and A Hunger Artist, also display misanthropic views.

In No Exit, Jean-Paul Sartre wrote, "So that is what hell is. I would never have believed it. You remember: the fire and brimstone, the torture. Ah! the farce. There is no need for torture: hell is other people."

Eighteenth-century Irish satirist Jonathan Swift, in a letter to the poet Alexander Pope concerning Gulliver's Travels, a novel penned by the former, wrote: "[but] principally I hate and detest that animal called man." Lemuel Gulliver, considered by several critics to be Swift's mouthpiece and literary alter ego, expresses an overwhelming disgust with respect to human beings, particularly in "A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms".

In the novella Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, Edward Hyde is depicted as the cruel, remorseless, uninhibited transfiguration of the gentle Dr. Henry Jekyll whenever the noted doctor drank a potion.

Finally, the most well-known literary misanthrope is Ebenezer Scrooge, the main character in Charles Dickens's 1843 novel A Christmas Carol. The word “scrooge” is now nearly synonymous with miser and misanthrope.

The eponymous protagonist of Comte de Lautreamont's Les Chants de Maldoror is misanthropic to the point of absurdity, lending to the interpretation that the book is a parody of Romanticism. In one episode, Maldoror goes so far as to fire a musket at sailors swimming toward shore from a sinking ship and then makes love to a female shark that was feeding on them.^[1]

Philosophy

In Plato's Phaedo, Socrates states, "Misology and misanthropy arise from similar causes."^[2] He equates misanthropy with misology, the hatred of speech, drawing an important distinction between philosophical pessimism and misanthropy. Immanuel Kant said, "Of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing can ever be made," and yet this was not an expression of the uselessness of humanity itself. Similarly, Samuel Beckett once remarked, "Hell must be like... reminiscing about the good old days when we wished we were dead." This statement that may, perhaps, be seen as rather bleak and hopeless but not as anti-human or expressive of any hatred of humankind.

Seneca the Younger, in his treatise On Anger, suggests that one's misanthropy can be mitigated or cured by laughing at the foibles of humanity rather than resenting them. Seneca's Stoic philosophy regarded all forms of anger as corruptions of reason and therefore detrimental to good judgement; he thus argues that hatred and misanthropy must be eliminated for the individual to attain sanity.

The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, on the other hand, was almost certainly as famously misanthropic as his reputation. He wrote, "Human existence must be a kind of error." Schopenhauer concluded, in fact, that ethical treatment of others was the best attitude, for we are all fellow sufferers and all part of the same will to live. He also discussed suicide with a sympathetic understanding which was rare in his own time, when it was largely a taboo subject. However, his metaphysics ultimately led him to conclude that suicide was no escape from the suffering of the world. He claimed that the world was one side representation—how we perceived it—and one side will—the underlying indivisible metaphysical matter that was the basis of existence. Because suicide does not allow one to escape from the will (from which all suffering proceeds), it is pointless to kill oneself. Schopenhauer instead suggests aesthetic enjoyment as the only escape from the suffering of the world. This would be along the lines of the cathartic release points of Mozart's Requiem, or the charmingly mysterious smile of the Mona Lisa. He also offers an escape from suffering through compassion; however, he believed that very few are capable of reaching this state, and those who do reach it have rejected their humanity (further demonstrating his misanthropy).

The Cynic philosopher Diogenes of Sinope was a well known misanthrope. Known for his contempt for all human beings and his enormous respect for animals such as mice and dogs, Diogenes dedicated his life to showing that the norms and conventions which most people live by are in fact worthless and utterly counterproductive to true happiness.

Popular culture

Comic books/graphic novels

Cerebus the Aardvark is often described as being a misanthropic character. Dave Sim's aardvark protagonist has always disliked humans despite living among them.

The character of Pamela Lillian Isley, who nicknamed herself "Poison Ivy", is a villain in the Batman franchise whom exhibited strong misanthropic characteristics. She very openly expressed an aggressive and violent disdain for human beings, as she displayed a neurotic preference for the botanical world. This fictional character has also appeared in film and television series adaptations.

In the Japanese manga Backstage Prince, the main male Kabuki character is very misanthropic to people in general, usually getting very tense around people.

The character Marv from Frank Miller's Sin City series is usually considered a misanthrope, and is very surprised and grateful when treated with kindness.

Johnen Vasquez' main character in Johnny The Homicidal Maniac can be seen as misanthropic.

In Kaoru Mori's Japanese graphic novel, Emma (manga), the eccentric Mrs. Trollope, living alone in the English countryside, claims to have had her last name come from the word "misanthrope" due to her anti-social and solitary behavior.

The character Yuca in Kaori Ozaki's Immortal Rain is an immortal (through reincarnation) who desires an end to human life and therefore could be described as highly misanthropic.

Television

Adam Monroe from Heroes is an immortal misanthrope who lived enough time to realize that humanity can't be saved and so he decides to exterminate humanity by releasing the deadly Shanti virus.

The character of Bernard Black from the series Black Books can be defined as a misanthrope. Most of the humour derives from such a man dealing with the public in a retail shop.

The character of Gregory House, MD, on the TV show of the same name is misanthropic and often opines that all people lie and generally behave poorly to each other, especially when their own self-interest is at stake. One of his favorite recurrent quotes is "Everybody lies". When confronted with someone whose behavior or philosophy flies in the face of his opinions, he will often go to great lengths to prove that his underlying philosophies are, in fact, correct.^[3]

Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street exhibits misanthropic behavior.

Daria Morgendorffer from MTV's Daria is a misanthrope. In the season finale, she wins the Dian Fossey Award "for dazzling academic achievements in face of near total misanthropy."

From The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Mandy is said to be misanthropic.

Chandler Bing, from the popular television show Friends, shows signs of misanthropy in several episodes.^{[citation needed][when?]}

The character of John Becker, MD, from the series Becker has misanthropic behaviour and opinions, though he is usually more compassionate when dealing with his patients or anyone needing medical assistance.

From Star Trek: The Next Generation, the character Q is an extreme example of misanthropic behavior.

The titular antivillain in Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is a misanthropic wannabe supervillain. It is implied that all villains in the series were social outcasts in some form or another.

Movies

The characters Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver, Frank Slade from Scent of a Woman, Daniel Plainview from There Will Be Blood and Melvin Udall from As Good as it Gets are some examples of misanthropes in film.

Craig "133" Jones, From the band Slipknot, is regarded as a misanthropist. Footage of Craig can be seen on Voliminal: Inside the Nine

Nocturno Culto of Darkthrone released a documentary film, The Misanthrope, in which he deals with black metal and life in Norway.

Randall Graves of the film "Clerks" is both referred to as, and admits to being a misanthrope.

See also

Anti-humanism Biocentrism Cynicism, Philosophical pessimism Hate, Malevolence Hermit, Recluse Human condition, Human nature Humanism, Humanitarianism Iconoclasm Misandry, Misogyny

Misotheism Nihilism Philanthropy Posthumanism Racism, Sexism, Sexualism Speciesism Survival of the fittest Voluntary Human Extinction Movement

Notes

tags

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