Misanthropy and Ironic

Why I hate Wikipedia.

Let me make something very clear, these people do an excellent job of describing high school, Hot Topic, and generally horseshit misanthropy. This thing is written like a fucking middle-school report on douchebags. You think you're a misanthrope? That's fine, but understand this: You probably are not.

The majority of people who claim to be misanthropes are the stereotypical misanthrope. They want to pretend to be Gregory House, they think it's fun to be a surly asshole who writes off massive swaths of mankind as worthless beyond keeping the utilities working. They really, honest-to-God, want to be that guy who seems to just not care about his fellow man. Yet, ironically, this is a world view born out of a reaction to being a social failure.

Mr. Hyde (I'm mentioning him because he's mentioned in the article) is not a misanthrope, he is a sociopath. People without remorse, inhibitions, and any social mores are not capable of functioning. They are insane.

Ebenezer Scrooge is not a misanthrope either. He showed no love for anyone and is merely a pinnacle of greed and pride. He hated other people because he felt he was superiour to him, not because of any inherent, grand failing of humans as a whole.


A true misanthrope is someone who has taken a long, hard look at humanity for any number of reasons. This person sees the flaws, corruption, stupidity, animalistic nature, backstabbing, and passive-aggression of humans and they generally dislikes, if not hate, what they see. Often, misanthropes seperate themselves from other people because other people remind the misanthrope that they as well are human, and that surrounded by other humans their own human flaws become more present. A true misanthrope is someone who sees the human condition as wholly negative; a grave, vile downside to the existence of society.

This is not to say the misanthrope is loveless. Misanthropes often have great passions that don't involve people, a human without love for something cannot be sane. Misanthropes often have at least some number of friends, as well. Human interaction is vital to the maintainance of sanity. The misanthrope does not see themselves as inhuman, emotionless, or really even any better than anyone else (except for the fact that they've managed to figure out the great hoax of human virtue). They can usually admit there are upsides to humans, and that the people they keep close are the "good among the bad".


Back to my original point: If you're going to post on Wikipedia, if you can't cite a source for your bullshit philosophical waxing, don't fucking post.