# Anyone else a misanthrope? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 4, 2008, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-misanthrope/462070 "2008-09-04T22:26:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-misanthrope/462070/21 "2008-09-05T06:58:53Z")
Eh. There are so freaking many people out there, you can always find at least one person out there somewhere who is cool enough to make up for the jerks and idiots if you keep looking. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-misanthrope/462070/22 "2008-09-05T12:11:11Z")
Been there. Done that. Lost the molars, from grinding my teeth at the dimwits of the world. Lots o days, I think we need a nice, big plague, to thin things out. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-misanthrope/462070/23 "2008-09-05T12:51:58Z")
I am one. I’ll give any person I meet the benefit of the doubt, but I have no faith in the humanity of any group of people. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-misanthrope/462070/24 "2008-09-05T13:02:22Z")
I am totally misanthropic. I couldn’t care if I never saw anyone again. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Credible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@Justin\_Credible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Credible)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-misanthrope/462070/25 "2008-09-05T13:15:43Z")
I do often wish our sun would explode. I guess that might qualify me. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-misanthrope/462070/26 "2008-09-05T14:55:12Z")
_Raises hand_ I am fairly misanthropic. I would much rather closet myself away than have to deal with people. I can fake it well, have worked in sales and now work in a social service setting with frequent client contact. I have no problems in my work - in fact I’m one of the warm fuzzy people to my clients. But when I’m done with work I am done with humanity, if I can help it. I dislike people as a whole - when their stupid decisions screw up my life, when they feel the need to intrude into my ‘happy place’, the incessant me me me attitudes… blech. I love TheKid, my Mom, mt cats, and most of my family. I don’t always like them - and for the most part they understand when I need to step away for a bit. I don’t interact very well. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-misanthrope/462070/27 "2008-09-05T15:07:19Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > so in need of simple answers they’re effectively stupid" I really, _really_ like that. It applies perfectly to a number of smart-on-the-paper people I know that in real life aren’t so smart at all, because they are desperate for the comforts of oversimplification, but I never quite could put my finger on that up to now. As for the misanthropy, I think everybody gets those bouts where you just despair of people for a while, and detest each and every rotten one of them; some more, some less. I know I do, and I also am frequently simply exasperated by company, no matter what kind of company. A few evenings spent alone in my quiet room usually takes care of that, or maybe some time out in the country if the weather is nice. ---
**Author:** ![myskepticsight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@myskepticsight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myskepticsight)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-misanthrope/462070/28 "2008-09-05T15:47:35Z")
Yes. Luckily most of my friends and boyfriend are too. We all like each other but think everyone else overall sucks. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-misanthrope/462070/29 "2008-09-05T15:53:54Z")
People Suck is one of my mottos for life. Another is People are Stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-misanthrope/462070/30 "2008-09-05T16:25:11Z")
I just stopped by to say that I’m having nothing to do with this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-misanthrope/462070/31 "2008-09-05T16:40:45Z")
I am not a misanthrope. I refuse to restrict my hatred to Homo sapiens. :: kicks my Ferengi prisoner in the lobes :: ---
**Author:** ![myskepticsight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@myskepticsight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myskepticsight)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-misanthrope/462070/32 "2008-09-05T17:07:56Z")
> [@Antinor01](#): > > People Suck is one of my mottos for life. Another is People are Stupid. Mine is definitely ‘people are stupid.’ Sad as it is, it’s a big topic of conversation with others in my life. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-misanthrope/462070/33 "2008-09-05T17:26:12Z")
The average human being is stupid, selfish, and basically useless. However, mixed in with the bleating masses, we have a reasonable number of people who aren’t exactly bright, but who mean well and work hard. And very occasionally, we get an individual who is very smart, and/or very kind, and/or capable of producing works of great beauty and/or originality. It seems to me that it is a confluence of many factors that produces these outstanding individuals. It’s not possible to make the majority of people great. You have to have exactly the right combination of genetics, and culture, and upbringing, and education, and mentoring, and luck, among many other factors. All of that lines up, and you get a great human being. Any of that falls through, and you get your average babbling bozo. But you have to have the crowd of failures to allow the occasional drop of the roulette ball into exactly the right slot. They are the muddy backdrop against which the diamonds glitter. So I don’t know if I’m a misanthrope, exactly. I don’t have much respect for people in the aggregate. But I don’t know that I can advocate withdrawal from society, or some sort of culling, as an improvement of the situation. The hordes are necessary noise to allow the best of us to stand out. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-misanthrope/462070/34 "2008-09-05T18:12:05Z")
One hundred twenty-five percent misanthrope here. I would love to be able to relate to more folks as individuals, but so often it has to happen through a group. I don’t function well in groups larger than, oh, five or six. I just washed out of a teaching assistantship that came with my master’s program. 5 days of crash orientation during which you’re stuffed full of umpteen dozen pedagogical methodologies (except how to use the computer lab you’ll be in one class a week :rolleyes:) and then you’re issued a roomful of 25 inert look-alike college freshmen. I’ve played for some tough rooms, but they were the toughest, especially since I didn’t know what the f I was doing and they didn’t care. Two weeks of that and I just about lost what tenuous grip on reality I had to begin with. So I don’t exactly feel a swell of optimism for our society on beholding its next generation. Hell, I didn’t have much use for college freshmen when I _was_ one. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-misanthrope/462070/35 "2008-09-05T18:16:31Z")
Does anybody know of any job openings for lighthouse keeper? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-misanthrope/462070/36 "2008-09-05T18:27:05Z")
I’m a misanthropic populist. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-misanthrope/462070/37 "2008-09-05T18:59:56Z")
Jim and I have ongoing, complex plans for our Compound - it involves large moats and barbed wire, possibly electrified fences. And cougars on patrol. People as a group are capable of surprising acts of great good and great evil. Overall I think most people are good, but I still don’t want to hang out with most of them. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-misanthrope/462070/38 "2008-09-05T19:29:52Z")
> [@An\_Arky](#): > > I’m a misanthropic populist. I’ll give you a dollar if you change your username to “Misanthropulist.” ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-misanthrope/462070/39 "2008-09-05T19:34:04Z")
I’m very socially withdrawn and a little laconic in speech, so people probably think I’m a misanthrope. But I actually am not. I like most people; I just don’t know how to connect with them. ---
**Author:** ![spaceweft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@spaceweft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spaceweft)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-misanthrope/462070/40 "2008-09-05T19:39:49Z")
> [@Sleep\_Deprivation](#): > > I don’t like people. Sometimes I make exceptions. This! Thank you for summing it up so perfectly! Weft [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-misanthrope/462070.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-a-misanthrope/462070.md?page=3)