# Is a misanthrope less bigoted than a racist/sexist/homophobe/anti-Semite/etc.? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 9, 2020, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-misanthrope-less-bigoted-than-a-racist-sexist-homophobe-anti-semite-etc/846159 "2020-01-09T03:38:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-misanthrope-less-bigoted-than-a-racist-sexist-homophobe-anti-semite-etc/846159/1 "2020-01-09T03:38:22Z")
People are generally considered bigoted if they only hate one specific category of people, such as Hispanics, women, LGBT, Jews, etc. Oddly enough, though, it seems that misanthropes - people who hate \*everyone \*- catch less flak for their worldview than racists or anti-Semites. It’s as if, the more people you hate, the more acceptable the hate - and the less (or more narrowly) you hate, the less acceptable that hate is. A misanthrope also hates Jews, women, gays, blacks, Muslims and so forth just like any racist, Neo-Nazi, Islamophobe or sexist - since all of those categories fall into the big umbrella category of “human” - but is such hate \*\*\*not \*\*\*as bad as only hating one specific group? ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-misanthrope-less-bigoted-than-a-racist-sexist-homophobe-anti-semite-etc/846159/2 "2020-01-09T05:01:04Z")
A misanthrope is not engaged in discrmination, which involves treating some people less favourably than others on grounds which are invidious or offensive; a misanthrope dislikes _everybody_, without discrimination. So maybe they get some brownie points for that. A misanthrope may well be a bigot, in the sense of a person unreasonably/excessively attached to an obstinate, intolerant or strongly partisan belief. But I suspect most people who are described as misantrhopes are simply highly unsociable; they mistrust and avoid people not because of any bigoted belief akin to, say, antisemtism or islamophobia, but because of their own lack of socialisation. They simply do not enjoy or are not comfortable with interactions with other people and prefer to avoid them; we do not need to look to beliefs about those other people to explain this. ---
**Author:** ![atimnie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atimnie/32/11_2.png) [@atimnie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atimnie)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-misanthrope-less-bigoted-than-a-racist-sexist-homophobe-anti-semite-etc/846159/3 "2020-01-09T07:05:47Z")
That, and also social anxiety disorder. A lot of people labeled as misanthrope are just socially anxious. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-misanthrope-less-bigoted-than-a-racist-sexist-homophobe-anti-semite-etc/846159/4 "2020-01-09T10:11:37Z")
In my experience, self-described misanthropes don’t hate people. They just find them disappointing or annoying, and as such don’t really care nor enjoy their presence. But they won’t go out of their way to be dicks or offensive - what’s the point ? Introduce more people-related suckage into one’s life ? Misanthropes aren’t _anti_social. They’re more asocial. (the cliché quote is, of course, “a misanthrope is someone who loves mankind too much to tolerate its mediocrity”) ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2020, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-misanthrope-less-bigoted-than-a-racist-sexist-homophobe-anti-semite-etc/846159/5 "2020-01-10T05:03:46Z")
It’s OK to hate an “X” person, but not ok to hate them because they are “X”. (where X is a race or gender) ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2020, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-misanthrope-less-bigoted-than-a-racist-sexist-homophobe-anti-semite-etc/846159/6 "2020-01-10T10:19:32Z")
Misanthropes are just as likely to be bigots as anyone else. Their “hatred” for people is not the same sort of hatred that bigotry is, but it doesn’t mean they aren’t also bigoted. This is why claiming misanthropy is not the great defense of bigotry that some people seem to think it is. People rarely claim bigotry just because you were an asshole to that one black person. If you are called a bigot by more than just a handful of people who don’t understand the concept, then chances are you did something that is clearly bigoted. I’ve not once seen a claim of misanthropy as defense of claimed bigotry be actually convincing. Non-bigoted misanthropes don’t say the N-word, for example. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2020, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-misanthrope-less-bigoted-than-a-racist-sexist-homophobe-anti-semite-etc/846159/7 "2020-01-10T11:29:53Z")
I have seen the same thing as BigT. There are a lot of people who swear they aren’t racist or sexist or whatever, they hate everyone, but in reality they have adopted the complete set of bigoted views. They hate everyone, but the flavor of hate is shaded by that person’s identity in almost every case. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2020, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-misanthrope-less-bigoted-than-a-racist-sexist-homophobe-anti-semite-etc/846159/8 "2020-01-10T12:32:54Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > People are generally considered bigoted if they only hate one specific category of people, such as Hispanics, women, LGBT, Jews, etc I disagree with the “one specific category” thing. Someone is clearly bigoted if they hate all groups except for the one they belong to. I’d say that bigots tend to have negative feelings about more than one group. And I would argue that “hate” isn’t even necessary. Someone can love African American culture and have lots of black friends and still be a bigot against black people. “Black people are wonderful, but I would never hire one to do my taxes because, well, you know” is still a bigoted thing to say even though it isn’t dripping with hate. ---
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2020, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-misanthrope-less-bigoted-than-a-racist-sexist-homophobe-anti-semite-etc/846159/9 "2020-01-10T22:40:37Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > In my experience, self-described misanthropes don’t hate people. They just find them disappointing or annoying, and as such don’t really care nor enjoy their presence. But they won’t go out of their way to be dicks or offensive - what’s the point ? Introduce more people-related suckage into one’s life ? > Misanthropes aren’t _anti_social. They’re more asocial. > > (the cliché quote is, of course, “a misanthrope is someone who loves mankind too much to tolerate its mediocrity”) Disappointing, annoying or scary. ---
**Author:** ![Razncain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@Razncain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razncain)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2020, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-misanthrope-less-bigoted-than-a-racist-sexist-homophobe-anti-semite-etc/846159/10 "2020-01-11T17:51:49Z")
I think it would be hard to find a true misanthrope that hated all of mankind. There are certainly things I think we all hate about our species, think it would be rare for one to hate the entire human race though, which would mean hating one’s own self too, I would think, and if so, think they would off themselves as well. We just try to balance it out with the good we can also see, with some groups more to our liking than others. But make no mistake about it, humans have been very destructive for the health of our planet as a whole, and a good proportion are in denial about it, particularly a higher proportion of evangelicals and certain politicians. What’s there not to hate about them when they put us all in peril? Our present population and growing, is not sustainable for future generations especially if they want any kind of decent standard of living at all and a healthy earth to go with it. Part of Trump’s Evangelical Advisory Board is [Pastor Robert Jeffress:](https://www.newsweek.com/robert-jeffress-greta-thunberg-rainbow-flood-climate-1461326) > [@](#): > > On the program, Jeffress referred to climate change as an “imaginary crisis,” telling listeners that Trump was right to skip the summit. He then pivoted to discussing Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who has become the face of the global climate justice movement. > > “Somebody needs to read poor Greta Genesis, Chapter 9,” Jeffress said, “and tell her the next time she worries about global warming, just look at a rainbow. That’s God’s promise that the polar ice caps aren’t going to melt and flood the world again.” ---
**Author:** ![atimnie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atimnie/32/11_2.png) [@atimnie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atimnie)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2020, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-misanthrope-less-bigoted-than-a-racist-sexist-homophobe-anti-semite-etc/846159/11 "2020-01-11T20:00:22Z")
If this was the pit, and not GB, I’d have a few words for Jeffress and his bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2020, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-misanthrope-less-bigoted-than-a-racist-sexist-homophobe-anti-semite-etc/846159/12 "2020-01-15T13:58:18Z")
I generally like people but I loathe humanity in aggregate. What does that make me? ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2020, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-misanthrope-less-bigoted-than-a-racist-sexist-homophobe-anti-semite-etc/846159/13 "2020-01-15T14:18:09Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I generally like people but I loathe humanity in aggregate. What does that make me? Like me. That might actually not be good. LOL