All about misanthropes

In the modern world, you can find individuals who prefer to spend more time with animals than with people. Some avoid direct communication with others and seek solitude. Others, on the contrary, openly express their dissatisfaction with strangers and society. Both those and others belong to misanthropes, which we will talk about in our article.

There are people who hate and shy away from others. They feel dislike and contempt for those around them. The word "misanthrope" is translated from Greek as "man-hater." This means that those who despise others avoid social contacts, do not like society. They can be irritated by social morals, existing traditions, established ways of life, as well as culture and religion. Thus, the meaning of this concept includes hatred of the human race and social order.

A man-hater neglects moral values, despises human weaknesses and mistakes. Often the misanthrope is saddened by the fact that he himself has the same human shortcomings. The moral requirements of such an individual are so high that by his standards of understanding of goodness and justice, most of the people living on earth are scoundrels. Sometimes this dislike is partially manifested. For example, it may target only women (misogyny), men (misandry), or exclusively children (misopedia). Most often, such a person does not love himself.

These individuals build normal relationships with others, behave adequately in the work collective, move up the career ladder, but at the same time can express their disdain and contempt for others. They are loyal friends, but they carefully filter their surroundings. Misanthropes make high demands on people. Despite the lack of desire to interact with strangers, unsociable individuals need romantic relationships, strong family and friendship. They often achieve great success in various fields.

Misanthropy can have some meaning for a person. Some avoid society, enjoy their own loneliness, while others, on the contrary, suffer from it. This feature of the human psyche is not an innate quality. It is common for adolescents to rebel against society, but subsequently their attitude towards the world around them changes. At the end of puberty, young rebels are able to transform into philanthropists. For others, a misanthropic state of mind becomes the meaning of life. It is transformed into a certain philosophy.

Self-loathing and hating everything is the opposite of philanthropy, designed to express complacency and love for a person. Philanthropists seek to help their neighbors, while misanthropes prefer to stay away from everyone. This does not mean at all that misanthropists are cold and insensitive subjects. The selectivity of the response depends on various factors. Most misanthropes are inclined to believe that each person should take care of himself.

Psychologists classify sociopathy as a mental disorder. Misanthropy is not a disease. Both concepts reflect a person's hatred of his environment and confidence in his own exclusivity. The difference is that the misanthrope prefers to simply isolate himself from people, thereby demonstrating his dislike towards them. The misanthrope wants to communicate only with selected personalities. The sociopath, on the other hand, shows obvious aggression towards people, tries to hurt them.

Both of them classify most people as a gray faceless mass. In relation to their own person they are critical. The main differences between a sociopath and a misanthrope are painful feelings of fear of society, the inability to exercise control over them. The misanthrope is most often driven not by fear, but by disgust. This is an ordinary person with high demands.

The sociopath does not have the ability to empathize. He does not know how to sympathize with living beings, ignores social norms. Rapists and murderers are most often sociopathic. But not every sociopath has the ability to rob, rape, or kill.

Psychologists believe that this phenomenon begins to form in childhood, develops intensively in puberty, when the adolescent has heightened critical thinking and the desire to defend his own "I". Since the cause of misanthropy is a heightened sense of justice, then, as a rule, those who grew up in a dysfunctional family become misanthropes. Resentment towards relatives can cause negative attitudes towards the entire human race.

When a child does not feel safe in a family, a persistent negative attitude towards the whole world develops. It is very important that the baby trusts his parents. Educational moments influencing the formation of a negative attitude towards society:

• frequent punishment, violence;
• emotional coldness of parents;
• strained relationship between mother and father;
• a call for moral responsibility;
• asocial lifestyle of the family;
• opposing points of view of the mother and father on the issues of upbringing.

The causes of misanthropy can be internal complexes, self-doubt. Sometimes misanthropy is a defensive reaction to the manifestation of aggression, devaluation. This behavior is typical of a person with low self-esteem.

Sometimes a person with a heightened sense of justice consciously chooses misanthropy. Such a choice can be made by overly sensitive people or subjects who are tired of communication.

Sometimes a person faced with betrayal begins to dislike people who have caused him mental pain. If the action is repeated, then he transfers his dislike to other persons. It is no coincidence that phrases like “all women are the same” or “men cannot be trusted” slip through everyday life.

Sometimes a girl or boy has problems making contact with the opposite sex. Negative life experiences, coupled with emotional sensitivity, lead to hatred. For this reason, large-scale conclusions are made regarding all of humanity.

There are impressionable people with a fine structure of the soul. Romantics often look at the world around them through rose-colored glasses, which as a result leads them to disappointment. After that, such natures are fenced off from an imperfect society, retire. They stop letting strangers into their lives.

A gifted personality is often the cause of misanthropy. A talented person sometimes begins to feel like a genius, and perceive others as stupid and mediocrity. He begins to feel contempt for others and does not honor them with his attention, or he treats imperfect individuals with great condescension.

The protective mechanism of projection is often triggered. In this case, the individual does not accept himself, but transforms his feelings into rejection of other subjects. It is unbearable for him to be in the company of people, because they do not share his views on the world around him.

You can understand that you belong to the category of misanthropes by some signs. Observe your emotions and actions. If you sometimes feel attacks of aggression towards people, be sure to explore your feelings.

The following manifestations may indicate the presence of misanthropic traits:

• undisguised dislike for society as a whole;
• contempt for human vices and weaknesses;
• unwillingness to work in groups;
• distrust of people;
• search for a dirty trick or provocation from others;
• preference for correspondence in instant messengers or via SMS to personal communication or talking on the phone;
• refusal to meet in crowded places;
• desire to retire;
• avoidance of initiative;
• dodging a conversation, even aimed at achieving personal goals;
• inability to fill pauses in the dialogue with empty topics;
• distrust of the environment;
• preference for purchases via the Internet to visiting retail outlets;
• unwillingness to give birth to your own child and hatred of other people's children;
• the manifestation of disgust towards some, in your opinion, imperfect creatures;
• excellent attitude to bad weather and various natural disasters.

There are misanthropes who have to put up with miserable people. And there are those who cannot digest them at all. The so-called opportunists are susceptible to momentary moods under the influence of failure. Situational misanthropes have not yet become true misanthropes, so you can correct their psyche.

There are people who show interest only in their work. They consider themselves geniuses, underestimated by those around them. Haters like Nietzsche are pretty clever and cynical. Rationalists most often they have a great relationship with useful people, but they can win back on those to whom they are not very well disposed. They behave rudely towards them.

Melancholic misanthropes they want to limit their social circle, not so much because of contempt for all of humanity, but because of their natural isolation. They are only in business contact with strangers.

All categories of misanthropes are divided into 2 main types.

Strong contempt for people often pushes the bitter person into scandals. Such a subject, at any opportunity, climbs on the rampage. Some are dangerous to society. They fiercely hate others and strive to destroy them. Most often, their fervor comes down to verbal indignation. For the sake of insulting strangers, they are ready to sacrifice their own freedom and even life. Other bitter personalities who see the exclusively negative side of the world and are confident in the impossibility of changing it for the better choose the path of seclusion and hermitism.

There are misanthropes who dream of changing the world through reforms. Idealists have a hard time cruel treatment of animals, any human injustice. It is difficult for them to observe the deterioration of the ecological environment. They do not tolerate the presence of scattered garbage, do not tolerate foul language, react painfully to wars and power struggles. As a result, it is not the world as a whole that is hated, but individuals who are involved in disorder.

Such individuals usually become the initiators of all kinds of reforms. Their hatred is not directed at the entire human race, but at specific groups of individuals, various parties, individuals.

Some horror films, wars, political games can provoke the emergence of misanthropy. Philanthropists also observe the imperfection of the world. But unlike misanthropes, they want to fix it, to make efforts to improve it.

Man-haters can get rid of their negative attitude towards the world using the actions inherent in philanthropists:

• take the first step towards people;
• do charity work;
• help those in need;
• take part in the improvement of the territory adjacent to the house and the playground, the park area;
• try to organize interesting leisure time for young people;
• involve talented people in creative or innovative activities, scientific research.

The misanthrope will begin to communicate with people and will understand that doing useful things is pleasant. He will like to bring good to the masses. When he feels that he himself can change any situation for the better, he will change his attitude to the world. This will help him become more tolerant of hypocrisy and injustice.

In extreme cases, you should seek the help of a specialist. The psychotherapist will definitely identify the cause of your problem and tell you how to heal a wounded soul. Misanthropy itself is not the cause of mental disorders, but sometimes it accompanies some psychiatric diseases and affects their course. In this case, it is necessary to seek the help of a psychiatrist who can prescribe effective treatment.

Adolf Gitler believed that his ideas contribute to the establishment of justice on the planet. Subsequently, the dictator from a negative misanthrope, as his plans were realized, turned into a sociopath. Due to the fault of this subject, the world's population has decreased by many millions.

The famous philosophers Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche are the most famous misanthropes. A. Schopenhauer even drew up a manifesto calling to express distrust to everyone, never say too much to others, keep secrets even from your best friends, win more personal space, not respect others and not feel the need for people.Friedrich Nietzsche came up with the idea of ​​a superman, which supposedly differs significantly from the ordinary individual. It was he who proclaimed the most inhuman thesis: God is dead.

Musician Stephen Patrick Morrissey calls on humanity to humane treatment of animals, but at the same time openly declares his dislike for people. Writer Jonathan Swift known as a fighter for justice. All his life he was in opposition to the current government, stood up for the improvement of morals, was distinguished by his uncompromising attitude. Swift is the author of poignant satirical pamphlets. In one of them, mockingly advises the government to sell beggarly poor people for meat, and make gloves from their skin.

The famous Russian traveler, geographer and scientist N.M. Przhevalsky treated some nations with great hostility. He insisted on imperialist penetration into the eastern countries, and pushed Russia towards war with China and Turkestan. The craving for unsociability led him to study animals. He discovered new species of various mammals, including the wild camel and the Przewalski horse.