Are you a misanthrope? 14 traits and attitudes of these people.
Hatred and contempt for human beings is a typical characteristic of their personality.
Ours is an increasingly individualistic society, in which great efforts are devoted to differentiating oneself from the crowd. Part of these efforts, which some people have come to call "posturing," involves feigning a studied contempt for other people. contempt for the rest of the people in general..
However... To what extent is this misanthropy true or just a facade?
What are the characteristics of misanthropists?
Misanthropy is a psychological disposition that is defined by rejection and contempt for the human species in general. In fact, etymologically this term means hatred of human beings..
That is, misanthropic people do not feel aversion for a specific group of people, however broad it may be, but for the entire collective of human persons in general, including individuals whom they do not know and will not meet. Misanthropy is, so to speak, the opposite of philanthropy..
Now, one thing is theory and another is practice. What are the specific characteristics of misanthropic people? The main ones are listed below. However, it should be borne in mind that none of them separately makes the person who presents it misanthropic, but this attitude occurs when several of them are present.
1. They manipulate without remorse
Misanthropic people do not have to remain isolated all day long, since they know that by manipulating other people, they can they know that by manipulating other people they can obtain rewards.. In this sense, misanthropy is related to the traits associated with psychopathy, since if they can obtain personal benefits by exploiting others, there is no moral obstacle that prevents them from doing so.
2. They show sadism
A misanthropic person shows no pity, because the suffering of others is not related to what is morally wrong in itself, unless it has as a consequence something that harms oneself. This means that the fact of generating discomfort or Pain in others is sometimes seen as a game, a space of possibilities with which one can experiment.
3. They believe they are superior
This is a totally subjective belief that does not depend on the abilities or knowledge of others. For misanthropists, all people in people in general are despicable a prioriso any skills they may have are irrelevant. The simple fact of being other people makes the misanthrope alienate his capacity to feel and to be entities with humanity. Something similar to what someone who plays video games would feel for the characters that appear in them.
4. They spend their free time alone
When they are not working or carrying out a strategy with long-term goals, misanthropic people invest a large part of their leisure time in activities that can be done alone or in the company of non-human animals. The reason for this is that the company of others is not pleasant in itself and can become a nuisance.and can become a nuisance.
5. They despise the rules
Misanthropic people conceive of rules as a code of conduct that exists only to benefit society in general, but for them this objective has no value.
6. They do not feel sorry for the departure or death of others.
In some cases, the social circle of people for whom pity can be experienced is reduced to the family, and in some cases there is not even a group that generates special sympathy. Death can come to be seen as liberating..
7. They look down on politics
Politics is an effort to manage social problems, and the latter are not of interest to misanthropic people. For this reason, they consider politics a waste of effort and time. They see political participation as a waste of effort and time, unless it is exercised unless it is exercised to avoid concrete threats born in politics itself, and they will advocate the non-intervention of public institutions. They are advocates of the idea that "every man for himself".
8. They do not understand the spaces for citizen participation
For the same reason as before, misanthropic people fail to understand the meaning of festivals, collective rituals and forms of participation and political organization outside institutions. It is considered that nothing good can come out of the joint organization of several human beings..
9. They construct their own morality
Misanthropic people very rarely structure their morality by adopting it from ethical forms already agreed upon, such as Christian morality.such as Christian morality. Instead, they build a value system and an ethical scale to suit themselves, starting from scratch.
10. Their way of expressing emotions is solitary and isolated.
Misanthropic people do experience emotionsbut these are expressed in solitary acts, which do not need the participation of others in order to be developed. For example, when experiencing feelings of loss, they do not embrace someone to cry. The sentimental and emotional is something that ends in oneself, and therefore does not involve others (sometimes one may even keep up appearances out of self-interest).
11. They may come to love other living beings
Misanthropy consists of a contempt that is limited to what are perceived to be human beings. This means that they can can feel attachment for other animals, which are oftenThey often idealize them, attributing to them all kinds of positive psychological characteristics and relativizing the harmful actions they perform.
12. Their sense of humor is black and twisted.
Much of their sense of humor consists of imaginary situations involving attacks, abuse or humiliation. It is seldom a sense of humor based on joint identification with everyday situations, but rather is based on far-fetched and sometimes aberrant scenes..
13. They easily enjoy acts of real or fictitious violence.
The imagery of misanthropic people is well-stocked with violence and, in general, with situations in which human beings are treated as objects that are allowed to be broken. in which human beings are treated as objects that are allowed to be broken.. The reason, as with many other characteristics of misanthropic people, is that from a moral perspective there is no reason not to do so, and instead breaking these social norms generates a pleasure linked to crossing the line of the forbidden.
14. They tend to be arrogant
When they can, they are arrogant in front of others. They do not mind humiliating other people by pointing out their faults or going so far as to invent and exaggerate them.
(Updated at Apr 14 / 2024)