Origins of misanthropy

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I was just kind of thinking about what makes people decide that they just don't like other people (or at least most other people). I've felt that way myself at times, although there have been periods earlier in my life when I did have more friends, etc. I think there's probably a large defensive component involved, at least in a lot of cases. It seems that the natural state for humans is generally to be social, at least to some degree. With people who have ASD's I think a lot of the misanthropy that is seen often evolves from repeated bad, or even traumatic, experiences associating with other humans (not that I'm saying that everyone with autism is misanthropic - there just seems to be a large correlation).

It's interesting how over time the misanthropy often takes a more "logical" shape. People who are fed up with other people often find specific reasons for their dislike, especially concerning certain kinds of people (NT's, etc.) "I hate people because they..." Of course, these reasons often reflect specific bad experiences that someone has had with other people - "I hate people because they're rude and aggressive," etc. But there often seems to be a certain amount of rationalizing involved, as if you've just decided, based on logic and reason, that human beings are inherently not worth associating with. So I think that misanthropy can often be a kind of defense, where seemingly logical reasons can be given to stay away from people in order to avoid further emotional injury.

I mean, there are definite reasons to be pretty put off, or even horrified, by human behavior throughout history. But it seems like such things are rarely used to make blanket statements about the overall worth of the human species unless there is an emotional component as well.

Another thing I've found interesting is that just feeling that you don't like people doesn't necessarily make loneliness go away. Even if in your mind you've decided that you don't think much of people in general, there still seems to be something inside most people that craves some kind of human interaction or companionship.

I dunno. I was just wondering if anyone else has any thoughts about these things.

Last edited by Aperture on 09 Aug 2013, 7:35 pm, edited 2 times in total.

The natural state for the neurotypical brain is to be social. My mother became a Cub Scout Den Mother when I was seven years old, to encourage me to participate with a group and socialize with other kids my age. She laughs to this day that while she led the other boys in group craft activities, I would go sit in the corner and read a book. That was not due to bad experiences with others. I had no resentment for having been socially snubbed. I just found the things that interested normal people to be boring.



Oh, I've got a long list of very real experiences on which to base my dislike of people and they are not imaginary nor even slightly exaggerated. I don't need to magnify the abuses I've undergone at the hands of the apes. And I don't blame them all, there are specific types that seek out the neurologically impaired as defenseless in a fight and revel in abusing us. That doesn't change the fact that the rest of them rarely raise a finger to come to your defense and will often join in as a mob to judge and belittle.



Oh, of course not. I absolutely experience loneliness and no matter how much I prefer my solitude, too much of anything becomes abhorrent after a while. Still, what I miss is not just company, but good company. No matter how lonely I may feel, I will not initiate a conversation with my neighbor across the way just because he says hello to me. He's a Gomer - a stupid hick, and we have nothing in common. To stand and chit chat with such an average, empty mind would do nothing to make me feel intellectually stimulated and everything to make me anxious, irritable and tired. Don't get me wrong, I am neither judging him as a person nor do I consider myself better than him (okay, I do, kind of), we just have nothing in common and that's true of the vast majority of people out there.

Because of my neurology, I simply have different interests than NT people do and the things that excite, stimulate and satisfy my mind are, by and large, of little interest to them. It narrows the field of potential 'friends' considerably, especially when combined with the fact that my solitary nature keeps me from encountering many people of any type.

So some of my dislike of NT humans comes from bad experiences, yes, but by and large I just find them tedious and shallow.

I can chat with anybody else who is civil.

I don't like people, plural, en masse, in the majority.
But I do like a few individual persons, when I can find a compatible one.

Yes, I think you do have a point there. I've had experiences sort of like that myself. After I wrote this post I worried that I might not have allowed enough room for the actual neurological differences between people with ASD's and others. I guess I'm always trying to find a balance between looking at things from a strictly neurological perspective and one that is more concerned with emotional defenses and things of that nature. It seems like they both play a role in misanthropic feelings (of course, at a certain level, emotions are neurological).

Tbh, that first post may not be the most coherent thing I've ever written. I felt like there was something I wanted to say about the emotional component of misanthropy, but I'm not sure if I quite got it.

I started off viewing this world through rose-tinted glasses.
I had high hopes.
Time and time again, my hopes were dashed (mostly when certain people didn't play by the rules).
Dashed hopes=>Misanthropy

That echoes a lot of my own experiences.