I am not a hate-filled person by nature, but I have what I consider a realistic view of Homo sapiens as a technologically over-evolved—yet morally under-evolved—ape that supersedes any blind allegiance to the species I might otherwise ascribe to. My disdain for humanity—hereby referred to as my misanthropy—knows no borders, boundaries, colors or cultures, aside perhaps from the emerging culture of do-no-harm veganism.
I’m not so enamored by the modest achievements and advancements we hear so much about that I don’t clearly see that mankind’s ultimate claim to fame is the “undoing” of the most incredible and diverse epoch in the history of life on earth.
My misanthropy is not aimed at individuals per se, but at an entire misguided species of animal with an arrogance so all-consuming that it views itself as separate—and above—the rest of the animal kingdom.
It’s not like humans can’t afford a little resentment once in a while, there are entire religions built specifically on the worship of mankind and its father figure—the maker made in the image of man. But sometimes someone needs to step back and see this species in perspective…
Ever since hominids first climbed down out of the trees and started clubbing their fellow animals, humanoids have been on a mission to claim the planet as their own. No other species could ever live up to man’s over-inflated self-image; therefore they became meat. Or if not meat, a servant or slave in one way or another. If their flesh isn’t considered tasty, they’re put to use as beasts of burden, held captive for amusement or as literal guinea pigs to test drugs and torturous procedures for the perpetual prolongation of human life. Those who don’t prove themselves useful are deemed “pests” and slated for eradication.
Because, for whatever rationale, the human species sees itself as the top dog—all others: the underlings. My misanthropy is not really about a hate of humanity. I just tend to root for the underdog.
Text and Photography ©Jim Robertson, 2013. All Rights Reserved
Exposing the Big Game 
Well stated! And the obvious corollary is then how do we reluctant-misanthropists relate to our fellow humans, or at least to that sub-population of them that are either: a. busily destroying the planet like metastatic cancer cells or b. sitting around doing nothing to stop the depredations of “a”. Or as John Sanbonmatsu succinctly put it in his fine book Critical Theory and Animal Liberation: “What would it mean for us to come to terms with the knowledge that civilization, our whole mode of development and culture, has been premised and built upon extermination — on a history experienced as ‘terror without end” …”. What, indeed, does it mean to look unflinchingly at the horror that the human species and human civilization has, and is still, inflicting on the other earthlings that co-inhabit our fair planet? How does one avoid complicity and remain a moral person while living amidst the agents responsible for such monstrous crimes?
My answer would be to adopt the tactical philosophy of Lenin’s Bolshevik Party: if you are with us you are a friend, entitled to every courtesy and respect; if you are in opposition, you have no “human rights” and any act committed against you, no matter how egregious, is a moral act, provided only that it serves to advance the greater cause. Seen in that light, vandalism, violence and beyond… lose any semblance of moral proscription.
Thanks, I knew you could relate!
How I needed to see this! This mirrors my thinking and feelings exactly. I currently read John A. Livingston, who wrote Rogue Primate (out of print, but copies still around). Another book he wrote, is: “The John A. Livingston Reader, including The Fallacy of Wildlife Management and One Cosmic Instant: A Natural History of Human Arrogance.” A real gem, & available, which opened my eyes to what I was feeling, but did not quite understand, yet. Now I do, and I don’t apologize for my beliefs.
Here is a quote from the forward by Graeme Gibson: “…he (Livingston) maintains that our dysfunctional & profoundly destructive relationship with the natural world is an inescapable result of our belief that the human animal is separate and different from everything else in nature. The corollary of this is our overweening conviction that everything on and in the earth is ours to do with as we please.”
Thank you, once again, Jim Roberston
You’re welcome Rosemary
Geoff, I had never thought of Lenin. I lean toward being less black and white about it and see the gray areas on the edges of the divide. But I understand!
Perfect, Jim! I could have written that myself! Like Geoff’s comment too.
I thought this would appeal to my fellow misanthropes.
I do think that man the tool maker is our achievement and the main difference between us and the rest of the animal kingdom. We are not morally superior, not physically superior, not psychosocially superior. We are steeped in superstition, religious and otherwise. What sets us apart is tool making. Our ideas, great to us, but really modest. Even before the dawn of civilization and fast thereafter we have declared war on fauna and flora and the oceans and air and we are destroying out planet and all other life on it. Some of us consider ourselves God’s favored species and as stewards of the land. The land and everything on, under and above it is for our use. We are the center of the universe; so we think.
Roger, other creatures use tools. What we as a species learned to do is make and control fire. It is from there that we made rapid advances. Fire allowed for the metal to make weapons of war and hunting. And branch out to colder climates.
Thanks for your comments. The often-used word in anthropology, “tool” really implies “weapons” (arrow heads) as far back as 2 million years ago, with Homo erectus. Our early ancestors used these “tools” to kill each other–and to kill other animals. This destructive behavior started very long ago. As already stated, tools have been used by many other animals, just not as weapons.
I had hoped not to get that argument started. Stone ‘tools’ are used by Seagulls. They grab a clam and fly up high enough to smash it on a rock but not so high that other gulls can get to it first. They have trustworthy, favorite rocks. I kinda think it relates to our situation in the Middle East, the gov’t wants Assad out of power by dropping an ICBM on his version of the Pentagon but doesn’t want others to raid the place of vital info. The brain function is still acting on a primative level, the tools keep getting more deadly. Different creature, different toolbox. Cooperation is a tool, also. Wolves used that way before humans. Perhaps humans learned cooperation from observing wolves hunt and raise their young? Without this, man probably would have died off? In some circles, people believe the domestication process of willing animals made the difference. I use wolves because I know wolves, but consider falcons, too. These creatures helped us feed our offspring and we considered them intelligent and worthy of a warm place by our fires. We didn’t put them on the menu, for the most part. Wolves are not tools, they are teachers. They are quite aloof and do what they want, when they want. But they like to eat what most humans eat and they are hardwired to cooperate in hunting and they are loyal family members who adore puppies and babies. 10,000 years ago they started to become dogs, to as little as 2,000 or less years ago with some breeds. I do have a point here… and it is the root to why I live in the woods and prefer the company of wolves to most people. Once we domesticated dogs, we humans turned on our wolf brothers and hunted them down just because we ate the same foods. We killed off the competition in all species. Even other humans. Now it is happening non-stop! Eliminating the competition for resorces we need to keep the military industrial complex thriving, in this vicious end game of circular logic. I guess the final end-game will be safe drinking water? A ‘survivalist’ asked me who I thought would win. I said those with the best antibiotics and deep wells of pure water and a way to pump it. And forget MRE’s, get into cutting edge indoor food production of heirloom seeds. There is so much to be learned from medicinal pot growers that is useful for food. Knowledge is the ultimate tool! The future depends on how we use what we know. But history repeats itself, and dictators tend to kill off the intellectuals as soon as they can. Just as those who designed castles for the king were murdered when the job was done. Humans have an evil and primative brain that runs on greed, power and control. Those who can overcome that primative behavior for communication and cooperation with like-minded people, and animals will have the best chances, I think? If there is any hope at all, for humans to survive in the future, we have to figure out how to keep the ones with the sickness of mind from breeding, be it prison or birth control, we have to stop the killers from breeding once they show themselves to be incurably unable to live in a peaceful society. I’m not talking about breeding people, just the opposite. I’m talking about preventing psychopaths making more psychopaths by not letting them out of jail once they are diagnosed as incurable.
Actually a starting use of tools by animals was discovered in Senegal. Chimpanzees, particularly the females, have been hunting with “spears.” They fashion them from tree branches, removing the leaves and the soft tips. Then they use their teeth to sharpen the end and use the spears to kill galagos (small monkeys). So apparently some chimps may turn into carnivores too!
They have also been known to form gangs to kill “rival” chimps, and there is one horrific account (video) of a gang of males who seem to have organized to attack a member of the group. Some of the animals held him down, while others bit and kicked him, in what was described as “torture.” Maybe it’s no surprise that we share up to 99% of our genetic material with them. Some scholars don’t think we should even be in separate genera–they propose that we should be Pan sapiens rather than Homo sapiens. That should give the human exceptionalists apoplexy!
Reblogged this on Sherlockian's Blog and commented:
Nice article.
Very well written article. I agree with your views.
B2B.
Thanks and thank you for reblogging.
According to my reading, we are not even the only species to use tools.
no, we are not the only species to use tools. perhaps we are the only species to live in denial about the havoc we wreck upon others.
loved the post, jim
I have saved this page under my favorites. I kinda get what Geoff is saying-I made the mistake of calling myself a pacifist once on another blog-I said the ALF scares me. Geoff read that and thought of me as a hand wringing herbal tea drinking lilly liver. Which I am. I think we should be careful of tactical philosophies.
Yes, Denderah, I remember that little dust-up although I thought, because of your name, that you were probably English and could personally relate to Britain’s life-or-death struggle against the Nazi’s in World War II. Having been on both sides of the line, believe me that you have far less to fear of anyone in the ALF than from the characters they courageously battle!
To paraphrase a quote from the movie “Hoffa”: “Never let a stranger in your car, in your house, or in your heart, unless he (she) is a friend to animals. But if he is that friend of animals, he’s the only friend you’ve got.”
Cheers!
Very much enjoyed that post, Geoff!
I am a misanthrope though. But I don’t know what I can really do. The evil world is sophisticated and very firmly in place. It will do itself in I figure at it’s own mad pace.
Denderah, you are in the SW, go see if you can talk with a Hopi medicine man. I believe somebody in the know there can explain what is happening with the world?
No need to be smart aleck Melody.
I was certainly not wisecracking! I just know better than to talk about another tribe’s visions and stories. I had a friend who grew up with the Hopi. He told me amazing things. If what he told me is true, I think you would find peace and comfort in spending time there, if they let you? For all I know, you could already have done that, in which case, I will mind my own business, but really, I only meant to help.
Jim, I totally understand, and you rock!
Excellent little piece, I agree with you fully. Misanthropy rather than a slur is actually an entirely rational position. In fact one could argue that only anthropocentrists, humanists and speciesists could disagree. 🙂
Thanks Marcus.
I was walking outside my apartment taking stock of the half-empty acres of strip mall to the south and the mostly-vacant yet air-conditioned office park wasteland to the north that stretches for 10 miles when I realized the human race is doomed. Homo sapiens is doomed because it is doing on a worldwide scale what has only been done before by civilizations; mankind is exhausting the ecosystem until it collapses. Typically, a society in collapse is survived by its hardier/luckier former members who move on to other places of less-diminished resources. Those survivors and a small part of the old civilization itself live to see another day. The difference between then and now is we don’t have another Earth to run to and use up. We are not going to colonize Mars and we will not pass go and parasitize another planet, not because we don’t want to, but because we will lack the fossil fuels.
My own misanthropy is based in not wanting to invest in a sinking ship. The human race has put itself on a virtual Hindenburg. We’re already on fire and this baby is going to go down in flames with all of us on it. As I am too busy savoring the few moments of I have left, I don’t find myself inspired to award the designers of the imminent tragedy with congratulations.
I have extrapolated upon my thoughts concerning the doom of the human race here: http://veganhedonists.com/blogs/reconciling-veganism-and-nihilism
I used to believe humankind had a shot at turning things around for itself. I hope evidence conspires to renew my optimism. The human race seems to me both suicidal and genocidal with about as much foresight as a Petri dish of brewer’s yeast.
Good analogy!…or a petrie dish of in-vitro meat.
Read that link and oh you really said it well!
Man, I wish I could write/express myself like this. Jim, you rock!
BTW, is that your dog? If so, what is his/her name?
Yes, that’s our dog, “Honey” (the name she came with when we rescued her. Here’s more about her: https://exposingthebiggame.wordpress.com/2012/05/25/that-dog-dont-hunt/
Yes I like your reply Geoff. The little dust-up… And I am from Britain in a way-lived in London for years. I really should not have said that the Alf scares me more like wanting to be careful of what I say on a comment board. You know the “enemy” reads these animal blogs-the FBI and others. I do not know whether you live in the United States? But cheering for the ALF can be dicey.
That said=although I am slightly young for personal memeories of the Nazis I have friends in London who went through the bombing.
I mean personal memories…I have interviewed Walter Bond and corresponded with him and I found him to be a very charming good man. I have no doubt the people who fight for the animals are really the best kind of people in their hearts.
One more thing…I will have no personal associates unless they are vegan. That stance has narrowed my social life but I don’t care-you are right friends of animals are the only friends I want. Cheers Geoff!
Beautifully put. As a fellow misanthrope, I concur completely.I often imagine the world without us. The image is redeeming.
Amen to that image.
As a fellow misanthrope, I cannot, but concur. I often imagine the world without us. The image is redeeming. Since my earliest years, I have identified with animals and the natural world. Progressively, my engagement with people has become purely transactional. The integrity of my animal family, its truth and depth rise high.
Agreed, the relationship with nonhuman animals is redeeming, vrs. with humans can be draining.
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Reblogged this on Exposing the Big Game.
We inflict horrific suffering and death on every other innocent creature on this earth.
We inflict that suffering and death for the most selfish of reasons–profit, pleasure, and “progress.”
We unquestioningly profess ourselves to be the only important species on this earth, an act of special creation of the deity.
We then postulate an unbridgeable chasm between ourselves and all other life forms and deny we have all evolved together in order to justify our reign of terror.
We blunder towards the destruction of this earth, ignore the suffering and extinctions we are causing, and are so arrogant we cannot or will not recognize that we are merely planetary bullies who in the end may destroy ourselves.
As an (ex) Catholic I grew up hearing “You must hate the sin but love the sinner.” The hell I must! If fighting for animals first and foremost makes me a misanthrope, so be it.
(Who could not look at the beautiful dog and not prefer her to most of the people you meet in a lifetime?)
I feel and have always felt exactly the same way. Thank you for expressing it so eloquently.
Thank you, glad you agree
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..as a vegan..
..dog rescuer..
..cruelty-free liver..
..lover of all non-human animals more than humans..
..in the early “winter” of my life..
..I too embrace my misanthropy..
..so well written, Jim ☺
Thanks!
Late to the party, as usual, but yes, we’ve moved further down the tracks of self-destruction. We’ve created COVID-19 as a new tool.
Some years ago I was talking with a young park ranger. I asked him if he was familiar with the term “pitching out.” He was not, so I explained how when a bark beetle attacks a tree, the tree pumps sap to the location and drowns, that is, pitches out, the beetle. I then stated matter of factly that “technology is Mother Nature’s way of pitching out mankind.” That statement nearly put him to tears. I believed it years before then, then, and still believe it now.
One must admire the current philosophy of anti-science coupled with the belief that we will move to Mars. Each one knowing that s/he will be on the trip to make an uninhabitable world livable, without work, and that that is such a better solution than maintaining an already livable world. And it will all be accomplished, not by educated people, but people of the proper political party, or religion, or other magical category of god-given superiority.
I suppose H. sapiens will leave this beautiful rock soon enough, I just hope we leave the tigers and other beautiful species behind.
As long as they don’t change the climate too rapidly before they go…