The misanthrope speaks.
But before I speak let me first provide a definition of the word "misanthrope" I found online.
The following is from Misanthrope's Corner.
The misanthrope hates not man. The misanthrope hates idiocy, stupidity, self-righteousness, authoritarianism, selfishness, greed, ignorance, dishonesty, cant, and balderdash. All of these he hates rightfully. The problem is that all of these are shared by no other member of the animal kingdom but man. And the misanthrope does not entertain the vain hope that these traits will ever stop determining man's behavior.
Here is a link.
[http://www.bway.net/...]
And really, if we can't all agree with hating all of the above we can at least agree to hate balderdash. Balderdash is, I believe, almost universally despised.
More below -
Anyway, to get to the point of my little missive, I am a misanthrope.
I don't like people all that much.
Now I'm sure there are thousands upon thousands of folks on this site who are admirable, nice, kind, much more intelligent that I am and generally all around great people. And I am glad you all exist. But I probably wouldn't want to hang out with more than 1 or 2 of you for any length of time.
Since I was a kid I have believed the following - 99.9% of people are idiots and it's up to the .1% of us who aren't to make sure they don't hurt themselves, each other or us. And I might be overly generous with the 99.9% thing, it may be much higher.
Yes, I am a misanthrope.
I'm also a Liberal.
How can that be, you ask.
Well, while I may not like people all that much, or have a very high opinion of them, I don't want to see any of them hurting, suffering, starving, lonely, treated unfairly, discriminated against, sick, injured or otherwise enslaved or abused.
Yes, much to my chagrin, I have a soft spot in my heart for that which I despise.
I also don't want them maiming, abusing, conning, killing, enslaving or generally acting like asshole bullies.
Ah, here is where I can let my hatred of people shine. I may have a soft spot for the downtrodden (and constantly berate myself for it) but I can really put myself fully behind hating the oppressors.
Look at the definition of misanthrope again - self-righteousness, authoritarianism, selfishness, greed, ignorance, dishonesty - do these traits sound familiar?
It seems to me they make up the very credo of the Republican Party, or at least the leaders of the Party. And here again, as much as I hate to admit it, I don't really wish ill to the folk who vote for them - I think they're idiots and morons and even, to use my current favorite pejorative, douche bags, but I don't want them killed or maimed or have them suffer. Yes, you can banish me from DailyKos if you must but I don't hate them. I pity them and their ignorance and hope to someday teach them the error of their ways- well, I hope someday somebody teaches them, I can't stand to actually have personal contact with them.
Their leaders, on the other hand, must be dealt with much more harshly. They must be arrested, tried, jailed - and I wish I could say executed but I don't believe in the death penalty - with maybe a little small bit of torture along the way. Okay, okay, no torture, torture is wrong. But the thought of it happening to them has a sort of illicit pleasure quality to it, I must admit.
So I ask you all, are there other Liberal Misanthropes out there or am I the only one?
If there are others out there I would say we should form a club but chances are I wouldn't really like any of you enough to join.