So the other day I was looking at friend updates on MySpace and noticed that a certain someone near and dear to me had recently changed something on their profile.
Okay, vary naize; let’s see what’s going on, shall we? Of course.
Amidst all the other profile jargon (name, birthday, interesting facts, pictures and apps, music...whatever) I took notice of a quote that (if condensed) goes something like this: “I look at people and see nothing worth liking.”
Now, where exactly did THAT one come from? Well, if you must know that’s a line Daniel Day-Lewis said while playing Daniel Plainview in Paul Thomas Anderson’s film ‘There Will Be Blood’. It’s pretty much one of my favorite ’08 films, but I’m not here to give a review.
Anyway, so when I saw this quote on my world-hating friend’s profile, I got to wondering what exactly it’s called when one looks at people and sees nothing worth liking. Hallelujah, Wikipedia to the rescue.
Assuming the dictionary “anyone can edit” is right this time, I was led to the word “misanthropy” which sounds like-a some kinda terrifying skin disease but is actually (and I quote) “ A general dislike, distrust, or hatred of the human species or a disposition to dislike and/or distrust other people.” What a mouthful!
Now, I don’t know if I’ll get into trouble for this, but let me quote the article again:
“… [Misanthropes] will typically be very selective with whom they choose to associate. This is also where their aversion is most prevalent because their perspective shows an overriding contempt towards common human faults….”
I don’t understand why people can’t have the right to be “selective” about who they hang around with without being called a “psycho” or a “loner.” Stop, take a deep breath, and look around at what’s going on.
There’s an underlying change in our psyches that’s being set up in our generation, and it’s really, really dangerous when you stop to think about it, and maybe it’s just myself and a certain friend that have noticed… which I certainly hope isn’t the case.
People are becoming more and more self-centered and cruel, and maybe it’s the influx of me-myself-and-I media, or maybe it’s just that the consequences for wrongdoings have become lighter and lighter until they’re virtually nonexistent.
Look at what they’re doing to the murderers and the pillagers and the rapists and the molesters and the philanderers. Send them to rehabilitation clinic to be “cured” and then throw them back out on the street under “parole” and create terms like “temporary insanity” to hide the fact that somewhere along the line we screwed up.
When we live in such a sick world, don’t you think we should all be a little more selective of our friends? Like, say, maybe stop relying on a person’s physical appearance and start looking at what’s on the inside?
I could care less about people who wear big, fancy sunglasses, boots and skirts in the middle of winter, even Ed Hardy’s pseudo-Chinese ethnic junk...it’s all irrelevant and pointless to me.
I’d rather have a friend who may not be so trendy, but at least isn’t a lying, backstabbing, bad-mouthing, bug-eyed cretin. Become aware, people. Wake UP, oh, and read Wikipedia, too.

BUG