Misanthropy is a poisonous poison that is completely understandable. It makes sense to the misanthrope to hate; it seems reasonable. There are a litany of reasons that could be conjured up to justify hatred of human beings. Ultimately though, it is an emotional reaction to the problem of human beings and what they do. Like most emotions, it must play itself out, be felt, and worked through in the heart of the misanthrope if they ever want to transcend this limiting set of emotions.

This is not to say that humans are good or that we must love human beings. To say that one must love something is to misunderstand love. Emotions are not decided by choice. Yes, thought can influence emotion, but emotions come whether we will them to or not, they rise from the heart and the heart is not subject to our whims. Thus, for the misanthrope, it is a matter of working through what they feel, and only then can a more rational heart prevail in deciding what to do about the “human problem”.

To say that humans have not become a “problem” is to misunderstand reality: humans are causing the biggest extinction event in a long time, and have been doing so for quite some time; it is only in recent years that it has accelerated to levels where it seems blatantly noticable. However, in deciding what to do about this “human issue” it would make sense to cast aside both the dreamy lovers of everyone and the total misanthropes; at best they could be used for whatever end they may be used for, but cooler heads should be in charge of deciding what we can do to make this species a less destructive influence on the planet.

I say that misanthropy is a poisonous poison, which may seem redundant. But it is because if misanthropy is offered to a subject as a poison, it poisons the misanthrope who fuels its flames, as they indulge their black heart and let it rule them. When misanthropes gather, they grumble and argue, they seethe, they insult each other. Getting misanthropes to agree on any solution to any problem is pointless. For a misanthrope to be able to do something useful to solve the problems facing the Earth, they must first work through and have a catharsis of their hatred; otherwise, they can not work with others and they will simply become confined to their own prison of hate as everyone retreats from them and leaves them to their poison.

It makes sense to be a misanthrope; to the misanthrope, their emotion makes so much sense, but it is not sense that they feel; it is an irrational hatred that can be easily rationalized, made sensible, and justified through demonstrable examples of the problems created by humans. However, the root of the hatred is emotional; it is primitive, absolutely destructive and self-consuming. It is an emotion rooted in fear of a stronger adversary, that animal desire to destroy that which is a threat to oneself. One is afraid of humans because there are so many of them and so few misanthropes, and even if all the misanthropes in the world got together, they would simply argue with each other, fight amongst themselves, and no problems would be solved.

Humans do many things that would cause alarm among rational thinkers who realize the destructiveness of what is being done, that is almost beyond dispute. However, if solutions are to be brought forth (and I would prefer that solutions not have the hate-borne extremism characteristic of misanthropes), then the solutions should be offered by those who have worked through their fears and hatreds and come out with cooler heads. Anyone can project their fear of death on humanity and feel hatred consume them, but few people who are of this disposition can actually do something about the issues at hand.

Ultimately, rationality is called for in dealing with humans. Art may serve the emotions, but in deciding courses of action, brains ruled by reason should be the deciders.