this is why i'm a misanthrope

the cruelty and stupidity of the species. with a few exceptions, but i don't get on with them, because in order for them to be as they are, nice, decent, and kind, they can't look at it full on. or i don't know how they do it. looking at animal planet, there are about 100 tigers left in the wild, and they are killing them for consumption (along with many other endangered species) because they believe they will take on the strength of the tiger by eating it. when they asked one woman involved in the trade how she would feel when there were no more tigers in the wild when her granddaughter is grown, she said indifferently, "she can see them in the zoo".

then looking at zeitgeist-the movie. now that's something else. the people who made it weren't very bright, they told half-truths and exaggerated and made connections that were a stretch. so they come off looking like nut-jobs. but they brought up some very scary possibilities. there is a lot to 9-11 that is dubious. and there are too many similarities with the whole situation to the manipulation of a population toward a war whose only purpose is the ultimate gain of those in power.

another reason i hold the species in such contempt is that they believe in politics. and they have no clue what goes on behind the scenes. they actually seem to think that these people running things are looking out for them. or at least consider them. you are only considered as something they consume, something that feeds them. you are cattle. to be corralled and controlled. here is a description of what i'm talking about, from joseph nye's book, soft power.

"The basic concept of power is the ability to influence others to get them to do what you want. There are three major ways to do that: one is to threaten them with sticks; the second is to pay them with carrots; the third is to attract them or co-opt them, so that they want what you want. If you can get others to be attracted, to want what you want, it costs you much less in carrots and sticks."

he is a harvard professor, i saw him in a pbs program. he is frighteningly intelligent. i think people like him, as well as the people in power, really do see the masses as cattle. literally. the gulf between nye's intelligence and the average person's is about as great as between an average person's and a cow's. the same formula applies to those in power, though they are not as smart as nye, they feel superior in the same way. so they are no more concerned for your welfare than you are for a cow's. and some are less concerned.