Why I hate people

If the Covid-19 pandemic has taught me something, that would be: people are stupid, ignorant, irrational and totally worth despising. But, beware, in case you came here looking for a rant against mankind and a list of 10 reasons why you are better than the rest of humanity because of your feeling of being surrounded by idiots. You in the right place. Here, we will talk about our misanthropical tendencies and why it is a complete nonsense to set ourselves apart from 'people'.

People are stupid. Period.

Imagine following situation: after a long time of hard hard work, overtime, stressful time in the office (or at home), tight deadlines and terrible clients / coworkers / team leads (you name it), you decide to simply take some time off and relax. So you go on a trip. You a arrive to the beach / Paris / Berlin / Rome / Mount Fuji (you name it, who am I to tell you where to relax?) only to discover that everyone and their moms had the same great idea. Great, right? Especially in these times, where personal space now equates into not only psychological but also physical health. A space and distancing you will definitely not get...because people are stupid, do the same stuff and just, let's admit it, suck and someone has to say it.

Or let's think about something less hypothetical. We don't have to assume a shitty job pushing you towards a burnout for you to be enlightened. Maybe you just want to treat yourself and go out (in midst of a pandemic going out is a treating yourself, right?) and eat in a restaurant or a burger place, maybe even get some really good tacos al pastor (vegetarian that is, of course). And again, everyone's mom and the devil had the same great idea of going out and convoluting all available space with their stinky food and their loud voices. And there is nothing you can do to relax. Seriously, fucking people.

But why is it, that in those situations we normally fail to see that, we too, are people? That we too had the same idea and are a crucial part of the problem if not the problem itself? People are stupid only, because we want them to be stupid, irresponsible, loud, different from what individuals we know are.

The othering of people

O.K., maybe 'othering' sounds a bit extreme. But let's hold our judgment back for a moment and think about it this way: what is othering other that to believe, in the words of Glenn Geher, that:

We are all different from one another. But them? They are all the same!

And that is the caveat of hating people: It basically reduces everyone not being me or us to them, people. It sounds intuitive, it sounds natural. And perhaps it is. But i would argue that this caveat, combined to the cognitive dissonance I tried describing before, is a recipe for blinded egos and lack of reflection. Is this bad? I don't know...maybe, but I think it is important to be aware of this.

What to do then?

I know, this is not a blog for self-help advice, but I considered the topic interesting as I saw myself, friends and family doing this thing: On the one hand not understanding why people can be so irresponsible and unwilling to stick to the rules meant to help against further Covid-19 outbreaks, but at the same time bending these rules as we met "family" and "friends", those king of people who aren't people, they aren't like everyone because we know them, because we know the are like us, taking care of themselves, sharing (at least to some extent) some of our convictions and pose therefore no threat or danger to us and to the rules being bent (broken). But of course this doesn't apply only to the context of a pandemic, but has a long reach, think of:

• Unprotected sex (When is it right to practice it and with whom?)
• Drug use (What drugs? When? What for?)
• Crossing the street on a red traffic light (Does it really matter when nobody is watching at 3am?)

I know these examples don't sound like a big deal. And they really aren't. But they are something, the proof that we all make our peace with the exceptions we make to our rules. And everyone does. So, what to do? To accept we are like everyone else, just trying to make the best of what we are given. So next time you see someone have unprotected sex, instead of judging them for irresponsibly spreading STD's, ask yourself: why am I even here watching this? (seriously, you creep!)