A Primer to the Ethology of the Species Homo sapiens misanthropus
I am one of a new species known as Homo sapiens sapiens misanthropus, which has evolved under the impress of the madness, stupidity and worthlessness of humans in the modern era. The evolution was probably hastened by reading too much Nietzsche in my youth, and spending too much time as a paratrooper. More of us are emerging every moment, and this is probably not an healthy thing, nor is it a good sign for overall social cohesion as most of us really do not care about the rest of the üntermenschen busying themselves with worries about what other people think of them, cocktail and dinner party chatter, and the incessant pursuit of approbation from their brethren.
Still, just to torture myself, I do like chatting with people. It is quite contradictory, to be sure, but humans are fantastically contradictory creatures. Indeed, perfect consistency in behaviour and outlook evinces a lack of imagination and a corresponding deficit of intelligence. In this respect, I have too much imagination or am more likely fading into some sort of mid-life existential crisis. You know, I used to be an elite soldier and rather good at academics, and had ambitions and an interest in the people surrounding me, but now ...
When I am not in a dreadfully misanthropic mood, and have moments of empathy and a lesser degree of alienation, I enjoy idle conversation and rather peculiar humour. Nevertheless, I am not all that opinionated and am always polite and honest, which I think makes me good company for superficial conversation. No point in pretending that I am not an alienated and mad being, since this is obvious to anyone that exchanges more than a few words with me. Nothing pleases me more than a good cigar, good coffee, and Wagnerian opera in the background, and books. Then again, I also love boxing, sailing, and knocking out hills until my legs burn in the nostalgic exercise of reawakening the feelings of belonging and purpose I had when I wore the maroon beret. Then when I am left alone, I long for what most people wish to never have befall them:
The Para’s Prayer
Give me, God, what you still have,
Give me what no one asks for;
I do not ask for wealth,
Not for success, nor even health-
People ask you so often, God, for all that
That you can not have any left.
Give me, God, what you still have;
Give me what people refuse to accept from you.
I want insecurity and disquietude,
I want turmoil and brawl,
And if you should give them to me, my God,
Once and for all
Let me be sure to have them always,
For I will not always have the courage
To ask you for them.
—By Zirnheld
Such madness at least keeps me keen and engaged with the world. Without some sort of strife, challenge and—dare I say ?—misery, I do not know what I would do with my life. Although most people seem to wish for delivery from their woes and pain, and forget them and all the trauma that they have faced, it really makes us who we are and I would be entirely lost without the feelings of pain, depression, alienation, and frustration. So, let me see how long it takes before anyone even thinks it vaguely amusing or interesting to chat with some lost old misanthrope like me ! I think that I am ultimately an arrogant and stubborn bastard.
Another quote for your delectation, this time from Nietzsche, about the cardinal problem facing any thinking person now:
'This antagonism—not to esteem what we know, and not to be allowed any longer to esteem the lies we should like to tell ourselves—results in a process of dissolution'.—Friedrich Nietzsche, Der Wille zur Macht
Here is some apposite cynicism for those of you that believe in state intrusion and a benign government apparatus—there is no surer way to tread the path of tyranny and oppression than to believe in government and allow it to extend its rule and influence over your life.
'Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their consciences.' —C. S. Lewis
Inasmuch as the British Isles have taken quite a fancy to management and auditing systems borrowed from the KGB and Stasi (so beloved of the little apparatchniks) which create targets that are supposed to represent the achievement of goals and the improvement of the system but actually just serves itself in this strange Kafkaesque Potemkim economy in which we are enmeshed, another quite from Lewis whose prescience in such matters was astounding:
'Who can endure a doctrine which would allow only dentists to say whether our teeth were aching, only cobblers to say whether our shoes hurt us, and only governments to tell us whether we were being well governed?'
—C.S. Lewis, A Preface to Paradise Lost
Finally, here is an eulogy from one of the greatest leaders of the twentieth century for another great man, both of whom stared down the Soviet Union whilst the domestic opposition to them wanted further compromise with the most prolific mob of killers seen in the twentieth century. I think much of the hatred for them is that they were pilloried as imbeciles trying to lead us to war, but the intellectual left were proved to have been duped by the most notorious killers we have had the misfortune of seeing. Also, those feeling that they had entitlements to jobs in industries subsidised by everyone else seem to resent them for making them compete for work. Yes, I know, I am an incorrigible relic of the Cold War and an unreconstructed libertarian ...
