This quote from Men In Black sums it up for me: “A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it.”

I mean, have you met them‽

People as a whole I dislike, however some individuals are great.

I dislike them as a group / species but give each individual the benefit of the doubt.

I do believe that, in general but not exclusively, humans are selfish, short-sighted, and greedy. But I still treat individuals with kindness.

I don’t dislike people. They just confuse and overwhelm me and this is incredibly exhausting.

Flawed premise. I mean I like polar bears but I avoid doing any activity with them.

“You wouldn’t know it, from some of the things I’ve said over the years, but I like people. I do. I like people, but I like them in short bursts. I don’t like people for extended periods of time. I’m ok with them for a short period of time, but once you get up past around a minute, minute and a half, I gotta get the fuck out of there. And my reason for this is one that you may share, possibly — I have a low tolerance level for stupid bullshit.” - George Carlin

People are awesome and exhausting at the same time. Socializing is like exercising. If I don’t do it I feel horrible. If I do it too much without a break I feel horrible. If I do it just enough, then stop doing it and rest, it’s nice. Moderation.

I used to think I generally liked most people but it feels like covid made people go feral or something, the vibes are definitely off somehow. Just walking through the grocery store or anything in public feels much more tense than it used to and people are generally much more hostile.

Going out and actually meeting people, I generally like them. You find most of the time they’re also just trying to get through their lives and managing the best they can. There is a lot more love than hate out there, if you just but look.

Dealing with people in politics or other identity based topics. I would say strong dislike. You find people will hear what they want to hear and try and make your opinions fit in a pre labelled box. Strong beliefs also cause folks to turn a blind eye to evils in their own group. I just wish people were devoted to making these groups worthy of their unyielding support. The world may be a far, far better place.

I try to apply that last paragraph to myself as much as I can. My only exception is sports. I feel that is a safe space to let my inner tribalism have some freedom. But outside of that, I try to be most critical of my institutions and ideologies. In hopes I don’t become the person I hate.

Sorry, I went on a bit of a ramble there.

Generally speaking, people are selfish assholes. But on occasion, a person will surprise me by being genuinely nice and it really lightens my day.

An example just from today…

Driving to Best Buy, I had to watch as someone swerved in and out of a lane, with zero regard to their surroundings, as if they didn’t know where to go, just for them to go to the Best Buy.

I went to park, and no less than three cars were over the lines making it difficult to park next to them.

Then in Best Buy, I had to dodge numerous people walking down the aisles with their head down staring at their phones instead of watching where they were going.

At the end of the experience, we were checked out by an amazingly nice and cheerful person who paid attention and interacted with respect and interest. While I understand it’s part of their job to be nice, I feel this person went above and beyond and just spoke to us like a cool human being.

So now my day feels good simply because of that one person. It’s sad that so many are the complete opposite. And to be fair, I’m a grouch a lot, so I am being hypocritical in what I say here. It’s so tough for me to be bright and cheerful when surrounded by such immense hostility, obliviousness, and rudeness.

“People are the worst”

-me

/s

I hate their unconscious brains but I think their consciousness is okay.

Humans are driven more by unconscious monkey brain then they care to admit. The people they like, hate, and pay attention to are largely unconscious behaviors. In this way, a human in a social setting is pure animal. The personality and ego are mere tools used by the human organism to navigate these social situations.

The human organism is a unconscious, cruel thing that should be abandoned as soon as possible. The egos created from it are okay. But asking them to separate themselves is hard for the trained let alone the layman.

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I operate on the assumption that the overwhelming majority of people are nice, though I’ve run into more than my fair share of strangers that are complete dickheads. It feels like I’ve run into way more people who treat me kindly than cruelly (but that just be my own biases affecting my recollection).

Problem is, interacting with other people is tiring and after a long day I just want to curl up and stop existing but people waiting for the bus want to chat and strangers stop me in the street to make small talk.