The cycle of hatred and cruelty.

[DarkKnightGrave]

You know....The more I think about it, the move that it becomes clear that we as human beings have vast amounts of cruelty and hate within ourselves and we have no problem being like that to one another which makes even more hatred. It is a domino effect that spreads like a virus. The cycle of hatred, cruelty, and revenge against that which makes more. It hardens the hearts of the kind and makes our world that much darker.

But where does it start? Is it within us for the start or does it take another to implant it in us?

[Xephon0930]

Honestly,I'm not sure if I or anyone for that matter can give you a straight answer. For me,a lot of my hatred was more of an environmental factor constantly being bullied and being the nice guy/doormat that I was back then,I didn't know how to cope. I gained sort of the ends justify the means mentality mainly because good people fall victim to the unjustness of this world through their hearts.

This is apparent because of the massive amounts of contempt and negativity I have built up over those years. Occasionally I see good being done to others as opposed to everything else but not enough,for me at least,to justify the world's existence. But this is starting to get a bit too heavy here but that's how I feel about the more darker aspects of humanity. I treat it with such ruthlessness and contempt that I myself border around to the kind of injustices that I loathe in this world.

[Tomoyo Ichijouji]

I remember reading a study about kids who grow up to have antisocial personality disorder, which is the equivalent of criminal psychopathy (because there is non-criminal psychopathy; they tend to be successful businessmen, actors, and politicians interestingly enough XP ). There are sets of kids, who if they have an abusive or traumatic childhood, they grow up to have such a condition, while other sets who never become antisocial/psychopathic no matter how bad their childhood was. The most telling thing to me was, though, that even if genetically they have a predisposition to become psychopathic, they only get antisocial personality disorder (the actual disorder, who are chronic criminals) if they had that stress in their childhood; if they grew up in a supportive childhood, neither set gets that way.

So, in essence it is both genetic and environmental, but ultimately the environment is what trumps both.

To talk personally, I've had a whole bunch of awful things happen to me, but I've found myself never really becoming bitter towards the world, even if I feel really down about myself and my prospects. I actually find it painful, literally, to try to think completely ruthlessly about everyone else, and it seems I'm incorrigibly a nice person, where I still end up wanting to help others and alleviate suffering, no matter how much suffering I'm going through at the time. I have a very strong, unshakeable sense of empathy it seems.

I wonder sometimes that it is in the end bad for myself in a world where people tend to think about themselves, but even then I tend to just put the blame on myself, or else just think that in the end you have to look after yourself before you look after others, and that the vast majority of people, particularly in the fortunate society that us people in the developed countries often take for granted, cooperation is what is healthy for everyone in the end, and is what grows society.

[Frozen Death Knight]

All emotions are a product of how the individual reacts to its environment (the genetic part is the machinery that allows emotions to happen, in the first place). It can be caused by anything that would trigger this particular person to feel a specific thing. Heck, even inaction can cause frustration in individuals.

Anger is an emotion that can both be benificial and harmful. Venting your own frustrations is actually a good thing, but as always, it's all about how you do it that counts. If you are angry and start to let this go out over other people, then that is going to affect them negatively, too, which would be considered a bad thing.

Striking a balance and learning how your mind works as well as others can help prevent a lot of unnecessary anger and frustration. You should not reject this part of yourself and neither should you embrace it completely. Learning and understanding will always be the ultimate cure to anything.

[Trav]

Even in a world where everyone had the best of intentions and everyone wished to cooperate, humanity would not be able to escape war, suffering, and hatred. There are two reasons for this fatalistic interpretation of the world, and neither of them has anything to do with humans some how being "inherently evil" as some might state.

A reason war and hatred are unavoidable can be summed up in one word, "miscommunication." Since each of us grows up in a different part of the world with different customs, terms, and heritages our perception of what words and actions means will vary. Consequently, when someone makes anything in the manner of a statement we cannot be sure that we understand the meaning they were trying to get across. As a result of this disconnect between what we say and what we mean conflicts will always plague us. What could be seen as a sincere greeting of companionship and goodwill could also be seen as a slight or insult.

The second reason also has to do with the variety of ways humans are raised. Non-Marxian Conflict Theory states that each group of individuals makes an either implicit or explicit value statement about the world. Since groups can form in isolation from one another it is no wonder that not everyone has the same values. Furthermore, it only makes sense that some people's values will be in direct opposition to what others view as important. When these values statements rub up against one another conflict ensues. People grow angry with one another, and demonize each other as sub-human or diabolical fiends. This isn't the result of some inherently evil attributes of humanity, it simply is a direct result of how values form and what they do.

[DarkKnightGrave]

I agree with that, Trav, but that fact that we grow angry with one another over stupid petty things or because they are different. Personally, I agree with Jhonen Vasquez's theory on the subject. "We can't kill things that are different so we hate and be cruel to them until they do it themselves." Usually, I like to think that humans are not that petty but they are. The fact that we walk through life as hollow selfish beings that can't even fathom our own existence wasn't enough. We need to hate and make others lives hell because ours is and/or because they are different than us. Just the make the pain we have that much better....but I know we can do better than that. There is kindness and hope in people that can change things. We just need to believe in it and find other ways to communicate between one another...even though I think we are far off on that.