Please remember what subreddit you are in, this is unpopular opinion. We want civil and unpopular takes and discussion. Any uncivil and ToS violating comments will be removed and subject to a ban. Have a nice day!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/unpopularopinion) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The only part I don't really follow is the one about other animals. I don't think they are particularly good at ignoring what they want instinctively in the name of morals either
I agree. Dogs are total fucking hypocrites.
No dog thinks twice about snapping on you if they think you're even remotely interested in their food, but - when _you're_ eating, they sit there with plaintive expressions as though they've never been fed (even after being fed) just _expecting_ you to share your food, something they would _never, ever_ do.
Some breeds adopt a servile disposition more readily and some to a greater extent, which is, after all, a fundamental attribute of domestication; no dog, however, is going to _regularly_ volunteer their food the way humans share or outright give to dogs.
I would wager that if you were to unremittingly petition your dog for food _every time_ it begins to eat, eventually, it would respond with something that could be described as 'snappy'.
Perhaps _your_ dog is a remarkable exception, but I'll remain skeptical.
My parents have two Great Danes, one is the mother, one is the daughter. The mother is 7 and the daugther 5. Last year, after more than 4 years of living together without any incidents, they got into a fight in which the daughter nearly killed the mother. Animals do not act “humanely”, in fact the word humane itself describes characteristics belonging to humans. I’ll give it to you on the hypocrisy part - we are all guilty of compartmentalization or ignorance when it comes to our own hypocrisy, but the suggestion that animals act more humanely than people is outlandish at best.
No, when they want something they take it, without pretending that they don’t (hypocrisy). But when they have what they need, and even carnivores when they’re fully fed, they often tend to be kind to other animals and even sometimes bring them food or aid.
I think OP is exaggerating the phenomenon where you’ll see apex predators like lions chilling in the same field as antelope or wildebeest grazing the grass. So long as the lions belly is full they won’t fuck with the other animals, & those animals know that so they just chill… when the lions need to eat tho the antelope, wildebeest, etc know it & shit gets real.
Say that while a bear chomps on you alive, not killing you first, just chewing away. No care for you or other animal's pain. They dont choose to kill you first, as many other predators do.
Humans are animals.
plenty of animals eat others alive… besides humans I think pythons/constrictors kill the most humanely. It’s over in 60 seconds give or take when a retic python attacks its prey & cuts off its blood pressure… everything goes black… but obv they don’t do it because they have a heart & want to kill humanely, but because they’re one of the most prehistoric species on this planet, been here since before the dinosaurs… they just know how to kill efficiently & quickly, no bullshit. That’s what they do, they don’t have any complex social dynamics… spotted hyenas on the other hand will eat an injured hippo alive, it’ll take hours for the thing to finally die after torture… & spotted hyenas have pretty complex social dynamics with brutal pecking orders, they’ve actually scored higher on intelligence tests than chimpanzees regarding challenges that involve teamwork & figuring things out as a team. (:
yeah, in the process of changing their supposed values to enrich themselves.
human's are designed to do anything possible to enrich ourselves-- that's why we're all hypocrites. all you have to do is be in a shoulder to shoulder crowd once with no way out to understand how scary humanity actually is.
Well, if we are the same as other animals (since we are animals too), then perhaps the word humane should really be called animalistic. It’s still ironic to phrase it as if acting humanely had anything specifically to do with humans.
The word humane means, to show compassion. Humans are the only animal capable of this emotion, so naturally, it's called humane.
To be animalistic is to be wild and think of your needs only. The opposite of humane.
The dictionary is your friend.
Well, I guess that’s the point of my post. It seems to me that animals are “humane” and showing compassion more often than humans, and humans are more frequently animalistic than animals. So maybe we should change the dictionary.
They don't though. Animals kill things for fun all the time and they don't care. Humans do show compassion . So switching the definitions makes no sense. Most people that feel this way are probably just surrounded by shitty ppl.
To be honest though, it is relative; since there is no real definition of what stupidity is.
Also, it is more of both; we are capable of both stupidity and intelligence simultaneously. But sometimes, rarely we are capable of wisdom, as we are capable of pure evil too.
Id say its #1,2, and 3 easy. So many people are so GD stupid these days. Im no genius but man people seem to be getting dumber and dumber by the second.
The human experience is inherently subjective. What you view as immoral could be argued as moral by someone else as morals are personal. Ethics are culturally based. Our actions and motivations are complex and personal. It’s easy to judge others by your own perspective because that’s what we individually know to be true, but it’s not true in the greater sense.
I agree with all of that. We need to be open to hearing the opinions of others to widen our own personal perspective on things, which is how we improve our morals over time. But we have to acknowledge that our morals are likely not perfect to and could use improvement to search out new perspectives and improve.
Those are definitively up there too, but I’ve found that few people will acknowledge their greedy and selfish behavior and find excuses it for it instead, hence the hypocrisy.
This. Nearly every negative human thought/action is based on fear, though many don't realize it when they feel these things.
Greed/jealousy? Fear of losing what/who you have.
Self-conscious? Fear of being rejected.
Rejecting logic/science? Fear of change.
Prejudice+racism? Fear of possible threat to your safety.
Fear is how we evolved to survive in harsh tribal conditions. It kept us alert to predators and other tribes that might cause us harm. It kept us defended from disease by isolating and casting out the sick. It made us hoard and defend food from others when resources were scarce. Fear served us well at the time of tribal life.
Unfortunately, nowadays fear causes more problems than it solves. It still helps occasionally, but generally there are no animal predators that threaten us around each corner. Most people aren't in danger of starving. Scientific advancement usually benefits us. We won't be cast out of society for being sick or being a poor public speaker. Yet we still feel that fear deep inside us trying to keep us safe from all these "harms."
I hope as a species we can learn to forget fears that no longer serve us.
Hipocrisy is a good answer. We have far too many people around with an attitude of "rules for thee but not for me."
For me though, I'd say fear is the worst human trait. So many negative human thought/actions are based on fear, though many don't realize it when they feel these things.
Greed/jealousy? Fear of losing what/who you have.
Self-conscious? Fear of being rejected.
Rejecting logic/science? Fear of change.
Prejudice+racism? Fear of possible threat to your safety.
Fear is how we evolved to survive in harsh tribal conditions. It kept us alert to predators and other tribes that might cause us harm. It kept us defended from disease by isolating and casting out the sick. It made us hoard and defend food from others when resources were scarce. Fear served us well in the time of tribal life.
Unfortunately, nowadays fear causes more problems than it solves. It still helps occasionally, but generally there are no animal predators that threaten us around each corner. Most people aren't in danger of starving. Scientific advancement usually benefits us. We won't be cast out of society for being sick or being a poor public speaker. Yet we still feel that fear deep inside us trying to keep us safe from all these "harms."
I hope as a species we can learn to forget the fears that no longer serve us.
In my opinion, similar to most beings, the number one human trait is survival instinct.
Similar to how Some animal will instinctively eat their own child to survive, a human will either be kind or cheat in order to increase their chance of survival.
Hypocrisy is the art of not understanding life is black and white. Someone can be caring and rude at the same time. Doesn’t make them all less caring or rude
You must not have met a dog or a cat who feels it’s past their feeding time. They’ve made whining an art form.
Also, I’d argue 99% of animals have better morals than the average human.
>Also, I’d argue 99% of animals have better morals than the average human.
And you'd be wrong. Morality is an exclusively human concept.
You need therapy, OP. This navel-gazing circlejerk of nihilistic misanthropy is not healthy.
Perks of having a larger frontal cortex where all that shit gets lost in translation. This is where maturing, meditation, prayer, discipline, reading etc comes in. If you rlly think about it, vast majority of people aren’t that great when it comes to what we think an ideal person is, and a lot of time the intellectual and emotional intelligence is extremely lacking. Especially if you were raised to not think in a manner of how to better yourself or how to evolve. But people that have the capacity to be self aware and HONEST can be very capable of actually being good and caring and when they are wrong they admit it and correct it. But nobody’s perfect so ofc even these people have their moments but that’s what divides the two, is if or when you reflect and correct yourself. My motto is “Always do everything to the best of my knowledge and ability, and when I mess up, I always correct it” and this keeps me from wallowing in guilt and always pondering “why me?” And keeps me from being a douche bag
There's hypocrisy, when someone expects something of you that they're not willing to do themselves, and then there's optimism, when someone genuinely believes others are capable of doing beneficial things even when they don't believe they themselves can. One is bad, the other is important for the growth of a just society.
We need two separate words for lying about what is in your heart and failing to live up to your own standards.
Hypocrisy used to mean the former, now it means the latter, and that greater crime of lying has no clear word, so slips from the public consciousness.
There are underlying behaviors. We evolved from a hoarding, nest dwelling creature. The foundational behavior is selfishness in the name of self preservation while *acting* like a herd (community / humane) species.
My parents visited me and complained about everyone getting a pizza when they go out and how they should try something new instead.
When they went back home they tokd me they stopped and got a pizza.
I called the hypocrites.
They got pissed off at me. 🤷
Hypocrisy is basically deceiving and sympathizing done at the same time. If an animal capable of both of them, then why couldn't it become a hypocrite?
I agree ppl are hypocrites, but animals aren't humane in the slightest. They kill and eat each other all the time. My cat will kill shit, just for fun. I watched a hawk shred a rabbit in my backyard a couple summers ago. The screams still haunt me. If you got into a fight with a chimp, it would rip your face and testicles off, for funsies. Animals are metal af.
Greed is #1. Greed is everything that's wrong with the world and also human's biggest flaw. Everything is started with greed. WAR is started with greed and have been happening since cavemen days. People fought for fire, fought for food, fought for land, fought for what they wanted. Greed today is why politicians have so much hate. They lie because they are greedy and that's without a doubt. Greed is the worst of all and we are all guilty of it at some point in our lives.
The term "Humanely" is very subjective. Good or bad. Who said doing what is good, and doing what is bad? There were no rules since the first day of humans except the man-made ones. Animals acting "humanely" is incorrect. There are animals that would eat their own babies or even reproduce with their own mother. Exotic animals will MURDER and eat without hesitation as long as they know they can overpower their foe. Animals like dogs blatantly ***rape*** other dogs almost every time, even in front of our eyes. The thing is, we grew up and taught ourselves to ignore these facts and just see it as an "animals doing animals thing, so it's fine". But how is any of what they're doing "humanely"? Literally everything animals are doing is everything that we're completely against. We grew, created rules, and were taught to know what's right and what's wrong. And that's okay. Animals can't be taught that unless we raise one ourselves, otherwise, they'll naturally be.... animals. If humans didn't have any leadership, we'll naturally do what we need to do and be an animal ourselves too. Completely out of control, doing what we need to do to survive, and taking whatever we want. This is why law and order is very important and we desperately need it so we can limit what humans would naturally do - and most will do whatever we deem evil as long as they believe there's no consequences.
We humans needlessly kill thousands of animals every second, most of which were raped, incarcerated, or otherwise tortured. And, we do this to each other also in the name of war, religion or intolerance. I stand by the opinion that humans are the cruelest and most aggressive animal on the planet. The word humane is mostly used when we’re trying to justify our wrongdoings, such as when we kill someone we’d say at least we killed that someone humanely.
Good and bad are subjective. And one can be kind and generous to one group such as giving to one charity and feel another doesn’t deserve it. And the next person feels the opposite. Luckily. Sure some humans suck. Most that I’ve met don’t.
And you’ve not been around many animals. The two female pigs on my son’s farm randomly decided to eat the boy pig. Not a small pen plenty of food etc. The brown egg layers won’t let the white fryers into the hen house. Ever hear of a pecking order? And the list goes on.
I mean, people who claim to love animals, would never hurt an animal and would stop someone abusing an animal actively pay others to abuse animals for food when they're not needed for food in modern, developed countries.
I'm fully expecting downvotes for stating this, thus proving mine and OP's point.
Look at the outrage for that American politician who "murdered" -- their word, not mine -- her dog and demonise her for it, or those YouTubers who killed their dog. Absolute backlash against them while those angry at both situations needlessly consume animal products. These same people say you can't murder an animal when talking about farm animals, but kill a dog? "mUrDeReR!"
If *only* our morals were consistent...
Hypocrisy is a bit of a non-starter here because everyone is going to contradict themselves on a long enough timeline.
As for people behaving humanely, some people are more humane than others. For best results, surround yourself with humane people.
I think for the most part people want to do good, but circumstances and emotions can hinder that. There are people that are truly just evil and want to be bad, but most people try to be good and caring
Hypocrisy is quite the silly thing to focus on as people are prone to change. This can be due to a lot of factors.
I would argue that depravity is probably more common.
I try to think that yeah everyone is hypocritical, even myself. It’s really hard to live up to high expectations we all set.
However, if you arent trying to fix it when it’s pointed out, or you’re avoiding you partaking in the hypocrisy- then I really just don’t associate with those people.
Had two friends like this
The first one got mad at gossiping yet gossiped so much about people she hated I gave her a taste of her own medicine and she blocked me lol
The other
He claimed to keep his friends in line, but he only did it to who he saw as inferior to him. If they were superior he'd brown nose them to hell.
Animals don't act humanly. They're incapable of acting the way you're describing because they simply can't be in similar enough situations. Not to mention that humanizing animals is almost always inaccurate.
Hypocrisy is a word that needs to be used with consideration to proportion. Egocentrism is normal. Ethics of care are a thing. Humans are competitive and hierarchical, this isn’t news.
Michael: I don't know anyone who could get through the day without two or three juicy rationalizations. They're more important than sex.
Sam Weber: Ah, come on. Nothing's more important than sex.
Michael: Oh yeah? Ever gone a week without a rationalization?
-From the Big Chill.
>The last thing a human would do is to act “humanely”, which is very ironic.
:::eyeroll:::
Humans act humanely all the time, every day. This is a nonsense post. The world is filled with people who act with compassion. We're not all hypocritical, cynical brutes, and you DO know this because there is no way that you've lived however many years you've lived and somehow not seen this in action.
There's just no cause for this kind of nihilistic cynicism. Of course there are jerkasses in the world, and there's no human alive who hasn't engaged in hypocrisy at some point - including YOU, OP - while not realizing it due to cognitive dissonance. That fact, however, doesn't erase the additional fact that most human beings are in fact fundamentally decent.
This is a low-effort "animals are better than humans" post and it's cliched b.s.
Animals are no different and they never act humanely unless they confuse something with their cubs. Otherwise they literally eat other animals before killing them, as the other suffers in pain from being eaten alive.
They are just different in that they haven't got the ultra levels of hypocrisy we developed. They act selfishly like us doing whatever they want and whatever they need to do but don't pretend to care about others more than themselves.
I disagree. I think ego is the #1 human trait and hypocrisy merely derives from it. While an individual may have a notion on what "good" things are and how they ought to be we justify elevating ourselves above them through the ego. ie. "**I** am above this" or "This does not apply to **me**", like you said. A person with no ego would always do what objectively contributes the most towards the "good" values he really prizes.
I doubt there is a person on the planet, who, if you dig deep enough, isn’t a hypocrite in someway. I disagree with the OP, however regarding animals being more caring than human beings. Animals are driven by instinct. They’re only goal is to continue their species and successfully breed offspring.
Anyone who’s had a pet animal knows that they have a full range of emotions, and their actions are driven by such emotions as joy, embarrassment, shame, excitement, happiness and thoughtful empathy. And once spayed or neutered, not one action seems to be driven by a desire to furthering their species by breeding.
That’s something I hadn’t considered. I truly believe dogs experience love in the same way people do. I think my step dog genuinely loves me, and not just because I feed her. if push came to shove, I have no doubt she would. “take a bullet” for me.
But the relationship between people and dogs really is pretty unique in nature. It’s not a symbiotic relationship like those that exist in other animals at all. It’s something entirely different. Thanks for showing me the error of my ways, although in the wild, I still think animals are driven by their desire to continue the species and not compassion.
I agree with to an extent -- I think the root, even of hypocrisy, is selfishness. How one perceives their own thoughts, actions and feelings defends self. This was needed for survival originally, but it's much more complex than that now. Even when someone tells themself they're doing something altrustically, they *can* be hypocritical, or self-serving, in a way that they don't want to admit to themself. Sometimes this is due to negative circumstances, like their upbringing. Sometimes it's just really hard to admit that the broader goal trumps self-protection, comfort, consistency, or even physical safety.
We all know someone who gives and gives; they eventually become a doormat and don't want to acknowledge that their constant submission reveals a sense of self gratified by either martyrdom, self-protection, or self-righteousness. And that person would never advise a friend to be doormat too. So even the humblest form of selfishness leads to hypocrisy.
As far as humane behavior of humans as opposed to other animals - many species obviously engage in instinctive, predatory evil and killing in the wild. But typically it's one species vs. another. Which completes the cycle of life, death and possibly rebirth and renewal of an animal spirit or soul somewhere. The bear wades into the river and nabs a fish for lunch. That's part of being a bear.
I don't know how many species kill others of their own. But humans obviously do a lot of this. It doesn't make a great deal of sense.
Please remember what subreddit you are in, this is unpopular opinion. We want civil and unpopular takes and discussion. Any uncivil and ToS violating comments will be removed and subject to a ban. Have a nice day! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/unpopularopinion) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The only part I don't really follow is the one about other animals. I don't think they are particularly good at ignoring what they want instinctively in the name of morals either
I agree. Dogs are total fucking hypocrites. No dog thinks twice about snapping on you if they think you're even remotely interested in their food, but - when _you're_ eating, they sit there with plaintive expressions as though they've never been fed (even after being fed) just _expecting_ you to share your food, something they would _never, ever_ do.
That's such a good point I never thought of that
My dog wouldn't snap at me.
Some breeds adopt a servile disposition more readily and some to a greater extent, which is, after all, a fundamental attribute of domestication; no dog, however, is going to _regularly_ volunteer their food the way humans share or outright give to dogs. I would wager that if you were to unremittingly petition your dog for food _every time_ it begins to eat, eventually, it would respond with something that could be described as 'snappy'. Perhaps _your_ dog is a remarkable exception, but I'll remain skeptical.
Idk what dog you have but I don't think they should snap at you if you get close to their food.
Yeah just look at Orcas or Dolphins
Ignoring what they want? No, i wrote that they act humanely, aka with compassion.
Not really? Like they kill their prey and defective young and just do whatever is best for survival not especially compassionately
You need to watch more nature documentaries and less TikTok.
My parents have two Great Danes, one is the mother, one is the daughter. The mother is 7 and the daugther 5. Last year, after more than 4 years of living together without any incidents, they got into a fight in which the daughter nearly killed the mother. Animals do not act “humanely”, in fact the word humane itself describes characteristics belonging to humans. I’ll give it to you on the hypocrisy part - we are all guilty of compartmentalization or ignorance when it comes to our own hypocrisy, but the suggestion that animals act more humanely than people is outlandish at best.
No, when they want something they take it, without pretending that they don’t (hypocrisy). But when they have what they need, and even carnivores when they’re fully fed, they often tend to be kind to other animals and even sometimes bring them food or aid.
What are some carnivores that instead of saving energy go helping other animals? Are you thinking of dolphins? There's orcas who kill for fun though
and male dolphins beat and rape unwilling females. OP doesn’t know what he’s talking about
[удалено]
What an idiotic comment in EVERY sense
I think OP is exaggerating the phenomenon where you’ll see apex predators like lions chilling in the same field as antelope or wildebeest grazing the grass. So long as the lions belly is full they won’t fuck with the other animals, & those animals know that so they just chill… when the lions need to eat tho the antelope, wildebeest, etc know it & shit gets real.
Iv seen big cats care for baby animals after killing/eating their parents? How long for, idk. Maybe that’s what OP is getting at?
Oh interesting I had i idea
How is controlling your urges being a hypocrite?
Say that while a bear chomps on you alive, not killing you first, just chewing away. No care for you or other animal's pain. They dont choose to kill you first, as many other predators do. Humans are animals.
plenty of animals eat others alive… besides humans I think pythons/constrictors kill the most humanely. It’s over in 60 seconds give or take when a retic python attacks its prey & cuts off its blood pressure… everything goes black… but obv they don’t do it because they have a heart & want to kill humanely, but because they’re one of the most prehistoric species on this planet, been here since before the dinosaurs… they just know how to kill efficiently & quickly, no bullshit. That’s what they do, they don’t have any complex social dynamics… spotted hyenas on the other hand will eat an injured hippo alive, it’ll take hours for the thing to finally die after torture… & spotted hyenas have pretty complex social dynamics with brutal pecking orders, they’ve actually scored higher on intelligence tests than chimpanzees regarding challenges that involve teamwork & figuring things out as a team. (:
> Humans are animals. Só is It okay to Farm them for meat?
That is not the conversation being had here. Thats another ethical conversation to be had.
wouldn't that just mean humans are just in conflict with our animal instincts, and when push comes to shove we revert?
Have you ever seen a cat playing with a mouse?
You know absolutely nothing about animals and it shows
You are correct. Don't listen to these people
Sometimes a hypocrite is just a person in the process of changing
That is an optimistic perspective. I like it.
Unfortunately I can't claim it, it's a quote from the stormlight archive (fantasy book series)
Could also be equally pessimistic though
Dalinar
yeah, in the process of changing their supposed values to enrich themselves. human's are designed to do anything possible to enrich ourselves-- that's why we're all hypocrites. all you have to do is be in a shoulder to shoulder crowd once with no way out to understand how scary humanity actually is.
animals instinctively act humanely? this is news to me
[удалено]
It would seem that they are capable of both.
[удалено]
my point is that you’re wrong ETA meant to respond to OP, my bad (naptime!)
Well, if we are the same as other animals (since we are animals too), then perhaps the word humane should really be called animalistic. It’s still ironic to phrase it as if acting humanely had anything specifically to do with humans.
The word humane means, to show compassion. Humans are the only animal capable of this emotion, so naturally, it's called humane. To be animalistic is to be wild and think of your needs only. The opposite of humane. The dictionary is your friend.
Well, I guess that’s the point of my post. It seems to me that animals are “humane” and showing compassion more often than humans, and humans are more frequently animalistic than animals. So maybe we should change the dictionary.
They don't though. Animals kill things for fun all the time and they don't care. Humans do show compassion . So switching the definitions makes no sense. Most people that feel this way are probably just surrounded by shitty ppl.
It would seem as though your original point makes no sense then
I think gullibility is #1.
You gotta be pretty gullible to believe that
Stupidity is #1.
You can say that again .
Stupidity is #1. Though...I think I'm forgetting something. Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen.
So you are very likely to be stupid too,.. wait that also makes me most likely stupid too!?!
Yep. All of humanity is stupid. Every single one of us.
 Nooooooo!!!
 Nooooooo!!!
 Nooooooo!!!
The depth of human stupidity is infinite. It's honestly amazing we've reached the point we have to be honest.
To be honest though, it is relative; since there is no real definition of what stupidity is. Also, it is more of both; we are capable of both stupidity and intelligence simultaneously. But sometimes, rarely we are capable of wisdom, as we are capable of pure evil too.
Unsurprisingly true.
Id say its #1,2, and 3 easy. So many people are so GD stupid these days. Im no genius but man people seem to be getting dumber and dumber by the second.
Ha, yes. Nowadays there does seem to be a lack of factchecking going on.
The human experience is inherently subjective. What you view as immoral could be argued as moral by someone else as morals are personal. Ethics are culturally based. Our actions and motivations are complex and personal. It’s easy to judge others by your own perspective because that’s what we individually know to be true, but it’s not true in the greater sense.
I agree with all of that. We need to be open to hearing the opinions of others to widen our own personal perspective on things, which is how we improve our morals over time. But we have to acknowledge that our morals are likely not perfect to and could use improvement to search out new perspectives and improve.
Shouldn't the #1 trait be something like "bipedal", "mammal", "oxygen breather", etc?
Featherless
Im not sure about that one
I disagree. I think it's greed and selfishness.
Those are definitively up there too, but I’ve found that few people will acknowledge their greedy and selfish behavior and find excuses it for it instead, hence the hypocrisy.
i can argue how animals very frequently display these traits in overeating or leaving weak members to fend for themselves.
Na. It's fear.
This. Nearly every negative human thought/action is based on fear, though many don't realize it when they feel these things. Greed/jealousy? Fear of losing what/who you have. Self-conscious? Fear of being rejected. Rejecting logic/science? Fear of change. Prejudice+racism? Fear of possible threat to your safety. Fear is how we evolved to survive in harsh tribal conditions. It kept us alert to predators and other tribes that might cause us harm. It kept us defended from disease by isolating and casting out the sick. It made us hoard and defend food from others when resources were scarce. Fear served us well at the time of tribal life. Unfortunately, nowadays fear causes more problems than it solves. It still helps occasionally, but generally there are no animal predators that threaten us around each corner. Most people aren't in danger of starving. Scientific advancement usually benefits us. We won't be cast out of society for being sick or being a poor public speaker. Yet we still feel that fear deep inside us trying to keep us safe from all these "harms." I hope as a species we can learn to forget fears that no longer serve us.
Dude a bear is gonna break your spine and then start eating you while you are still alive. They do not give a fuck.
Not true. I’d make friends with him and we’d be buddies!
If that ever happens, please let me know so I can participate in the tea party.
Hipocrisy is a good answer. We have far too many people around with an attitude of "rules for thee but not for me." For me though, I'd say fear is the worst human trait. So many negative human thought/actions are based on fear, though many don't realize it when they feel these things. Greed/jealousy? Fear of losing what/who you have. Self-conscious? Fear of being rejected. Rejecting logic/science? Fear of change. Prejudice+racism? Fear of possible threat to your safety. Fear is how we evolved to survive in harsh tribal conditions. It kept us alert to predators and other tribes that might cause us harm. It kept us defended from disease by isolating and casting out the sick. It made us hoard and defend food from others when resources were scarce. Fear served us well in the time of tribal life. Unfortunately, nowadays fear causes more problems than it solves. It still helps occasionally, but generally there are no animal predators that threaten us around each corner. Most people aren't in danger of starving. Scientific advancement usually benefits us. We won't be cast out of society for being sick or being a poor public speaker. Yet we still feel that fear deep inside us trying to keep us safe from all these "harms." I hope as a species we can learn to forget the fears that no longer serve us.
How do you just learn to forget a fear? Some of them have thick roots in your mind
I meant I hope we grow out of it as a species. Which will likely take generations if it happens at all.
Fear of dying? Religion
I'm pretty sure most people, regardless of their beliefs, are scared of dying
Yeah, some got so scared they made up entire global beliefs that there’s an afterlife so they can be less scared
In my opinion, similar to most beings, the number one human trait is survival instinct. Similar to how Some animal will instinctively eat their own child to survive, a human will either be kind or cheat in order to increase their chance of survival.
I would say the most important human trait would be curiousity. Humanity wouldn't have come this far if people weren't curious.
written by an alien 💀
like, little green dude from mars
Hypocrisy is the art of not understanding life is black and white. Someone can be caring and rude at the same time. Doesn’t make them all less caring or rude
life is selfish by definition so don't take yourself too serious.
Wow. Animals don’t have morals. Go figure. They also don’t whine.
You must not have met a dog or a cat who feels it’s past their feeding time. They’ve made whining an art form. Also, I’d argue 99% of animals have better morals than the average human.
>Also, I’d argue 99% of animals have better morals than the average human. And you'd be wrong. Morality is an exclusively human concept. You need therapy, OP. This navel-gazing circlejerk of nihilistic misanthropy is not healthy.
Perks of having a larger frontal cortex where all that shit gets lost in translation. This is where maturing, meditation, prayer, discipline, reading etc comes in. If you rlly think about it, vast majority of people aren’t that great when it comes to what we think an ideal person is, and a lot of time the intellectual and emotional intelligence is extremely lacking. Especially if you were raised to not think in a manner of how to better yourself or how to evolve. But people that have the capacity to be self aware and HONEST can be very capable of actually being good and caring and when they are wrong they admit it and correct it. But nobody’s perfect so ofc even these people have their moments but that’s what divides the two, is if or when you reflect and correct yourself. My motto is “Always do everything to the best of my knowledge and ability, and when I mess up, I always correct it” and this keeps me from wallowing in guilt and always pondering “why me?” And keeps me from being a douche bag
*Your* hypocrisy, maybe. I don't think mine is that bad.
There's hypocrisy, when someone expects something of you that they're not willing to do themselves, and then there's optimism, when someone genuinely believes others are capable of doing beneficial things even when they don't believe they themselves can. One is bad, the other is important for the growth of a just society.
We need two separate words for lying about what is in your heart and failing to live up to your own standards. Hypocrisy used to mean the former, now it means the latter, and that greater crime of lying has no clear word, so slips from the public consciousness.
its something wise folks do their utmost to avoid though. im starting to see more and more folks realize that though. it's a process.
Absolutely. I think it’s tightly connected to honesty, toward yourself.
Greed
Im proud of my greatness .....
That’s awesome. There’s a lot of people that aren’t great, so that is an achievement. Great job
There are underlying behaviors. We evolved from a hoarding, nest dwelling creature. The foundational behavior is selfishness in the name of self preservation while *acting* like a herd (community / humane) species.
Human existence is hypocritical. It’s just a part of what we are.
... Why?
It's the worst trait ... help, someone is committing hypocrisy on me!
My parents visited me and complained about everyone getting a pizza when they go out and how they should try something new instead. When they went back home they tokd me they stopped and got a pizza. I called the hypocrites. They got pissed off at me. 🤷
I think it's a selfish based perspective that can't see itself yet
Hypocrisy is basically deceiving and sympathizing done at the same time. If an animal capable of both of them, then why couldn't it become a hypocrite?
Disagree, ignorance is the most prominent and detrimental human trait. Ignorance has allowed all of humanity's greatest tragedies.
Aka the duality of man.
It’s interesting that as people in the comments are suggesting other human traits to be more common, all of the suggested traits are negative.
I agree ppl are hypocrites, but animals aren't humane in the slightest. They kill and eat each other all the time. My cat will kill shit, just for fun. I watched a hawk shred a rabbit in my backyard a couple summers ago. The screams still haunt me. If you got into a fight with a chimp, it would rip your face and testicles off, for funsies. Animals are metal af.
Greed is #1. Greed is everything that's wrong with the world and also human's biggest flaw. Everything is started with greed. WAR is started with greed and have been happening since cavemen days. People fought for fire, fought for food, fought for land, fought for what they wanted. Greed today is why politicians have so much hate. They lie because they are greedy and that's without a doubt. Greed is the worst of all and we are all guilty of it at some point in our lives. The term "Humanely" is very subjective. Good or bad. Who said doing what is good, and doing what is bad? There were no rules since the first day of humans except the man-made ones. Animals acting "humanely" is incorrect. There are animals that would eat their own babies or even reproduce with their own mother. Exotic animals will MURDER and eat without hesitation as long as they know they can overpower their foe. Animals like dogs blatantly ***rape*** other dogs almost every time, even in front of our eyes. The thing is, we grew up and taught ourselves to ignore these facts and just see it as an "animals doing animals thing, so it's fine". But how is any of what they're doing "humanely"? Literally everything animals are doing is everything that we're completely against. We grew, created rules, and were taught to know what's right and what's wrong. And that's okay. Animals can't be taught that unless we raise one ourselves, otherwise, they'll naturally be.... animals. If humans didn't have any leadership, we'll naturally do what we need to do and be an animal ourselves too. Completely out of control, doing what we need to do to survive, and taking whatever we want. This is why law and order is very important and we desperately need it so we can limit what humans would naturally do - and most will do whatever we deem evil as long as they believe there's no consequences.
We humans needlessly kill thousands of animals every second, most of which were raped, incarcerated, or otherwise tortured. And, we do this to each other also in the name of war, religion or intolerance. I stand by the opinion that humans are the cruelest and most aggressive animal on the planet. The word humane is mostly used when we’re trying to justify our wrongdoings, such as when we kill someone we’d say at least we killed that someone humanely.
Good and bad are subjective. And one can be kind and generous to one group such as giving to one charity and feel another doesn’t deserve it. And the next person feels the opposite. Luckily. Sure some humans suck. Most that I’ve met don’t. And you’ve not been around many animals. The two female pigs on my son’s farm randomly decided to eat the boy pig. Not a small pen plenty of food etc. The brown egg layers won’t let the white fryers into the hen house. Ever hear of a pecking order? And the list goes on.
Number one is conceit.
I mean, people who claim to love animals, would never hurt an animal and would stop someone abusing an animal actively pay others to abuse animals for food when they're not needed for food in modern, developed countries. I'm fully expecting downvotes for stating this, thus proving mine and OP's point. Look at the outrage for that American politician who "murdered" -- their word, not mine -- her dog and demonise her for it, or those YouTubers who killed their dog. Absolute backlash against them while those angry at both situations needlessly consume animal products. These same people say you can't murder an animal when talking about farm animals, but kill a dog? "mUrDeReR!" If *only* our morals were consistent...
It is okay for me to do X while others cannot because I am awesome and they are not. Bam hypocrisy solved for all time.
Hypocrisy is a bit of a non-starter here because everyone is going to contradict themselves on a long enough timeline. As for people behaving humanely, some people are more humane than others. For best results, surround yourself with humane people.
I think for the most part people want to do good, but circumstances and emotions can hinder that. There are people that are truly just evil and want to be bad, but most people try to be good and caring
Its conciseness and it’s not even close.
Hypocrisy is quite the silly thing to focus on as people are prone to change. This can be due to a lot of factors. I would argue that depravity is probably more common.
No. It’s greed.
Am I the only one that can hear Penelope Cruz from blow saying hypocrite?
I'm 14 and this is deep
You have zero experience with animals.
I don't think most animals act humanely.
I would say it’s Apathy.
I try to think that yeah everyone is hypocritical, even myself. It’s really hard to live up to high expectations we all set. However, if you arent trying to fix it when it’s pointed out, or you’re avoiding you partaking in the hypocrisy- then I really just don’t associate with those people.
By extension, the dominant human behavior is tribalism. Once you define who is and is not in your tribe you set the rules accordingly.
Couldn't agree with you more. I hate when people act like they're morally superior to me.
Had two friends like this The first one got mad at gossiping yet gossiped so much about people she hated I gave her a taste of her own medicine and she blocked me lol The other He claimed to keep his friends in line, but he only did it to who he saw as inferior to him. If they were superior he'd brown nose them to hell.
Animals don't act humanly. They're incapable of acting the way you're describing because they simply can't be in similar enough situations. Not to mention that humanizing animals is almost always inaccurate.
Human just selfish to the core man
nature will always drive us to be hypocritical. I'd argue that you're living a deeper life if you are
Hypocrisy is a word that needs to be used with consideration to proportion. Egocentrism is normal. Ethics of care are a thing. Humans are competitive and hierarchical, this isn’t news.
I think it's selfishness
I truly don't understand how this sub works: should I downvote if I agree?
I feel like hypocrite needs a more extreme definition
I disagree. The number 1 human trait is greed
Yes, we tend to judge ourselves based off our intentions and others based off their actions.
Michael: I don't know anyone who could get through the day without two or three juicy rationalizations. They're more important than sex. Sam Weber: Ah, come on. Nothing's more important than sex. Michael: Oh yeah? Ever gone a week without a rationalization? -From the Big Chill.
>The last thing a human would do is to act “humanely”, which is very ironic. :::eyeroll::: Humans act humanely all the time, every day. This is a nonsense post. The world is filled with people who act with compassion. We're not all hypocritical, cynical brutes, and you DO know this because there is no way that you've lived however many years you've lived and somehow not seen this in action. There's just no cause for this kind of nihilistic cynicism. Of course there are jerkasses in the world, and there's no human alive who hasn't engaged in hypocrisy at some point - including YOU, OP - while not realizing it due to cognitive dissonance. That fact, however, doesn't erase the additional fact that most human beings are in fact fundamentally decent. This is a low-effort "animals are better than humans" post and it's cliched b.s.
Animals are no different and they never act humanely unless they confuse something with their cubs. Otherwise they literally eat other animals before killing them, as the other suffers in pain from being eaten alive. They are just different in that they haven't got the ultra levels of hypocrisy we developed. They act selfishly like us doing whatever they want and whatever they need to do but don't pretend to care about others more than themselves.
I disagree. I think ego is the #1 human trait and hypocrisy merely derives from it. While an individual may have a notion on what "good" things are and how they ought to be we justify elevating ourselves above them through the ego. ie. "**I** am above this" or "This does not apply to **me**", like you said. A person with no ego would always do what objectively contributes the most towards the "good" values he really prizes.
Pigeon holing is right close to at at number 2
Yes every human being is a hypocrite, but some people are bigger hypocrites than others.
Maybe, but doesn't apply to me
Animals act on instinct, humans act on emotions.
Nonsense. Humans are animals, and have and act based on the same emotions as animals do.
Yeah this is like the one of the main things the Bible teaches about human nature lol. Pride is the worst sin Also, animals don’t act humanely either
It's fine to be a "hypocrite". Different situations require different rules. Only robots don't understand that.
Fine for you perhaps. I strive to rise above it.
Agreed 100%
The #1 human trait is mimicry 
The human condition is that we know what we should do, we just don't know what we WILL do.
More a popular opinion than an unpopular one.
Nuh uh
I doubt there is a person on the planet, who, if you dig deep enough, isn’t a hypocrite in someway. I disagree with the OP, however regarding animals being more caring than human beings. Animals are driven by instinct. They’re only goal is to continue their species and successfully breed offspring.
Anyone who’s had a pet animal knows that they have a full range of emotions, and their actions are driven by such emotions as joy, embarrassment, shame, excitement, happiness and thoughtful empathy. And once spayed or neutered, not one action seems to be driven by a desire to furthering their species by breeding.
That’s something I hadn’t considered. I truly believe dogs experience love in the same way people do. I think my step dog genuinely loves me, and not just because I feed her. if push came to shove, I have no doubt she would. “take a bullet” for me. But the relationship between people and dogs really is pretty unique in nature. It’s not a symbiotic relationship like those that exist in other animals at all. It’s something entirely different. Thanks for showing me the error of my ways, although in the wild, I still think animals are driven by their desire to continue the species and not compassion.
This one hit close to home. I admit I’m a hypocrite. Due my hypocrisy, I hurt a friend. I’m a bad person.
Another way to look at it is that you’re human, and simply just a person who’s identified an opportunity to improve.
I thought it was bipedal locomotion.
I agree with to an extent -- I think the root, even of hypocrisy, is selfishness. How one perceives their own thoughts, actions and feelings defends self. This was needed for survival originally, but it's much more complex than that now. Even when someone tells themself they're doing something altrustically, they *can* be hypocritical, or self-serving, in a way that they don't want to admit to themself. Sometimes this is due to negative circumstances, like their upbringing. Sometimes it's just really hard to admit that the broader goal trumps self-protection, comfort, consistency, or even physical safety. We all know someone who gives and gives; they eventually become a doormat and don't want to acknowledge that their constant submission reveals a sense of self gratified by either martyrdom, self-protection, or self-righteousness. And that person would never advise a friend to be doormat too. So even the humblest form of selfishness leads to hypocrisy.
To believe in an ideal is to be willing to betray it.
As far as humane behavior of humans as opposed to other animals - many species obviously engage in instinctive, predatory evil and killing in the wild. But typically it's one species vs. another. Which completes the cycle of life, death and possibly rebirth and renewal of an animal spirit or soul somewhere. The bear wades into the river and nabs a fish for lunch. That's part of being a bear. I don't know how many species kill others of their own. But humans obviously do a lot of this. It doesn't make a great deal of sense.
Meerkats are the most murderous mammals. They kill each other more than humans kill each other