how do you not give up on humanity when you see the ugliest things it has to offer
Remember that the ugliest things humanity has to offer are symptoms of an illness that all of humanity can be guilty of having.
I know the reason why I've done some fucked up shit before, & will eventually do more fucked up shit in the future (just to a lesser severity. shoutout #learningfromyourmistakes.) is because I was suffering. I was in pain, & that pain so heavily influenced my decisions & thought process that I made decisions I would never otherwise make.
So I apply that to everyone else. And 9/10, I'm right.
Everyone is being hurt by some social rule, system, or expectation in some way. Whether they're oppressed by their boss, by the government, by social doctrines, whatever; they are experiencing oppression. You & I both know how easy it is to turn to violence against people we view as our oppressors, or as part of an "oppressor class." (not that those actually exist...)
But one needs not a group to believe is responsible for their suffering to be able to carry out violence as a response to their suffering, or more aptly, a response to the lack of compassion folks have for their suffering.
I just remind myself that compassion is what those people are in desperate need of. & compassion is what will make them stop. Either that, or a knuckle sandwich. But I give them 100 chances to take my compassion first before I start getting ill w/ them.
It helps to look inward. Recognize the violence, the ugliness, the hate, the mean-spirited remarks, that you perpetuate, that you hold, that you make. You'll realize just how easy it is to succumb to that behavior, & how easy it is to rationalize it because you feel like others deserve it for not seeing your pain.
We all do it to some extent, we all have done it to some extent.
It's very human to act this way under emotional distress. But mass emotional distress is NOT the typical human state. We aren't meant to live like this— capitalism is ultimately the driving factor for most awful behavior. Not out of greed, but out of the need to survive, to cope, to feel like one understands a world that constantly tries to confuse them so that they're easier to swindle & turn into puppets for the state.
Humans are inclined more toward "good" than "bad." We evolved to be friendly because it's what kept us alive. We are still those friendly, albeit prone to irrationality/anger, animals. Not even "deep down"– we are still those friendly animals just barely beneath the surface. You just gotta learn to see hatred as a manifestation of pain, that cloaks one's vulnerability because they've been hurt before. You see it for what it is, & you're also equally as capable of seeing the loving humanity within them. Even if it's only a shred of it, it is still there.
Not sure if this ramble answered your question at all, but I hope it helped! Love u till
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