From
http://www.reference.com/browse/misanthropyMisanthropy is a general dislike, distrust, or hatred of the human species or a disposition to dislike and/or distrust other people. The term is also applicable to those who self-exile themselves or become loners because of the aforementioned feelings. The word comes from the Greek words μίσος ("hatred") and άνθρωπος ("man, human being"). A misanthrope or misanthropist is a person who dislikes or distrusts humanity as a general rule.
Forms
While misanthropes express a general dislike for humanity on the whole, they generally have normal relationships with specific individuals. Misanthropy may be motivated by feelings of isolation or social alienation, or simply contempt for the prevailing characteristics of humanity.
Misanthropy is commonly misinterpreted and distorted as a widespread and individualized hatred of humans. Because of this, the term often associates a great number of false negative tie-ins with the term. An extreme misanthrope may indeed hate the human race generally, but it doesn't necessarily entail psychopathy. In actuality, it exists as a form of elitism. Misanthropes can hold normal and intimate relationships with people, but they will often be very few and far in between. They will typically be very selective of who they will associate with. This is also where their aversion is most prevalent, because their perspective shows an overriding contempt towards common human faults and weaknesses in others and in some cases, themselves.
It's because of that aversion that most misanthropes will often be categorized as loners, living in recluse. They generally won't find solace or effective functioning in society as a result of their perspective.
Overt expressions of misanthropy are common in satire and comedy, although intense misanthropy is generally rare. Subtler expressions are far more common, especially for those pointing out the shortcomings of humanity.
Some religions, or schools of religious thought, maintain that humanity as a whole is inherently improper and needs to be saved, while some philosophers and their adherents view humanity as a futile, self-destructive species.
Literature
Misanthropy has been ascribed to a number of writers of satire, such as William S. Gilbert ("I hate my fellow-man"), but such identifications must be closely scrutinized, because a critical or darkly humorous outlook toward humankind may be easily mistaken for genuine misanthropy.
In 1992, southern American essayist and National Review columnist Florence King, a self-described misanthrope, wrote a humorous book on the history of misanthropy called With Charity Toward None: A Fond Look at Misanthropy .
Perhaps the most famous example of a misanthrope in literature is the protagonist, Alceste, in Molière's 1666 play Le Misanthrope.
The American satirical author Kurt Vonnegut often expressed misanthropic views in his books. In one of his most popular works, Slaughterhouse Five, the protagonist Billy Pilgrim "becomes unstuck in time." He is taken hostage by the Tralfamadorians, a race able to see in 4D, who can travel through time and experience all the events in their lives, not necessarily in chronological order. Through the novel, they teach him a fatalistic philosophy, summed up in the book's signature phrase, "so it goes."
In another Vonnegut novel, Breakfast of Champions, the protagonist Kilgore Trout, a science fiction author, writes many books about man destroying the world and the pointlessness of human existence. The book has passages throughout showing the destruction of Earth due to man and man's pointless existence.
Some works by Franz Kafka, such as The Metamorphosis and A Hunger Artist, also display misanthropic views.
In No Exit, Jean-Paul Sartre wrote, "So that is what hell is. I would never have believed it. You remember: the fire and brimstone, the torture. Ah! the farce. There is no need for torture: hell is other people ."
Eighteenth-century Irish satirist Jonathan Swift, in a letter to the poet Alexander Pope concerning Gulliver's Travels, a novel penned by the former, wrote: "[but] principally I hate and detest that animal called man." Lemuel Gulliver, considered by several critics to be Swift's mouthpiece and literary alter ego, expresses an overwhelming disgust with respect to human beings, particularly in "A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms".
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Topic: How misanthropic are you?