The Modern Panorama of Cultural Degradation

One cannot help but see the panorama of cultural degradation in which modern society has sunk. Along with the rise of the majority, on a higher plane placed their preferences. The result? High culture despised, reduced to the superfluous. Behavioral precepts dictated by an infamous mass psychology: everyone obligatorily sharing tastes and habits, under threat of punishment. And if access has been, as never before, facilitated, the ease has resulted in a loss of interest in what was once rare, in a loss of value. What to do, seeing this scenario? Against the impositions of numerical force, there is nothing possible: the joint scale of values escapes the individual’s field of action. But this is despicable, like everything that comes from any majority. There remains, however, the need for a cultural reaction with unprecedented violence.

Misanthropy Is One of the Most Salutary Traits to Reasoning That Has Been Reported

Misanthropy is one of the most salutary traits to reasoning that has been reported. Being a misanthrope involves a continuous and challenging effort. When one is misanthrope, one becomes a strategist by necessity. One learns psychology to understand the minds of others, to then predict their behavior and be able to avoid them. One has to be an expert in emotional stimuli to know never to arouse any in anyone. The misanthrope knows that his sagacity will be inversely proportional to the discomfort that comes from social relationships; therefore, the more sagacious he is, the more fully he will achieve the goal of seclusion. The interesting thing is that the stimulus never ceases, the misanthrope’s brain is instigated all the time and never rests, since there is always the possibility that someone will interrupt his solitude and ask him for something. It is like an endless game, extremely salutary to the intelligence and which, more than any other game, stimulates the will to win.

Gaining People’s Sympathy

Opinions are, above all, unpleasant. On an individual level, it goes without saying: they are the chains, the fetters of thought. On a collective level, who can stand them? An opinion is never as timely as it would be to fail to say it. People like to be listened to, not to listen. That is why it is so easy to win their sympathy: one just has to relate to them in silence, that is, listen to them without saying anything. Whether this is possible, or even bearable, is another matter…

The Guy Reads the Newspaper and Wants to Tell the World His Opinions

I am impressed by the individual’s interest—and I do not know if I should say attrition—in that which is totally outside his field of action. The guy reads the newspaper and wants to tell the world his opinions. He argues with his neighbor, rebels at disagreement, clashes with whoever contests him. Then he buys more newspapers, tries to become more informed so that, on the next occasion, he can annihilate his opponents in a debate that will never lead anywhere. He spends time and nerves on the useless. For every page of the newspaper, he reads one less page of Shakespeare. He does not understand his insignificance, he ignores the harmful character of his posture. But he goes on, of course, in the name of his greatest virtue: vanity.