
Why Are People Cruel?
It’s inhuman to inflict harm or pain on someone incapable of doing the same to you. Throughout history humans are known to have committed terrible atrocities on their fellow humans. Not only does it take place between different people, it can happen in people of the same tribe or race.
In some extreme cases it takes place between friends or members of the same family. People who are not a threat to anybody are the ones who become victims of such gruesome deeds. Where does this behavior come from, and what purpose does it serve?
French philosopher, Blaise Pascal said in 1685:
“Humans are the glory and the scum of the universe. We love and we loath. We help and we harm, We reach out a hand and we stick in the knife.”
The short answer is: they are sick!
They suffer inside. They have got hurt. They haven’t been raised with love. They have been humiliated and tortured themselves. They haven’t learned to love. They have learned to hate.
Totally agree!
Really I don’t understand the weakeness of some people. They have no, piti, no love and no feelings ,they so cruel at the point of hurting their same blood, they hate everybody. They lack of sentiment and Heart. The only thing they think is to do harm to others. It’s just their nature.
Sad but true there are a lot of cruel people out there but unfortunately that’s just nature. You always need both ends of the spectrum – good/bad, nice/nasty, rich/poor etc. You cant have one without the other
Not everyone is cruel. That cruelty is in every human being but you call someone is cruel when he exhibit it. Some that exhibit their cruel nature becomes remorseful afterwards for letting it out while some damns the consequences even when their conscience tell them you have done wrong.
I think cruelity is not a word used quite often, but when it’s used, it’s used to mean business
This is a very interesting question and I am not sure if psychologists have the complete answer. It may come from the fact that cruel people feel aggrieved or someone has done something to them in their life. It is a question that maybe cannot be answered.
Most times people are cruel because of their condition at home. It maybe away of displaying their frustration in life.
We have cruel and good hearted people. So the cruel are the wicked, they hate and they loathe for the blood of other people. But the good side is that we’ve got so many good people out here.
It’s due to many social factors,namely,drug addiction mainly malijuana.Too much drugs in the body changes ones behavior from good to cruel .
Others become cruel because they are mad,and sick.They poses bad spirit in their body which removes a sense of reason in their mind .
People are certainly not born cruel. They develop cruel tendencies as a result of their circumstances and experiences.
I think it also depends on how cruelty is assessed. For example some one might say a person is being cruel but in reality that might be speaking the truth and that person just doesnt want to hear it. The old saying ‘ you have to be cruel to be kind’. Sometimes the truth hurts but would you prefer the truth which you think is a little cruel or a lie?
THIS SAME THING HAPPENED IN NIGERIA DURING THE ENDSARS PROTEST, THE MILITARY WERE ORDERED TO OPEN FIRE AT THEIR OWN PEOPLE. MANY PEOPLE LOST THEIR LIVES. IT IS DESPICABLE AND DISHEARTENING.
Humans typically do things to get pleasure or avoid pain. For most of us hurting others cause us to feel their pain. And we don’t like this feeling. This suggest Two reasons people may harm the harmless. Either they don’t feel the other pain, or they enjoy feeling the others pain.
Another reason people harm the harmless is because they nonetheless see threat.
The only reason why people behave badly is that they are not happy with themselves.
Cruelty sometimes is sparked by some incident which changes a person state of mind. Take an example of what caused the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, the Rwandan people were living peacefully at least for sometime, but what became a spark was the death of the president. People suddenly became wild and even turned against some of their family members.
Yes the cruelty usually rises up through some event that has happened in someone’s life like war, abuse etc It changes their perception on what is acceptable and how to deal with situations. Most of the time as children grow to adulthood this is understood but for some it is not and that’s how cruelty continues.
Yes, Jackson, I remember the Rwandan genocide very well. Inhuman deeds were committed there. Some perpetrators are still being tried for crimes against humanity for the roles they played in that tragedy.
Exactly what Vahid said, a cruel person has a mental illness. A cruel person is incapable of thinking beyond himself.
People that are cruel belongs to a group of people that we call sadist and psychopath.
À sadist is someone Who get pleasure from hurting or humiliating others. They feel other people’s pain more than is normal and they enjoy it. At least they do it until it is over, when they may feel bad.
Not everyone is cruel.it is normal for human to have different character.
They are cruel because many people are saddists, they enjoy seeing people in trouble, hey take pleasure while hurting others..They don’t care about others and don’t have pity.
This is a hard question to answer. Cruelty is fueled by many things but in my opinion cruelty is an act of bitterness from people that have not learned to deal with themselves or their emotions and maybe when they treat others with cruel and cold behavior they somehow feel better inside. It makes no sense what so ever to act so inhumane. It is also so important that cruel and nasty people don’t change your view or kindness towards others.
It takes two people to be cruel – as you need someone to be cruel to. A lot of it is perception and cruelty is not necessarily a bad thing – cruel to be kind.
Many people are Naturally cruel,they enjoy inflicting harm or pain on someone else incapable of doing the same thing to them,sometimes even their own children.
They are two main reasons people may harm the harmless ; Either they don’t feel the others pain or they enjoy feeling the others pain and take pleasure while hurting others.
A person’s character is influenced by dna of both parents and education in the family and society
People can be cruel when they won’t to depress other people or achieve something. Like Vahid said earlier. When people does cruel things they are sick in their heads.
Their are many factors that cause some people to be cruel. We are all born innocent and good in this beautiful world. However other people and the environment change us into another thing. Sometime we turn cruel because we were raised to be that way or taught to act like that. Others act like that because they are naturally cruel ,the enjoy and take pleasure hurting people as some people take pleasure doing good thing or helping people.
Cruelty is some people’s temperament. And I think if people can learn to live at peace with each other, I think cruelty is avoidable when people learn to say sorry.
Cruelty is often a product of the nature of many people. Many people like doing harm to others like good people do good things to others. Some people take pleasure in hurting others and don’t feel any emotions while doing it. There are others who have learned it through the environment they grow up, friends and people they frequent.
Some can be cruel because of some many challenges and problems happening in their life.. While some are just naturally cruel
I thought, Compassion, love and religion can prevent people from being cruel. What is your opinion?
Adharad, many atrocities were committed because of love and religion. Throughout history, wars were waged as a result of religion and love because people believe they are worthy of fighting for.
Hi, David. It seems that both love and religion is a two-edged sword. Where the world and religious leaders promote love and religious life as the solution to peace, the recorded great war and suffering of history also waged in the name of love and religion. One’s love for his country is the logical reason for him to defend or offend other countries for the sake of protecting his. The same is true for religion. It seems that the cycle will never end unless we have realized the common characteristics that we have as a human being.