I'm the founder and sole follower of Compassionate Misanthropy: human beings are failing as a species, but we're all we've got. Whether or not life has a purpose, we are self-aware beings who can contemplate our mortality. Therefore, it is our duty not to be a negative in other people's lives.

This can sound like religion, except the main point of religion seems to be giving license to people to behave however they want and then forgiving them. Very sloppy, very lazy, fundamentally immoral. It does more harm than good.

I know, deeds are supposed to count. But look around — is that what you see the children of God actually doing? I see a lot of "I'm going to do whatever $#!++y things I want because no matter what it is, I'll be forgiven in the end. So screw everybody else."

I don't think I'll get many followers for Compassionate Misanthropy, though. Because the key components are logic and compassion — you need to tell it like it is, but when you screw up and hurt someone, nobody is coming along to tell you it's OK.