Anyone here SICK AND TIRED of human arogane?

[Lobolover]

Like when the narrator seems something unordinaly,or unseen,he wents of saying "it shouldnt be","its unnatural","it never was meant to exist" and all those things?I mean this type (quoting "A strange manuscript found in a coper cylinder")

:". They had the caricature of the human form; they were the lowest of humanity; their speech was a mockery of language; their faces devilish, their kindness a cunning pretence; and most hideous of all was the nightmare hag that prepared the cannibal repast."

Anyone else think this is highly arogant and ignorant?

[j. d. worthington]

Highly arrogant and ignorant it may be -- it is also an accurate picture of the way the vast majority of people would react to such a situation (at least, until recent times -- and even now I'd venture to say that the majority still would, given the inability to leave off such feelings even where other human beings are concerned.

Then again, it isn't so much arrogance as something built in evolutionarily -- the fear or distrust of the unknown (at least, initially), because such quite frequently posed a danger. To not feel that way (however one intellectually responds) and react or be prepared to react accordingly would most likely mean that one would frequently not survive, and therefore such a reaction becomes a healthy survival tool.

But either way, it depicts accurately an emotional reaction to the stimuli, and the writer is therefore perfectly justified in including such sentiments. If others are presented (such as curiosity or wonder) overcoming such a cautious reaction, they must be given enough grounding to make this believable emotionally.

There is also the factor of building an atmosphere of the awesome and/or uncanny, and having a more favorable reaction to the unusual, bizarre, or strange would fail to convey this, as well....

[Ice fyre]

I think Lobo lover is bemoaning the use of such stock phrases by lazy writers, in H.P Lovecrafts work when he uses these sort of phrases they fit the mood. He also was writing at a time when language was used differently IMO reading something from, say the sixties reads differently than something written a bit later. Maybe its just me or maybe language gets written differently as the years go by.

I have read many awful horror novels (pulp stuff almost) and sometimes authors use these phrases ad nausem. When used properly in the right context by a good author not one tryin to save time and being lazy.

[Lobolover]

well,of course it does.

And-that particular quote was Jame de Mille.

[Barney]

I read "Strange Manuscript" a couple of years ago. As far as I can remember that quotation comes after the narrator has found out that the race of people he describes have killed and eaten his best friend.
So I don't think it's arrogant to use those descriptive terms, although I would say it is not particularly great writing...

[Theo Hart]

It's fiction.

You can do anything with it.

That's just how it... works.

What's so reprehensible about a fictional character describing something in colorfully negative terms?

[Urlik]

Originally Posted by Lobolover

Like when the narrator seems something unordinaly,or unseen,he wents of saying "it shouldnt be","its unnatural","it never was meant to exist" and all those things?I mean this type (quoting "A strange manuscript found in a coper cylinder")

:". They had the caricature of the human form; they were the lowest of humanity; their speech was a mockery of language; their faces devilish, their kindness a cunning pretence; and most hideous of all was the nightmare hag that prepared the cannibal repast."

Anyone else think this is highly arogant and ignorant?

I don't find it a problem if it is well written.