Schadenfreude
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peachykeen
bootie shaker
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an occasional indulgence in such is permissible; everyone enjoys a good 'told ya so' moment privately from time to time if they have been wronged, and sees the wrongdoer enjoying what might be seen as just desserts. If it becomes a lifestyle, and the capacity for compassion and empathy are seriously eroded, well then that's a problem.
Never
Come What May
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No one wants to comment?
Let me begin then.
Every time I watch a ‘bloopers’ show I see the same video. A man, for one reason or another, gets his balls hit and doubles up in pain. Sometimes it’s a football that’s hit his groin, sometimes a golf or tennis ball. Usually there’s a kid involved though sometimes it’s the man’s own actions that leads to the inevitable scene of him gripping his crotch with both hands, bent over, a grimace covering his face. The studio audience bursts out laughing and the camera cuts to a picture of the man in the audience, visibly embarrassed, yet more than willing to share his humiliation with the viewers at home for his chance at a couple thousand dollars.
Schadenfreude, in its most basic form.
Schadenfreude can also happen in social context. The end of Carrie, with the pig’s blood being poured on the high school’s resident outcast, caused no physical suffering, but was ultimately more humiliating and damaging than a missthrown football.
The majority of civilized adults have learned to be much more subtle in their enjoyment of Schadenfreude. Lips twitch when someone disliked is defeated in a verbal exchange. You can see this plainly in Lit. A particularly barbed comment may be responded to with quite a few ‘lol’ when the person tossing it is popular and the person receiving dislikable.
It’s a type of cruelty, but a very human type. No one really gets hurt but people are put in their place by their own actions, fate, or the actions of others. Many people will feel guilty if they realize what they are doing, but that realization isn’t necessary. There’s no need to reflect on why we enjoy the things we do, however, once we begin to reflect society’s concept of what a ‘good person’ enjoys steps in. Guilt is simply the feeling of unease as we realize that we do not fit society’s expectations.
Let me begin then.
Every time I watch a ‘bloopers’ show I see the same video. A man, for one reason or another, gets his balls hit and doubles up in pain. Sometimes it’s a football that’s hit his groin, sometimes a golf or tennis ball. Usually there’s a kid involved though sometimes it’s the man’s own actions that leads to the inevitable scene of him gripping his crotch with both hands, bent over, a grimace covering his face. The studio audience bursts out laughing and the camera cuts to a picture of the man in the audience, visibly embarrassed, yet more than willing to share his humiliation with the viewers at home for his chance at a couple thousand dollars.
Schadenfreude, in its most basic form.
Schadenfreude can also happen in social context. The end of Carrie, with the pig’s blood being poured on the high school’s resident outcast, caused no physical suffering, but was ultimately more humiliating and damaging than a missthrown football.
The majority of civilized adults have learned to be much more subtle in their enjoyment of Schadenfreude. Lips twitch when someone disliked is defeated in a verbal exchange. You can see this plainly in Lit. A particularly barbed comment may be responded to with quite a few ‘lol’ when the person tossing it is popular and the person receiving dislikable.
It’s a type of cruelty, but a very human type. No one really gets hurt but people are put in their place by their own actions, fate, or the actions of others. Many people will feel guilty if they realize what they are doing, but that realization isn’t necessary. There’s no need to reflect on why we enjoy the things we do, however, once we begin to reflect society’s concept of what a ‘good person’ enjoys steps in. Guilt is simply the feeling of unease as we realize that we do not fit society’s expectations.
Silverluna
That's Professor to You!
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you got that from the simpsons' film festival episode right?
Never
Come What May
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Sorry peachykeen, TWB. I started typing my post before you two replied.
TWB,
It’s a German word meaning ‘a malicious satisfaction in the misfortunes of others.’
Peachykeen,
I agree. However, I don’t know if I’d use the term ‘wrongdoer’. That suggests that the person suffering misfortune is ‘bad’ and is somehow being punished. While the that might be how the person enjoying the other’s suffering sees it, that’s simply their perception. An outside observer might see things differently.
TWB,
It’s a German word meaning ‘a malicious satisfaction in the misfortunes of others.’
Peachykeen,
I agree. However, I don’t know if I’d use the term ‘wrongdoer’. That suggests that the person suffering misfortune is ‘bad’ and is somehow being punished. While the that might be how the person enjoying the other’s suffering sees it, that’s simply their perception. An outside observer might see things differently.
Never
Come What May
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Silverluna,
Does art imitate life or does life imitate art?
No, I’ve seen several blooper shows in which a kid lobs a football into his father’s groin. It could be a set up home video but you have to realize that most people enjoy videotaping ‘dad and the kids’ playing sports and that most little kids are just the right height to hit a man in the groin.
Does art imitate life or does life imitate art?
No, I’ve seen several blooper shows in which a kid lobs a football into his father’s groin. It could be a set up home video but you have to realize that most people enjoy videotaping ‘dad and the kids’ playing sports and that most little kids are just the right height to hit a man in the groin.
Backyard sweaty
Literotica Guru
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Never said:
So you get Sports Ill. also?
Silverluna
That's Professor to You!
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Never said:
life imitates neither...***** is a rotten tomato thrown at the art
~Regards~
Silver
Nora
Dirty Pomegranate
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I think people view it as a validation of their unkind feelings. I would assume most people have folk they don't like for whatever reason, the guy who stood them up for a date in 10th grade, the boss who makes your life living hell...anything.
I think to a degree we're taught to make nice-nice even when we don't want to. Suppression of nastiness n' all...being "the better person." When the universe deals the blow we wish we could deal ourselves, it's as though the universe was saying, "yup, you were right and we universal-types were listening!"
I can't say I ever enjoyed the pain of someone who has no contact to my life, like the example of the guy getting racked by a whatever in a blooper show. In that instance I'm more embarrassed that anyone would hold up their darker moments for the sake of a buck.
Whether it's wrong to privately get the warm fuzzies that universe was listening...I don't think so. I think it's more a matter of degree.
Rejoicing over the loss of life, for example... I'm thinking of the Palestinians dancing with glee in the streets a year ago. That, to me, is revolting.
Rejoicing when someone brings about their own downfall, well. I'm thinking of a woman on another board I used to go to. She was such a bitch. She lived to cause discord and took so much pleasure in hurting others. As an example, she took malicious glee at the death of another poster's husband. *cough*cunt*Cough* When she was arrested transporting 150lbs of pot, did I rejoice? Yeah, I did. Privately, though.
I think to a degree we're taught to make nice-nice even when we don't want to. Suppression of nastiness n' all...being "the better person." When the universe deals the blow we wish we could deal ourselves, it's as though the universe was saying, "yup, you were right and we universal-types were listening!"
I can't say I ever enjoyed the pain of someone who has no contact to my life, like the example of the guy getting racked by a whatever in a blooper show. In that instance I'm more embarrassed that anyone would hold up their darker moments for the sake of a buck.
Whether it's wrong to privately get the warm fuzzies that universe was listening...I don't think so. I think it's more a matter of degree.
Rejoicing over the loss of life, for example... I'm thinking of the Palestinians dancing with glee in the streets a year ago. That, to me, is revolting.
Rejoicing when someone brings about their own downfall, well. I'm thinking of a woman on another board I used to go to. She was such a bitch. She lived to cause discord and took so much pleasure in hurting others. As an example, she took malicious glee at the death of another poster's husband. *cough*cunt*Cough* When she was arrested transporting 150lbs of pot, did I rejoice? Yeah, I did. Privately, though.
Never said:Weevil:
“I think Never's posts are very, very first year of higher education.”
Odd how when I was a high school drop out my thoughts were always my own but after three whole months of college they’re simply the product of my education.
I didn't say it was solely the product of your education simply they are very reminiscent of an attitude common to first years.
and I never thought your thoughts were your own.
TheDR4KE
Breathing the sensuous Om
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Never said:
I was thinking of this the other day on another thread. Sometimes I see people who are suffering because of their own choices, their own attitudes. It reminds me of the power of free will and usually makes me happy that I usually choose to be happy.
I consider it a form of Schadenfreude and neither guilty nor bitter.
Quack
the D
freescorfr
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Never said:
More a pleasure than a joy - joy is much more long-lasting.
I'd distinguish between guilt and shame, too.
That's shame. Guilt, for me, is a discomfort produced internally through conflicts in my own values.
These are simply my own distinctions.
What is the opposite? Is there a German word for that? Feeling pleased at someone else's success.
Coolville
rampant quodlibertarius
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schadenfreude
never,
I go with guilty joy.
I was on a screenwriting course a few years ago on comedy. All the best screenwriters in the land were present, together with the best actors. We analysed comedy writing and comedy in general for a week. Then we all wrote short scenes that the actors performed.
Well thought out, intellectual comedy scenes. Incorporating everything we knew and everything we had learned that week.
During one of the scenes, an actor was performing his lines well, when he inadvertantly whacked his knee on a chair, knocking it over, hurting his knee.
The audience laughed their heads off.
When we asked them afterwards (part of the course) what they thought was funny and why, they all replied "when he walked into the chair". Why was that funny? "Don't know, just was!"
It must be genetic. The Banana Peel Syndrome is funny.
never,
I go with guilty joy.
I was on a screenwriting course a few years ago on comedy. All the best screenwriters in the land were present, together with the best actors. We analysed comedy writing and comedy in general for a week. Then we all wrote short scenes that the actors performed.
Well thought out, intellectual comedy scenes. Incorporating everything we knew and everything we had learned that week.
During one of the scenes, an actor was performing his lines well, when he inadvertantly whacked his knee on a chair, knocking it over, hurting his knee.
The audience laughed their heads off.
When we asked them afterwards (part of the course) what they thought was funny and why, they all replied "when he walked into the chair". Why was that funny? "Don't know, just was!"
It must be genetic. The Banana Peel Syndrome is funny.
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