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PaperclipPerfector  11mo ago (text post)   5876 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 21, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

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Does anyone else lack schadenfreude?

Schadenfreude - pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune

I guess the first time noticing this about myself is me being unable to get through "fail compilation" videos on YouTube leading me to find win compilations. Seeing other people get hurt or embarrassed rarely brings me joy.

Even when I think they "deserve" it.

Lets say a thief steals some merchandise from a store and on the way out they knock an innocent bystander over and they sprain their ankle. Imagine now 2 weeks later that thief gets caught by police while committing another theft because while they were attempting the robbery they sprained their ankle allowing the police to scoop them up. A nice little just so story about karmic revenge or whatever.

I can imagine all the comments underneath that short news story, the obvious jokes and and laughing emojis driven by the thief's comeuppance. While I am glad the thief lost in the end, it does not put a smile on my face or entice me to write a comment expressing my glee at someone's downfall.

Does anyone else lack schadenfreude?

Quite the opposite. I'm coming to worry that it's way too much of a common indulgence for me.

I also don't like watching a lot of fail stuff but I think that really has more to do with my own social anxiety - I can't bear to watch cause it triggers familiar sensations in me; it's more narcissism than empathy I think.

Tellingly, I find awkward social circumstances more unbearable than say...a thief tripping and fucking up. That is just funny.

Your connection of social anxiety with cringe/fail stuff and narcissism rings true to me. I can't stand cringe comedy like Nathan for You and have been working through my social anxiety which I think stems from narcissism, I haven't watched cringe stuff lately but I'm guessing as I develop my empathy toward others I'll have an easier time with cringe stuff (since I will internalize the other person's pain much less and instead empathize with them and forgive myself more as well)

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