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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?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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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.

I have a finely honed sense of schadenfreude, and I feel no embarrassment about it.

I am a rather reasonable person, so the majority of people are only getting what's coming to them. In fact, I've found spite and hatred to be excellent motivators when nothing else can rouse me out of my depression, such as when I worked out for a year on the nominal basis of beating up this one asshole (not that I ever did, but the fantasy was worth it).

Overall, I can't help but be happy when bad things happen to bad people, literally couldn't happen to a better person as far as I'm concerned!

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