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PaperclipPerfector  11mo ago (text post)   5890 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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The other day, I read a story about a catalytic converter thief that didn't realize the driver was taking a nap in the car. The driver woke, was startled, and drove away, killing the thief in the process. I chuckled out loud when I read the story. I would say my sense of schadenfreude is in good working order.

That said, I don't experience schadenfreude at all when it's someone that I merely dislike. I don't wish for people that I just find mildly irritating to have bad lives or anything.

I'm almost at your point; though I still feel sad for a thief getting himself killed, I don't feel angry at the driver or anything. If you were to upgrade the thief to "armed robber" I wouldn't be sad to say goodbye to them.

But if you were to downgrade the thief's antisocial behavior, instead? IIRC there was some point in my childhood where I noticed the classic Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist trope starting to fail for me. In theory the protagonist is supposed to be just enough of a jackass that you can appreciate how hilarious it is when he gets his comeuppance, and I can still enjoy that for Eric Cartman (or Montgomery Burns, now that I think about it) levels of horrible, but watching the suffering of a mere Jack Tripper or Michael Scott is painful.

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