Schadenfreude

[NYSandman]

(German) malicious enjoyment at the misfortunes of others.

Does this happen to you? I mean, not that you're a mean person. But, how often do we see rubbernecking around a car accident. Or, people gathered around a burning building even if they don't live there.

Shock TV is the norm, with videos with everything from robberies, murders, rapes, disasters.

I admit I gravitate towards some of these shows. When I hear a car accident outside, I run to my window. If a building is on fire or the cops have someone pulled over, yeah, I watch.

It's not that I enjoy seeing someone hurt. I honestly don't. But, I just feel I have to see something so unusual, or spectacular.

When Randy Orton got injured, I felt really bad. But, I checked out the replay and was thinking, "Shit. His shoulder is all blue and broken. My God, I wonder what the pain is like."

This is the only definition of the word I could find, but I thought it meant unintentional enjoyment. I'm keeping the title because the word sounds cool.

Anyone else watch disasters, whether you "enjoy" them or not?

 

[Y 2 Jake]

If I'm walking down the street and I see somebody on the florr, having a fit, or injured. I'll take a glance. But I'm not one for standing and just looking. I could do like all the other people do, look shocked, hand over mouth and all that stuff. But the simple fact is that I couldn't be less intrested. If somebody is injured or whatever, I figure there are more than enough people watching, so I don't have to.

I'll watch disaster shows though. Because earthquakes and whatever happen, and I'll probably never get to see one.

 

[Monkey_Mania]

I am kind of a sick freak when it comes to things like this. While on one hand I feel completely and utterly terrible for those involved. There is another side of me that goes "damn that must suck, this is actually quite enjoyable". I think this is why I love horror movies. I get some sick pleasure out of people dying. In real life though its horrible. But to watch it on the screen its amazing. Then again I might just be a sadistic mofo.

 

[HBK-aholic]

I watch. Not for the thrill of seeing someone in pain, but usually I want to help. I have first aid training, so if I see someone hurt, or ill in the street I will try and help, or call an ambulance etc. I like the idea of knowing I could have done somthing which could really have affected someone's life.

If there's a building on fire I wouldn't go into it, because I'd be able to do nothing and it's just something extra for the fire brigade to do. As well as, I aren't as stupid as to do it. But I would phone for help, and wait and see the outcome of it all.

 

[Rizza]

I think everybody is Facinated with things like this but not for the reasons of pain and death. Like Nysandman said most people want to see somthing unusaul or rare. I'm not that big on the disaster shows like Extreme Videos or Most Shocking but if I seen anything like somthing on those shows on one of my city streets I would definitly stick around and watch. I don't think there is anybody who could honestly say they wouldn't even glance.

 

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

Seeing something bad happen is interesting. Drama propels storyline. If we went to the movies and saw a film that consisted of just a guy waking up, having a nice breakfast, smooth traffic on the way to work, fills out papers all day and jokes around lightly with coworkers, has a lunch break, goes back to filling out papers, comes home, eats a lovely dinner with his 2.5 well-behaved children and his 10/10 wife, then gets a good night's sleep...boring, right? Lol.

That being said, there's two levels of interesting. One is entertainment through comedic value, such as seeing someone fall down flat out their face when trying to act like a tough guy, and the other is entertainment through fear, such as in horror films or dramas.

Comedic = Let's just take reality TV as a viewpoint. You watch a show like Big Brother, where people like Dick Donato or Will Kirby were total pricks to other people, but they were hilarious.

Horror = The news. Its basically become all about scare tactics, and I know a lot of people that are GLUED to the news despite complaining that they're depressed all the time.

However, there's a catch here. Even though most people tend to be fascinated by tragedies and such (whether it be a car crash on the side of the road you pass by, or something like 9/11), I doubt any level-headed people WANT such horrible things to happen just to get a quick adrenaline rush.

So its sort of a guilty pleasure within limits. Its funny when someone else hits their head on the ceiling, as they'll be fine, but it wouldn't be if they were suddenly brain damaged. Then there's the argument of "dark humor", whether fictitious (such as the film "Death to Smoochy") or reality (such as the line "Aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?") which is a very solid form.

All in all, I think everyone gets a certain satisfaction from seeing the misfortunes of others, whether it be through fictional comedy, fictional horror, or if it boils down to it, even jealousy.