RE: Schadenfreude
October 7, 2014 at 10:17 am
(This post was last modified: October 7, 2014 at 10:33 am by The Grand Nudger.)
We watch horror movies, reality tv (including er, cops, and "murder porn"), and we rubberneck at crashes - are any of these activities immoral?
(for the record, I say no - and all I see in shadenfreude is a coping mechanism - familiarizing ourselves with tragedy, practicing for death - the cathartic release that you might get from tragedy requires that you empathize with the unfortunate individual in the first place, and from that angle...it doesn't sound so horrible as "deriving joy from the misfortune of others" - even though that's exactly what all of the examples above are. I'm just glad it wasn't me - this time, hell..that's reason enough to pour a drink)
(for the record, I say no - and all I see in shadenfreude is a coping mechanism - familiarizing ourselves with tragedy, practicing for death - the cathartic release that you might get from tragedy requires that you empathize with the unfortunate individual in the first place, and from that angle...it doesn't sound so horrible as "deriving joy from the misfortune of others" - even though that's exactly what all of the examples above are. I'm just glad it wasn't me - this time, hell..that's reason enough to pour a drink)
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