<p>Do you ever feel better when you find out that someone you know is worse off than you are? Especially when you consider them competition? Do you ever worry that people feel the same way about your shortcomings and failures?<br>
How do you feel about schadenfreude?</p>
<p>Ich fühl mich gut! ;)</p>
<p>Would being happy that a kid who bullied you in middle school got expelled a month before graduation after coming to prom drunk and throwing around racial slurs at administrators & the principal fall under this category?</p>
<p>When it’s people who I know, and are friendly I wouldn’t feel better about their misfortune, even if they are going to be competing with me. But if it’s people I don’t know, yes I would be happy to know that I am better off comparitively to them, but not of their misfortune specificly.</p>
<p>For example, if someone I didn’t know was fired from their job at a fastfood restaurant 40 miles away, I’m not really benefited, so I wouldn’t be happy about that. But if me and one other person were competing for a job, and they suddenly disappeared, then I would be happy because I am more likely to get this job now.</p>
<p>I think everyone has schadenfreude in one way or another. </p>
<p>Example: people making 30,000$ a year today are probably living more generously than someone who was rich 100 years ago, but they are probably more stressed and unhappier.</p>
<p>It’s always relative to the other person, who has better things, whether anyone realizes it or not. It’s probably the driving force of our economy.</p>
<p>I usually only feel better if it’s somebody I dislike–and even then, that response is usually because I’m feeling insecure in myself. I assume if I were truly content, I wouldn’t preoccupy myself with others.</p>
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<p>Yup! </p>
<p>Does it count when you’re happy that a girl who bullied you in middle school got pregnant and did not even go to high school for that reason?
Or when you heard about the entire school laughing at this one guy who used to bully you when he tried to make a speech?</p>
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<p>Ich auch! :)</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>Ja klar! Ganz gut! :)</p>
<p>Schadenfreude!
Making the world a better place…
Making the world a better place…
Making the world a better place…
To be!</p>
<p>YES! 10char </p>
<p>lol</p>
<p>I love it lol like the girl whose bfu want got dumped and dropped out of school?.. yeah</p>
<p>It’s good because you can exploit their sadness for personal gain. Eg. sell the baby of the pregnant girl to slave dealers (you could back in Roman times)… j/k</p>
<p>I was joking. But seriously, seeing other people’s misfortune increases our self-esteem.</p>
<p>agree with Darko. Take it even further — majority of the people in the US today live in better houses, live longer, travel more, eat better food, and drive nicer cars than the Egyptian Pharoahs or Roman Emperors.</p>
<p>But everyone looks at their neighbors. I think if the rich Jones’s lost it all in the stock market, you might think, “aw, that’s a shame” and then have a spring in your step the rest of your day.</p>
<p>well the thing is if i was happy that the other guy was sad,
i’d also be sad for the other guy,
and guilty that i was happy over his sadness,
and confused that i was feeling all these emotions at once
so most of it would be negative</p>
<p>Rühe bitte.</p>
<p>Depends. If it’s like a financial situation I’ll feel bad, but then if it’s like a silly school thing or some competition and I peek over and see that some of my peer’s a tad below where I am it’s like a guilty pleasure. Hehe, sooo bad.</p>
<p>My favorite word</p>