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Schadenfreude

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cliffchuff

07:20 / 05.02.07

This thread is dedicated to those acts or post where you revel in the misery of others. Those acts of hateful glee that initially give you a lift but leave you feeling lower in self esteem than if you had simply avoided the negative Karma (Maaaan)

Why is trying to boost one's impotent sense of self through the negative belittling of others such a self defeating project and yet soooooo attractive?

I'll start with a small one, some guy stole a parking spot I was reversing into, so I parked elsewhere and went and twisted his wing mirror on the passenger side just enough to mean he would have to stop and re adjust it, OK not as bad is my first impulse to key the whole fucking car i admit (prehaps I've mellowed) in the short time I've been here I already know you can top that...

Benny the Ball

07:26 / 05.02.07

I was being driven by a friend a while ago, and a young kid in a souped-up-mobile pulled out of a side road to cross our lane to turn right, and stopped as his side of the traffic was pretty stand-still-ish - my friend drove up to his car, and, as he is want to do, pretended that he was going to crash (in a stupidly comical, slow driving, but lifting his hands up in an over dramatic fashion, breaking quite some distance from the young kid) - the kid stared at him, in faux angry, I'm an aggressive driver, style, and continued to stare driving forward, trying to make some alpha-male point of some kind - and continued to drive into the back of the person in front of him. Schadenfreud 1 - boy racer 0.

Dutch

07:34 / 05.02.07

I love seeing high heeled shoes sticking out of the mud at rock festivals. Come on, going to a festival for three days in western europe, you are bound to come into contact with the lovely muddy, rainy and plain filthy side of life. Trying to maintain a sense of fashion like this is just silly.

By the way: it's spelled Schadenfreude

illmatic

09:36 / 05.02.07

I like seeing people brutally flamed or cruelly mocked after starting stupid threads on the internet.

illmatic

09:39 / 05.02.07

I also love seeing people kick away the crutches of the disabled, especially if their skulls bounce when they hit the pavement.

Mistoffelees

09:55 / 05.02.07

I once started a thread like this: Schadenfreude

cliffchuff

10:00 / 05.02.07

I am not happy that you got no replies! ;-)

Regrettable Juvenilia

10:33 / 05.02.07

Why is trying to boost one's impotent sense of self through the negative belittling of others such a self defeating project and yet soooooo attractive?

Because you have never satisfied a sexual partner in your life, and never will.

illmatic

10:42 / 05.02.07

some guy stole a parking spot I was reversing into, so I parked elsewhere and went and twisted his wing mirror on the passenger side just enough to mean he would have to stop and re adjust it

BTW this isn't schdanfreude as you engineered it yourself rather than observed it. Try again. Or not.

cliffchuff

10:52 / 05.02.07

Because you have never satisfied a sexual partner in your life, and never will.

thank you for a stunning example though as the previous post pedantically points out that might simply be malice.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

10:55 / 05.02.07

Eggs and Flyboy, stop being such funkillers. I for one love to read people's happy reflections on tiny petty revenge taken for tiny petty slights, or about people causing accidents by distracting other drivers.

My only complaint is that nobody really got hurt in those stories. Can someone please post a lovely story about this mate of theirs that once saw a Goth get punched in the face and start crying next? Those are my favourite.

Evil Scientist

10:59 / 05.02.07

My only complaint is that nobody really got hurt in those stories. Can someone please post a lovely story about this mate of theirs that once saw a Goth get punched in the face and start crying next? Those are my favourite.

Feh, Goths don't feel pain. S'true, I've done experiments.

Goths are pain

Does that mean that enjoying somebody else's goth is schadenfreude?

Evil Scientist

11:29 / 05.02.07

Does that mean that enjoying somebody else's goth is schadenfreude?

Goths aren't property, they go their own path.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

12:23 / 05.02.07

cliffchuff- Eggs isn't being pedantic- your story just isn't Schadenfreude. Phriar's is, and Mist's link is, but yours isn't Schadenfreude. It's just petty revenge.

Benny the Ball

12:25 / 05.02.07

Mine was, wasn't it? Perhaps I didn't tell it right?

illmatic

12:34 / 05.02.07

I think it is a little pedantic, Stoatie, if we extend pedantry to cover crazy things like "accuracy in what you're talking about" and "correct spelling". I mean, they're such aren't they? So oppressive.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

12:38 / 05.02.07

This is like being in NAZI RUSSIA.

LOL!

A very good example for Schadenfreude is Nelson.

I hereby declare him the malicious mascot of this thread.

cliffchuff

16:24 / 05.02.07

I was really sad when the long legged man made him walk down the street of shame!

after i stopped laughing....

I love spell police, it makes me lough!

illmatic

17:05 / 05.02.07

I don't think it's the spelling you have to worry about, Cliff. It's the basic "understanding what something means" that we have to deal with first. Cross that bridge, and I'm sure the spelling will come along in no time at all.

Spatula Clarke

17:49 / 05.02.07

A very good example for Schadenfreude is Nelson.

Dude, a very good example of schadenfreude is this entire thread.

See, internet kids? This is why it's always better to acknowledge your own mistakes.

cliffchuff

18:51 / 05.02.07

[quote]It's the basic "understanding what something means" that we have to deal with first. [/quote]

oh my misery, how could i make such a stupid error. what a fool am I. here i was hoping to come across all erudite and wise and instead i have simply given fuel to the ridicule and angst that is my interweb life, woe my trichotillomania is back with a vengeance though luckily I only pull the sides so its come out like a cool mohawk...

my poor spanked bottom is so red and embarrassing...

Spaniel

18:52 / 05.02.07

Pretty miserable idea for a thread, no?

Ganesh

19:10 / 05.02.07

I don't think it's necessarily a bad idea for a thread, just a little skew-whiff in terms of the initial example. My own schadenfreude tends to be limited to seeing showy-offy skateboarders falling over, etc. You've Been Framed pettiness.

That and the more occasional (and rather shameful) satisfaction I experience when colleagues I don't particularly like but whose achievements make me feel insecure fail a job interview or somesuch. See also particularly smug couples splitting up.

I'm not proud of my schadenfreudulence.

illmatic

19:26 / 05.02.07

I do think it's kind of a bad idea for a thread, Ganesh, as outlined in the opening post at least - it's encouraging us all to share our tales of petty wankerdom without any further self-reflection (unlike your post I might add). If I wanted to read that sort of thing, I'd just start logging onto the Vice Magazine boards.

Ganesh

19:28 / 05.02.07

Okay, but if unexamined petty wankerdom is to be considered beyond the pale, I dread to think how much of the board might melt away overnight. Depending on who's calling wanker, of course.

Triplets

19:32 / 05.02.07

On the Simpsons Lisa translated Schadenfreud as Empty/Hollow Joy. Not sure how accurate that is but I now want to write a comic called "HOLLOW FREUD!" which documents a two-fisted psychologist's battles through the Hollow Earth.

Who's with me?!

ONLY NICE THINGS

19:38 / 05.02.07

Hardly worth pointing out that the feeling engendered by somebody demonstrating that they have not read the wiki, and thus do not know that the board does not use UBBScript, in the middle of you wondering whether they had read the wiki before going down this road is, if not schadenfreude, not entirely unakin.

So. This thread could perfectly well have been an intersting diversion, but if it carries on it is probably going to end up in a huge fight, a series of grudges and a procession towards a flamewar. Seen it dozens of times. This is pretty much textbook. If I were those involved, I would probably tell myself, without moving my lips or typing, that I was right all along and then leave it.

illmatic

19:38 / 05.02.07

I dread to think how much of the board might melt away overnight

Yeah, but surely an equally massive part of Barbelith consists of critquing this sort of thing?

Ganesh

19:43 / 05.02.07

Yeah, but surely an equally massive part of Barbelith consists of critquing this sort of thing?

Maybe so, yeah. I guess I'm merely suggesting that we're not necessarily consistent with our critiquin' of petty wankerdom. Possibly because it can be pretty subjective.

Haus is probably right, though: it may be dangerous to start admitting to schadenfreude.

ONLY NICE THINGS

20:25 / 05.02.07

I think schaden is harm, not hollow - it's harm-joy.

Oh, and personally I don't see anything wrong with telling tales of petty wankerdom. Celebrating petty wankerdom is a bit trickier - I share Mordant's response to a tale of distracting somebody else into crashing into an innocent third party as a critique of their perceived bad driving as not schadenfreude so much as to have your car taken away for being a living, breathing road hazard-needing-heit. Mildly altering wind mirrors seems less impactful, although it does bespeak an unhealthy sense of entitlement. However, neither is properly schadenfreude.

miss wonderstarr

20:55 / 05.02.07

Talking of not-really-translatable European phrases, maybe you could experience Schadenfreude from watching someone else experience l'esprit d'escalier.

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