What never fails to make you laugh? There are many things but one that might stick out of the rest is when you're friend trips over something and falls. It's not that funny but still, it is pretty funny. It's these little things in friendship that you treasure forever. I can recall many times when something like this happened, and still it doesn't fail to make me laugh. It's childish, but so is friendship in a way. This is what they call in Germany "Schadenfreude".
I am the one who laughs.
Schadenfreude
noun.
The act of taking pleasure in someone's misfortune.
We live in a digital age, in which anyone can record and upload videos to the internet. Anyone with a basic knowledge of the internet can view these videos. Can you guess what's the most watched video content on the internet, excluding music videos? The so-called "fail" videos.
Internet is filled to the brim with these "fail compilations" and they do get a lot of views. I am pretty sure you all have seen them. This is a lot like seeing your friend fall down but it is very different too. When your friend falls down, you do take pleasure in their misfortune but that situation has more of friendly vibe to it. It has an aura of mutual respect and happiness whereas when you see a stranger experience similar or worse misfortune on the internet, you are laughing at their often serious injury. Whenever you see someone else having a streak of bad luck, somewhere inside you're thankful that you're not them. Obviously you feel bad for the person, but there also exists "the evil part" which laughs an evil laugh somewhere inside.
MWHAHAHAHAHA! evil laugh continues.
Whether you are reading an only blog where the blogger is detailing his woe or watching a comedy sitcom where the protagonist experiences nothing but bad luck, you'll experience schadenfreude. The very idea of "pointing and laughing" has been with humans since the very beginning. But why do we feel the need to rejoice in someone's misfortune? Personally, I do not know. If you legitimately ask me that question, I'd say, "because it's funny." Which it isn't, but also is.
The Book of Proverbs also references this weird psychological phenomenon of schadenfreude.
Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth: Lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.
In a way, schadenfreude is the antonym of envy. When someone experiences a streak of good luck, people envy him, wishing that something like that had happened to them instead of that person. It's the act of being displeased in the happiness of others, which is arguably worse than schadenfreude. I think that the idea "unfairness" of universe manifests in these people's minds which is why they feel almost angry. "Why him and not me?"
Schadenfreude has become so much common in today's society that now it would not be wrong to think of it as almost a "biological response." I have yet to meet a person that does not laugh when his best friend trips over something or when he sees one of those "fail compilations" that I talked about. These things never fail to brighten up people's day, however ill-fortuned the person in them may be.
After all, society prefers to be the one who laugh, instead of the one who is laughed at.