We revel in the misfortune of others and it’s not an opinion; it’s fact.
This morning, while sitting next to my colleague he read a satirical article to me about how laughing at certain things could mean you have a psychological disorder. Interestingly enough when they spoke about laughing while someone falls down or gets hurt, they say it’s normal. I’m guilty of laughing at people falling down; hell I even laugh at Buddy my very big puppy if he can’t jump on the couch and looks at me with pleading eyes to give him a boost but where do we draw the line?
Laughing at misfortune has become ingrained in our culture. Almost every video on Facebook or Twitter has the best “fails” of people hurting themselves out of stupidity or just bad luck. Again I laugh at almost every video. Am I a bad person? Maybe I am? I sure don’t feel like a bad person? See the ‘line’ I was talking about doesn’t even have to do with laughing at people. This ‘line’ I refer to is one of morality and ethics. Being in a small community, news travels very fast. You can try and fart in silence and the next day you will have people discussing how your fart affected them and how their expertise in farting shows that you were, in fact, wrong for doing so. People have become Pinocchio and using their noses to sniffle out all the details and forming opinions without having any regard to the people involved and how it affects them.
See we love the drama and the gruesome details of the news, but only if it happens to other people. We love shaping stories to better suit our worldview and we pick a side and fight on behalf or against the people involved, but only when it happens to other people. We thrive in drama created by overbearing and self-appointed “professionals” who knows everything but can’t justify anything, but only when it happens to other people. We love to be spectators to the misery, but never the attraction.
Buddy is still struggling to jump on the couch and I feel sorry for the “little” guy and as I helped him out I can see the other dogs murmuring and whispering to each other because of the injustice that just occurred. Maybe I am a bad person after all?
