Are people hard wired for Schadenfreude? I wonder if we are, and if it's something one

[raccoon]

has to work to overcome.

Same as little kids have to be taught to share. Of course, some never learn.

[Orrex]

1. Why should one have to work to overcome it?

Why not revel in it? If a malignant Conservative media figure were devoured in broad daylight by half a dozen alligators, why shouldn't I find enjoyment in this?

[Sabriel]

2. I'm with Orrex

Give yourself up to the enjoyment of Schadenfreude.

And hope to hell you're not next.

[raccoon]

5. Well, yeah, but what if it was a progressive media figure? nt

[Orrex]

6. Sure, if they deserved it.

You make a good point, though, and obviously I'm being hyperbolic, but I'm thinking of the disparity between Left- and Right- responses in this regard. For instance, the Right would be delighted if George Soros, for instance, were diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer, while the Left- would take great pleasure in seeing Newt Gingerich suffer some suitable repercussions for his decades of poisonous hypocrisy.

The difference, generally speaking, is that the Left's schadenfreude pertains to an apparent meting out of justice (or at least accountability), while for the Right it's more for seeing its ideological opponents violently punished for their opposition.

[backscatter712]

3. Schadenfreude ist die schoenste Freude...

denn sie kommt von Herzen.

[raccoon]

4. Como sprechen Zie? :Silly: Elucidate, my dear Hermann. nt

[backscatter712]

7. "Schadenfreude is the most beautiful kind of joy, because it comes from the heart."

It rolls better in the original German, since freude means joy. Schadenfreude ist die schoenste Freude.