Why do people laugh at the suffering of others?

[Ambivalent1]

Typically, it's not severe suffering that people laugh at. Minor suffering is still suffering and it's often laughed at even by "good" people. I don't understand. I've suffered a lot and seeing suffering on any level is sad. I never offer to help because there's little I can do for anyone. I also don't really like people so expending energy on them seems wasteful. But even still, adding to their suffering by laughing is truly sick.

 

[wristcutangel]

feeling better about themselves, most likely. "i wouldn't be upset over something like this!", "i wouldn't end up like that!", "at least i haven't gone that low.", mentalities like that.

 

[Lulzacruel]

its either just everyday sadism or somebody who wants to feel like how wristcutangel described it

 

[FuneralCry]

Because humans are cruel and insensitive, I think humans are the worst species in general.

 

[Ginnn]

It can be summed up in: "I'm going to laugh at the weak so that others see that I'm not like them and do not attack me as I am doing with them"

 

[Baron]

Maybe it's just funny? Maybe it's embarrassing especially for the one getting hurt. I know I always laugh when I do something clumsy. I don't think people who laugh necessarily have bad intentions, but of course that's not always the case.

 

[FormerlyFe(IV)]

I think there is both a component of malice and relief.

Laughing at people who died in stupid ways, like the Darwin Awards, is just needlessly cruel and shows a lack of sympathy. It's like psycho kids that kill animals for fun. It's not fun, it's their brains that are messed up beyond belief.

And then there is the more sympathetic, relief type of humor. The Office is awkward and hard to watch at times, but is also absurd and "safe" enough that there is no real threat. You both laugh and with the characters, and laughing with them is that facet of relief that it's not the watcher in that sticky situation.

I guess a subversive component could be considered? A lot of humor is punching up, and there is plenty of comedy acts that mock the situation of suffering, not the suffering itself. And that is comedy's biggest strengths.

 

[Aisley]

I laugh at everything, all the time. Myself, first. It's just life. And if it's one of 'those situations', I rush in to help while laughing. It's just life, man. Anyone see that video of the lady 'booping' the noses of all the animals at the zoo? And there's this one dog that's totally feral, snarling and biting before she tries, then she tries, and loses a knuckle? Come on, that's hilarious, people. And if it had happened to me, I would have laughed even harder through my tears.

 

[ToTheTwillight]

Not biased or pessimistic, but indeed the world exists of sadistic people who feel dominant or victorious when they achieve the suffering of others. Whether they are psychopath murderers or evil corporate people who have the sophistication to use manipulation to harm you without consequential liabilities that would get them into legal trouble, in which case they have astounding lawyers who also can succeed at defending them by manipulating and rigging the legal system.

But the technical answer to this is you have to start from evolution of species, not just humans. It's survival of the fittest, animals always vied against each other for food, humans always compete each other to win and make money at the expense of others, it's all part of what you have to do to adapt and survive to get the better end, and when they see themselves that they manage to do well hustling others and winning to get what they want, it gets to the point that they built joy out of it, and feel superior at the expense of the other feeling inferior, and that's where they learn to build joy out of the suffering of others

 

[ijustwishtodie]

Most people don't care about other people suffering except if it's a loved one suffering. I've also noticed that a lot of people who laugh at the suffering of others do so because they believe they're superior and that they themselves wouldn't end up suffering like how others are. They believe that people suffer because they chose to do so

 

[IWishToDie]

Typically, it's not severe suffering that people laugh at. Minor suffering is still suffering and it's often laughed at even by "good" people. I don't understand. I've suffered a lot and seeing suffering on any level is sad. I never offer to help because there's little I can do for anyone. I also don't really like people so expending energy on them seems wasteful. But even still, adding to their suffering by laughing is truly sick.

My ex-girlfriend made fun of a man in a wheelchair one time, I was super pissed off. She hated herself though and as such she hated the world and felt bigger than she was by putting down those 'lesser' than her. Sad really. This was towards the end of our relationship, obviously. I can't believe I dated someone who would think that was acceptable.

 

[baabbaabbaab]

Most of the time, I believe it's ingrained in them/us. We are gregarious, we learn to act socially by mimicking others. The group, the many mocks the weak, the other : maybe it's a welding trait ?

Once you're an adult, if you don't reflect on your own behaviors or thoughts, or if nobody took you down a peg or two in similar occasion, you'll probably still act like that without realizing...

I wish people were more genuinely compassionate.