I often see people laugh at others who hurt themselves. Why is this? We have movies like jackass, where the the main thing is watching people hurt themselves. Many people feel bad when we see animals hurt. We watch people get killed in TV like its nothing. Do we not like ourselves as humans. Does the misfortune of others make us feel better about ourselves. Is it a coping mechanism? Maybe feeling empathy would hurt too much so we laugh it off as they say. I have a hard time with this. I feel bad for people when I see them get hurt. I don't get the joke. And I don't really like when I hurt myself and others laugh at me. What do you think. Why do humans do this to each other?
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182 sats \ 1 reply \ @Undisciplined 21 Sep
Humor is fairly complex, but it often involves dramatic subversion of expectations.
Sometimes seeing people hurt themselves may just fall into this funny-because-it's-unexpected category. Other times, I think we can relate the way people injure themselves to some dumbass thing we did to get hurt and we're sort of laughing at a memory of our own folly. I think it's less about the injury itself, than the manner in which it occurred.
Most other cases probably do have uglier underlying explanations.
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39 sats \ 0 replies \ @DesertDave OP 21 Sep
That's interesting. I never thought of it like that. Now that I am thinking about it, humor is kind of crazy. Nothing is objectively funny. All depends..
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143 sats \ 0 replies \ @BTCLNAT 22 Sep
It is not the same to LAUGH WITH SOMEONE, than to LAUGH AT SOMEONE.
Laughter is a natural response generally produced by the unexpected, as @Undisciplined states, or by the absurd, although this is not necessarily bad or inappropriate. Dopamine, as a chemical substance associated with neurotransmission, acts both in the area of joy and sadness, so it can be an involuntary response.
@Coinsreporter points out something important, in principle the person can respond by laughing when we fall, but they quickly help when they notice that we have been hurt. But let's think that people whose job is to treat medical emergencies do not have the same reaction, if someone falls, the instinctive thing is to help and if after all something funny comes out then they laugh at it, then the condition of mental training and alertness influence our reaction.
Of course that has nothing to do with other things, such as ENJOYING the suffering of others, sadism, child abuse or things like that. The saddest thing is that this has more views than educational materials on any subject. This shows human degradation.
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141 sats \ 0 replies \ @Coinsreporter 22 Sep
Thanks @DesertDave for asking. I base my answer on personal observation and experience. Since I am quite familiar with the humorous side of people, I understand that some people have very low threshold for funny things. They can absorb trigger so fast that their laughing appears abrupt, spontaneous and to some ill-timed and not according to the situation. They do not have control on that. That does not mean that they are insensitive and have inane behavior. No. They are hit by the trigger, they respond before applying brakes.
Suppose I slipped badly in rain in a funny way; one of the onlooker is of the type mentioned above. Laughing heartily would be the natural original response. When I tell them that I have unfortunately dislocated hip joint and I need help, they will be the first ones to come to the aid. . . . So, they are basically normal and good people.
If you are like that and you feel guilty, you may apologize and that will prove that you are not at all a bad person.
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131 sats \ 3 replies \ @Satosora 21 Sep
Its just a coping mechanism.
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10 sats \ 2 replies \ @DesertDave OP 21 Sep
I think this is probably true. I made this post in hopes that people would think about it. I doubt most consider this.
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11 sats \ 1 reply \ @Satosora 21 Sep
Its more prevalent in kids, right?
Other than when we watch comedy?
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @DesertDave OP 21 Sep
I don't know. Still those kids leaned it somewhere I would think
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11 sats \ 0 replies \ @Golu 22 Sep
I think laughing isn't a problem and to be taken as bad but if someone falls or have some problem, if nobody helps, that's where the problem is.
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11 sats \ 0 replies \ @flat24 22 Sep
I think it's a complicated issue, and it depends a lot on how a person was raised, those who were raised with love, affection, understanding, values and manners are people more capable of feeling empathy, thinking with respect about other people, and of course being generous or kind, on the other hand there are these types of people who have fun with the pain of others, or mistreating animals, I do not intend to justify their actions, but it is well known that surely these types of people, are individuals who possibly received abuse or mistreatment during their childhood, possibly raised in highly violent environments and where there is no respect for other people 👥
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11 sats \ 0 replies \ @JesseJames 22 Sep
I think it is a defense mechanism, fairly subconscious, sorta like "Better you than me"...
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11 sats \ 0 replies \ @IamSINGLE 22 Sep
I think it's a normal human behaviour. But I doubt anyone would laugh when they see someone in danger of their lives. We only laugh when we see some silly things.
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11 sats \ 1 reply \ @Coinosphere 22 Sep
The name for this is Schadenfreude, which translates to "Harm joy."
Kids as young as 2 years old experience it, and one of the main causes of it is our sense of Justice. We like to see someone who is acting like an idiot fall and bonk their heads or something... But historically we used to draw the line at laughing at someone who is getting more harm than he/she deserved. Over time the line has clearly moved.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @DesertDave OP 22 Sep
Interesting. That makes sense.
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11 sats \ 0 replies \ @TheMorningStar 22 Sep
May be others laughed at us when we got hurt.
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11 sats \ 0 replies \ @023ad18700 22 Sep
Cuz we think better then than us
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11 sats \ 8 replies \ @ek 21 Sep
The decent way is to first ask if they’re okay and then laugh
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25 sats \ 7 replies \ @DesertDave OP 21 Sep
But what makes it funny?
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11 sats \ 6 replies \ @ek 21 Sep
Mhh, I see. We Germans even have dedicated a word to it: Schadenfreude. But don’t really know why seeing people fail can be funny.
Good post!
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10 sats \ 5 replies \ @DesertDave OP 21 Sep
Nice word. My father side is from Germany. My last name is very German.
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11 sats \ 4 replies \ @ek 21 Sep
Müller?
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0 sats \ 2 replies \ @DesertDave OP 21 Sep
A clue. I have a great great grandpa that was a strong man in the US. I posted an article about it months ago.
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11 sats \ 1 reply \ @ek 22 Sep
Schwarzenegger?
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @DesertDave OP 22 Sep
Yeah. That's it. They call me Dave Schwarzenegger of the desert. Lol
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @DesertDave OP 21 Sep
Close.. well not really. Great guess though. I have never met anyone with the same last name as me who want related to me. Very unique name is the states at least.
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11 sats \ 2 replies \ @grayruby 21 Sep
Most people don’t laugh at people getting hurt severely. Maybe we laugh out of feeling embarrassed for people when they do something dumb and get hurt.
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @DesertDave OP 21 Sep
My wife laughs while asking if I'm okay.
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @DesertDave OP 21 Sep
Maybe that's it
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11 sats \ 2 replies \ @jerrybature 22 Sep freebie
Movies and dramas and comedies flash out scenes of people getting hurt in funny ways. The Internet helped amplify this. Overtime we got used to seeing people get hurt, and we just laugh about it. In reality, It should be great to empathize and help. And, laugh later.
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @DesertDave OP 22 Sep
I agree with this take. It seems we have been desensitized..
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11 sats \ 0 replies \ @jerrybature 22 Sep
O yes! And that's the word, "desensitized."
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