Why do people laugh at another's suffering?

V

Victor

Senior Member
Location
midwest USA
Recently,
I have told several people about a tooth that broke, a man who was run over by a bus. AN older woman laughed hysterically when I told her lots of folks are sick where I live. and even my doctor laughed aloud twice in the clinic at me. I no longer see him. I was being very serious.
Each time the person stood there and laughed out loud like it was the best joke they ever heard. Like Jay Leno
told a big joke. I cannot understand this rudeness or insensitivity, I would never laugh at anyone. What gets into these people?
Some is young people who have never had a misfortune in their lives and think it is very funny when you break a tooth eating an apple.
If it is on TV or a movie, I understand the laughter.

If they love to laugh so damn much, let them take a walk through a hospital and see the suffering.
 

I agree. The internet is full of people laughing at others misfortune. Someone falls on ice, a car wreck, a girl trips and falls all hysterically funny to some, I don't get it.
 
Some people lack empathy. Self referential to the extreme, their world ends at the tip of their nose, leaving them correspondingly short sighted. I have noticed this in people of all ages. It is very painful for anyone to have their misfortune mocked and reduced to snarky humour.
 

Ignorance or maybe even fear. Laughter can be a release of tension that something bad happened to someone else, not you. I'd just ignore it and try to move on knowing you're a more sensitive person than many. It's a better way to live.
 
I know what you mean Victor and it's just not a recent thing either. Back in the 1970s (up in Oregon) we took care of a friend's cat while they went to Hawaii. My washer and dryer were in the garage and their cat must have followed me out there and jumped in the dryer. It makes me sick to even type this. So I put the cloths in the dryer and went into the house. The next thing I know my second oldest son, who was 9 or 10 was screaming at me while he was crying "You dried the cat to death!". I had sent him out to bring in the clean cloths. Anyway, our whole family was horrified and sick about this. But everyone (outside our family) laughed when we told them. I couldn't believe it, what a horrible way to die!!! So we were all dreading telling the owners and dreading when they got back from Hawaii. They went to the same church as us so we were suppose to take the cat to church in a carrier, I'll never forget this, my husband and I went over to tell them and the lady LAUGHED!!!!!!! What is wrong with people???????????????? My husband and kids (and grand kids) about cry if they see a dead animal beside the road and cry their eyes out when one of our pets "crosses the rainbow bridge".
 
chic said:
Ignorance or maybe even fear. Laughter can be a release of tension that something bad happened to someone else, not you. I'd just ignore it and try to move on knowing you're a more sensitive person than many. It's a better way to live.
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I agree with you chic and your answer made a lot more sense than my rant.
 
I think it can be a stress reaction -- sometimes when something is very bad news people laugh because that is a coping mechanism to deal with something that is very scary. It doesn't mean they think it's funny, it just happens.
 
Linda said:
I agree with you chic and your answer made a lot more sense than my rant.
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Linda, I did not view it as a rant at all. Up-front story about a very unfortunate experience, yes. Troubling to you forever, yes. Likely similar feelings inside to those which prompted me to reveal personal crap of little value to strangers, yet, many here do not feel like strangers to me. Maybe that's it. imp
 
Thanks imp and yes, I agree with you about having a place to go to talk. It's nice to be on a forum that doesn't allow the F word and sometimes I go back and change some of my words to heck and darn, just out of respect for this place. (And also cause I don't want to get kicked out)
 
We have a show on TV called funniest home video, I'm guessing you may have a similar show where you live ?
Quite often the winner of the week is a video of a child falling hard off a swing ,getting hit in the head with a ball or swing falling off bikes/ skateboards you get what I mean! And the live audience is encouraged to LAUGH and clap at the misfortune of the child almost knocking its self out .....I've always said to hubby when I've seen shorts of the show, Is that funny? If it is well there's something seriously wrong with ME beacuse I don't find it funny at all ....
I'm 100% with you Victor
 
I used to watch America's Funniest Videos religiously every Sunday night but for the past several years only once in awhile and it deals a lot with the stupid things people do to get themselves hurt / another's suffering and misfortune and I find the show gets a chuckle from me sometimes.........judging from the fact that the show has been on TV for 26 yrs. I'm not the only person who finds the show amusing.

Along the same lines I also like the humor of the old Three Stooges movies.....watching Moe slap around Larry and Curly is (to me) funny.

Sorry.
 
IKE said:
I used to watch America's Funniest Videos religiously every Sunday night but for the past several years only once in awhile and it deals a lot with the stupid things people do to get themselves hurt / another's suffering and misfortune and I find the show gets a chuckle from me sometimes.........judging from the fact that the show has been on TV for 26 yrs. I'm not the only person who finds the show amusing.

Along the same lines I also like the humor of the old Three Stooges movies.....watching Moe slap around Larry and Curly is (to me) funny.

Sorry.
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I like the funny things animals do on the show, I get a laugh out of some of the talking birds they have had on there .but it's not funny seeing children getting hit in the head with swings or falling on their heads.. I actually haven't even noticed it on TV for quite awhile .Oh dear don't get me started about the three stooges, I can still remember a scene where they were trying to cook a chicken by holding lit matches under a pot ,when I think about it there was a fair bit of slapping and thumping in that but they were adults it was funny and we laughed till we almost wet our pants .
 
Linda, that must have been one of the worst days of your life and I totally understand if it haunts you to this day. Accidentally doing something like that would have had me in such a state of depression that would have taken weeks or months to recover from:(. And then to have people laugh when you said anything would have only made your anguish worse.
 
Kadee46 said:
We have a show on TV called funniest home video, I'm guessing you may have a similar show where you live ?
Quite often the winner of the week is a video of a child falling hard off a swing ,getting hit in the head with a ball or swing falling off bikes/ skateboards you get what I mean! And the live audience is encouraged to LAUGH and clap at the misfortune of the child almost knocking its self out .....I've always said to hubby when I've seen shorts of the show, Is that funny? If it is well there's something seriously wrong with ME beacuse I don't find it funny at all ....
I'm 100% with you Victor
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That show is on here also and like you, I don't find the videos where people get hurt as funny. So many times I have thought, "What is funny about someone getting hurt?". But, I watch it anyway because I do enjoy the animals and babies.
 

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