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Although I find it very negative, and kind of concerning, and not positive, I think wishing ill on others is "normal" in that it's common.
Shadenfreude. A term for enjoying seeing bad things happen to people you don't even dislike.
Common. Just not healthy or positive.
And I think it would be "normal" to imagine bad things happening to someone who is directly harming you. I completely get that.
But to purposely seek out people who you want to enjoy watch suffer, although they haven't harmed you or anyone you love, is extremely negative, IMHO. It's one thing to say well, I'm glad they finally caught that guy and he's out of the public. It's another to conjure up witnessing him suffer cruel punishments.
Says something about the person who's doing the fantasizing. And those who do that somehow think they're the ones on the moral high ground compared to those who don't enjoy seeing others suffer.
Where are you getting this notion that it's common? I think some of you want it to be normal or common, or just human nature....perhaps because you'll feel better about your own personal wishes, but I don't at all think it's normal or common.
I think it is common only because I see so much of it on the internet. It's a thinking style that for some people seems to provide a sense of comfort or justice.
To me there's such an irony in that. Like aligning with what you hate and fear and not even being aware of it. We read about a brutal attack and murder and suddenly there will be pages of text from perfectly "decent" people talking about what they want to do or seen done to the perpetrator.
I think to myself that those were the same kinds of violent thoughts the perpetrator was having before he committed the violence. The thought precedes the act. At that moment the violator and the justice-seeker are aligned in purpose - harming another.
It doesn't mean that the poster will commit violence but I always wonder if it is healthy to dwell on violence toward others even in fantasy. Do people really want to think the same kinds of thoughts that perpetrators think? They don't have to.
Sometimes I have felt that justice was done with an execution, or a life sentence passed. But I don't wish terrible pain on perpetrators of terrible crimes. In fact I don't wish pain of any kind on another human. If you do, you need to ask yourself why.
We have laws; justice is not vengeance. Vengeance is a tribal act, and we are supposed to be civilized.
So say all of the horrid aforementioned tyrannical dictators suddenly dropped dead and the people that they ruled over rejoiced, would you consider them horrible people?
and it is not desirable. if we notice it happening, like other undeseriable traits or characteristics, we seek to train ourselves OUT of that behavior.
it is like raising children, we don't teach our children to want others to suffer.
we teach our children to ease the suffering of others through extending kindness, compassion, generosity, respect, courtesy, and dignity.
it has NOTHING to do with whether someone is "bad" or "evil"
that is simply an excuse to justify an undesirable, unsavory behavior
it is not normal or desirable to want ANYONE to suffer.
In other words, it's okay for professional criminals to continue to go on as they do with no consequences?
By that I mean, say we found out the likes of Kim Jong Un, Rodrigo Duterte, Bashar Al-Assad, Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin etc. had the worst case of bone cancer one could have and were destined to die but not before months of agonizing excruciating pain and suffering or say were on a plane that crashed and they along with all of their evil friends died in a blaze of glory. If you were happy and celebrated their suffering and deaths would that make you a bad person despite all of them fully deserving spending eternity in hell?
Nope, I am going to let God take care of it and do the judging. I'm not wishing bad things on bad people.
In all honesty I'd rest quite well if I was given word on two humans that did great harm in my life were in anguish. Not in a happy go lucky way....more of a .. maybe now they can know suffering .
I'm not sadistic by nature ...so to say I'd be elated does little good in that mindset.
It's reminence of when a family sits in court...hears the verdict that the killer is guilty. They have a sense of okay...justice is being served...but it doesn't bring closure to the heartache.
In all honesty I'd rest quite well if I was given word on two humans that did great harm in my life were in anguish. Not in a happy go lucky way....more of a .. maybe now they can know suffering .
I'm not sadistic by nature ...so to say I'd be elated does little good in that mindset.
It's reminence of when a family sits in court...hears the verdict that the killer is guilty. They have a sense of okay...justice is being served...but it doesn't bring closure to the heartache.
I think it's a sense of relief. If they are suffering in some way they probably are powerless to hurt more people. Think of the great Weinstein hunched over in his walker, falling down in his cell. Not a lot of sympathy going his way but there is relief he can't keep hurting people.
When I have heard bad things about my former bullies I felt relief that they were hobbled in some way, or if they die, I think whew, one less evil doer on the earth.
I was able to watch one of my greatest former bullies, who never changed much, go through some major stuff. Played the victim until the very end. No one even made an obituary for them.
By that I mean, say we found out the likes of Kim Jong Un, Rodrigo Duterte, Bashar Al-Assad, Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin etc. had the worst case of bone cancer one could have and were destined to die but not before months of agonizing excruciating pain and suffering or say were on a plane that crashed and they along with all of their evil friends died in a blaze of glory. If you were happy and celebrated their suffering and deaths would that make you a bad person despite all of them fully deserving spending eternity in hell?
This is your "Western World" view of who is evil. If you asked residents of other countries, I am sure you would get a very different list of evil people.
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