A bad man died today, on purpose. This is already being discussed on the Drunk Thread, and so we probably won't have a separate thread on this particular event. It's hard to imagine it wouldn't devolve into a politics thread anyway. However, I am currently watching CNN and there is a massive spontaneous throng of people gathered on Pennsylvania Avenue that has been loudly cheering and singing patriotic songs for two solid hours. This is clearly a victory in many ways, but I always feel a little sad about anything that required someone to be killed in order to solve a problem. Schadenfreude is pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others, and there will be much of it today. FOCUS: When have you felt Schadenfreude? How bad was the misfortune of the other (up to and including getting shot up by a stone-cold Navy Seal team), and what did they do to deserve it?
I was happy as a pig in shit when they announced Jerry Falliwell was dead. Don't look at me like that. Having his hateful, gellatinous ass being eaten by worms is one of the best things ever to happen to common sense. Saying that "AIDS is a blessing from God here to eradicate faggots" should earn a bullet in the head for you, no questions asked. He waged war on Larry Flynt and accused the purple teletubbie of trying to get young boys to come over to the dreaded "Other Side". He blamed the 9/11 attacks squarely on The NAACP, homosexuals, feminsists and abortionists all the while hiding behind the bible. He's a worthless piece of shit, he deserved to die, and the fact that he IS dead makes me laugh. You're next, Pat Robertson.
I wasn't going to post anything about the topic because I didn't want to be the only one thinking exactly what you wrote. Why is an assassination a cause for celebration? I certainly appreciate that the man was responsible for a few deaths of his own, but are we really at the point where ending life is something to rejoice? I know I'm in the super minority here, but I feel the same way about people taking awesome pictures of their hunting kill. I don't really understand how people decide when life is sacred and when it is worthless.
Really? I am amazed at this level of understatement. Anyway, on focus: It's not uncommon in my life for me to realize someone is a useless douchebag before my friends do. So they'll hang out with someone for awhile after I've cut ties and awkwardness ensues. Then some time passes, my friends realize the guy is a useless douchebag and they cut bait and sheepishly tell me I was right. That always feels kind of good.
I work in a pharmacy. Meth heads are always coming in trying to buy sudafed to cook their meth. All Iowa pharmacies are linked and sudafed purchases are tracked and you are only allowed to buy a certain amount in a certain amount of time. Every time I enter some tweaker's info from their ID and the system rejects them I relish the chance to tell them that they can't buy any.
I do see where you're coming from here, but this was legitimately a horrible human being and there really isn't any moral reason to not be happy about his death. I think the difference between a life being sacred and a life being worthless is a matter of what a person is doing with their life. If you are actively hurting that many people, than your life isn't worth much.
I felt the same way watching the mobs of people with nothing better to do rush to the outside of the White House chanting together like the US just won some type of sporting event. Then I remembered being glued to the TV on 9/11/2001 watching footage of assholes like this: Kind of makes me a little bit less empathetic.
Akin to Crown Royal's post, anytime any of the TV evangelist got caught with their pants down, literally or figuratively. Swaggert, Bakker, etc. Same with politicians. Preach from the moral high ground and then get exposed for the pieces of shit they really are. It's almost as satisfying as when hyperbole blow's up in a narcissist's face.
Like when we support Israel and their aggression towards Palestine? There's a continuous circle jerk of hatred, it didn't start with 9/11. Just because we can, doesn't mean we should.
I enjoy looking at posts from old acquaintances on FB whose lives didn't turn out as well as they had hoped, does that make me small and petty? Yes. Do I care? No. The only thing that pisses me off about this is I'm sure there's someone like scotchcrotch looking at me saying "look at that non-business owning fucking loser and his five figure salary, what a chump".
This, especially anyone who gets called out on the Daily Show. Personally, I enjoy hearing about someone who treated me like shit in the past getting a DUI or something of the like, or watching a lazy coworker get fired. I don't specifically get my jollies from seeing bad shit happen to people, but I do, to be crass, get a massive boner when I see Karma putting in overtime on someone who's earned it.
Well no, we shouldn't. But how many times have we had to sit back and see the rest of the world dance in the street when bad shit happens to America? There haven't been many opportunities for spontaneous celebration in America for a long time. I say have at it, a bad man died, we should enjoy it.
A friend of mine loves the Beatles. Back when George Harrison died his roommate bought him a cake to celebrate. Since then there is always talk about when the next Beatle is going to die so we can get another celebratory cake.