Schadenfreude

There is a certain amount of shame in feeling happy about somebody else's pains and problems, and there should be.  We know that in order to function as a society there has to be empathy and acknowledgement of other people's feelings, not to mention sympathy and understanding when there are disagreements.  The problem is, some people take advantage of our attempts to be open and interested in their well-being and project their own desires on that behavior.  This is especially common from men to women, as a great number of social commentators have pointed out.

I am having my own shameful pain enjoyment fest, having recently been told that an enemy has finally faced consequences for his bad behavior.  This is an enemy because of his continuous harassment of me personally, not merely because of some philosophical disagreement.  For years, seven or eight I would say, he sent periodic invitations for drinks, sexual comments, apologies for "rudeness".  But it was never the end, not until I left the discussion group that we ran into each other in.  First they were only phone messages, but eventually he started leaving his dribblings on the blog and whining during discussion, seemingly in an attempt to get attention, even if that attention was negative.  His portrayed himself as a worse and worse person, insisting that he had no interest in points of view from people who are not like him, e.g. women, gays, minorities, etc.  He threw small tantrums several times.  Even after people agreed with him he weirdly kept insisting that they had to agree.  The continual whining, which sometimes stretched for more than 20 minutes, became more of a hassle than is worth it, especially because there was simply nobody else to listen to.  The other attendees came to "improve" their English, but did not participate in any meaningful way.  So, I left.

Bizarre and vaguely sexual messages continued to pop up for months, finally stopping at the end of last year, nine months after I left.  Apparently, he found a new target with somebody who started attending a few months ago.  He interrupted this person non-stop in the final confrontation, to the point that he was physically attacked, or almost.  I am not sure if there was actual physical contact or not, but it was made clear that the intention to swing some fists and mash some noses was there.  I felt nothing but glee.  I wish there had been a beating.  I wish bones had been broken, particularly jaw bones.

I wish I did not feel that way.  I wish people would not expect miracles from others when they insist on being garbage.  I wish I did not feel justified in calling people garbage.  Schadenfreude.