But do not gloat over the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune; do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin; do not boast in the day of distress. Obadiah 1:12

When was the last time you checked your entertainment senses? Have you noticed what you are watching, what entertains you?

I am not talking to people who have kids. Of course, you are going to monitor what your children watch. In some ways that force you to monitor yourself when you watch television.

I was listening to a podcast the other night and somewhere in the conversation, someone said, isn’t it interesting how other people’s pain is entertaining for us?

You see that in different types of competitiveness when one team beats the hell out of another team. Or a player on the opposing team gets hurt. The other side gloats in excitement. I wonder if this is true when I watch television or extended cable like Netflix and Amazon Prime.

I immediately looked at myself. In my head, I did an inventory check on what I am entertained by when watching television. Let me be the first to say, I am so guilty of this. My go-to show when watching television is anything on Dateline, ID-Investigating Discovery. I could binge-watch both of these shows forever and never get tired.

“I asked myself, is there something wrong with me? Is this some sort of sickness? Do I need to talk to someone?”

Before I go any further in wondering if I am abnormal. I am aware that everyone does not watch television, and millions of people are not into pain entertainment. To the millions of us who never realized we are pain watchers and like it. I mean no disrespect or have no intentions of being insensitive to anyone.

I want to know if something is wrong with me. Some people like to be quiet when they write. Some people listen to music when they write. I have the television on when I write. 90% of my television viewing is focused on something bad happening to somebody. Even if I’m not looking at the television, while I am writing I have one ear on the TV. I even sleep by television. I can’t fall asleep unless the television is on and it has to be on a particular type of program like ID-Investigation Discovery or Dateline.

Again I don’t watch the program I will listen to it until I fall asleep. I am not as bad as I used to be. I listen to the Word now, but I still do it sometimes.

Schadenfreude — Enjoyment obtained by other people's pain.

This sounds a lot like sadists. I have been called a sadist because of the television programs I like.

I never feel the need to go out and harm someone. I don’t hate anyone enough to want to kill them. I don’t hate anyone period!

Normally when one writes an article and we do our research on a particular topic. Nine times out of ten whatever the expert, doctor, or professional has to say about such a topic, we go with their opinion and never think twice.

When explaining schadenfreude clinical psychologist John Mayer, Ph.D., author of Family Fit: Find Your Balance in Life, tells Health. Psychologist John Mayer, Ph.D. suggests when it comes to schadenfreude the people who exhibit this behavior have negative thoughts that can range from hate to envy.

He goes on to say, “You can ‘love’ your neighbor, friend, or relative, but your feelings of joy at their misfortune can be spurned on by jealousy.”

I disagree with this analysis. Not only because he speaks mostly about celebrities in his description of schadenfreude. I don’t believe people are jealous and take pleasure in another person’s misfortune.

My thing is this. I could go on speaking on this schadenfreude forever. I could mention opinions and theories from all kinds of doctors and specialists. Believe me, they are out there when it comes to this subject.

I also believe the people who determine what type of entertainment we choose to watch have schadenfreude tendencies. I’m an enquiring mind!

Amazon Prime

Hulu

Year

Starz

Netflix

But+

All of these extended networks choose the way we choose to watch entertainment. Whether it’s happy, encouraging, teaching, or violent. In other words, we choose our entertainment programs from what is put in front of us. The people who make these decisions do they also have schadenfreude syndrome tendencies.

Netflix did the Jeffery Dahmer called Monster. All most 300 million hours were viewed in its first full week. According to Netflix’s figures at least 56 million, households have seen all 10 episodes. From where I am sitting. That's a lot of households. How many of them took pleasure or thought it was fun to see?

I wonder how many of these people have this schadenfreude. Do they even know they have it? Is there a cure for this? Is schadenfreude a mental illness?

Research suggests:

While some degree of schadenfreude is part of the normal continuum of human experience, frequent schadenfreude can indicate a mental health condition. People with personality diagnoses such as antisocial personality may delight in the pain of others and have little regard for others’ well-being.

Schadenfreude, the experience of pleasure at the misfortune of others, is a prevalent emotion. It may seem mean-spirited and even vindictive, but if you have ever felt guilty about the satisfaction you experienced when someone else messed up, don’t be too hard on yourself.

I don't know if something is wrong with me or not.

Before I heard the word schadenfreude and its meaning, from time to time I used to wonder why I liked the television shows I like. Never made a big deal out of it. After realizing that Lifetime & ID- Investigation Discovery are so close to being the same. I figured I didn’t create these shows, they are what are presented to me by people who make a whole lot of money as in television networks and extended cable off of other people's pain and misfortune.

Surely I am not the only one who thinks this.