Name: 你是否在竊喜他人不幸？德語中的「Schadenfreude」真的太貼切了！ (Check Your Schadenfreude)
Uploaded: 2026-03-15T17:09:33.000Z
Duration: 6 min 20 s

Okay, what you're about to experience is schadenfreude, a German term for taking pleasure in someone else's misfortune.

好的，接下來你要體驗的就是 schadenfreude，一個德文詞，意思就是從別人的不幸中獲得快樂。

There's a cottage industry around schadenfreude online.

網路上圍繞著 schadenfreude 形成了一個獨立產業。

It's why fail videos get tens of millions of views and it's why they're so much fun to watch.

這也是為什麼失敗影片能有數千萬的觀看次數，也是為什麼看這些影片這麼有趣。

Fail compilations are an evolution of things like Jackass and America's Funniest Home Video Format, which is really just a non fiction version of the slapstick comedy that you see in the Three Stooges or Charlie Chaplin movies or Shakespeare's comedies.

失敗影片彙編是從 Jackass 和 America's Funniest Home Video Format 這類東西演變而來的，而後者其實就是你在 Three Stooges 或 Charlie Chaplin 電影，或是 Shakespeare 的喜劇裡看到的鬧劇喜劇的非虛構版本。

Going all the way back probably to the origin of laughter itself.

追溯到最早，可能就是笑聲的起源本身。

是什麼讓我們享受別人的痛苦？

It comes down, I think, to identity and self esteem.

我認為，這歸結於認同和自尊。

Human society is defined by competition and comparison.

人類社會是由競爭和比較定義的。

When you see someone fail, your psyche is rewarded with a little boost, the feeling that you're better off than they are.

當你看到別人失敗時，你的心靈會得到一點提升，感覺自己比他們好。

Schadenfreude is particularly strong when the failer in question is arrogant or deserving, or even just too successful.

當失敗者傲慢或應得的，甚至只是太成功時，schadenfreude 會特別強烈。

That's why we delight when celebrities fall from grace.

這就是為什麼我們喜歡看到名人失勢。

It's why the downfall of super high achievers like Tiger woods generates so much media attention.

這也是為什麼像 Tiger Woods 這樣的頂尖人物的垮臺會引起如此多的媒體關注。

In societies, these feelings extend to our groups.

在社會中，這些感覺會延伸到我們的群體。

The more we identify with our in group, like our favorite sports team, for example, the more susceptible we are to schadenfreude.

我們越認同自己的群體，例如我們最喜歡的運動隊，我們就越容易產生schadenfreude。

We when a rival team loses in the realm of sports and people falling off rope swings, feelings of schadenfreude are natural and innocent.

當對手隊輸了，或是有人從繩鞦上摔下來時，schadenfreude 的感覺是自然且無害的。

And if a failed compilation makes you laugh, why not?

如果一個失敗影片彙編讓你發笑，又有何不可呢？

Where schadenfreude, I think, becomes poisonous is in the universe of politics.

我認為 schadenfreude 變得有毒，是在政治的世界裡。

I mean, if schadenfreude is a feature of in groups and out groups in competition, it should be no surprise that it festers.

我的意思是，如果 schadenfreude 是群體內外在競爭的特徵，那麼它會滋生就不奇怪了。

And in our political parties, where the victory of one side almost always means a defeat of the other, and

在我們的政黨裡，一方的勝利幾乎總是意味著另一方的失敗，而且

studies on schadenfurte in politics bear this out, intensity of party affiliation strongly predicts whether events produce schadenfreude in their members.

有關政治上 schadenfreude 的研究證實了這一點，黨派歸屬的強度強烈預測了事件是否會讓其成員產生 schadenfreude。

When the Republican party missteps or one of its members commits a gaffe, Democrats report feelings of schadenfreude and vice versa.

當共和黨失誤或其成員犯了失言時，民主黨人會報告 schadenfreude 的感覺，反之亦然。

What complicates things is that politics involves the well being and the suffering of millions of people.

令人複雜的是，政治涉及數百萬人的福祉和苦難。

The failure of your opponent group can often spell objectively bad consequences for everybody.

對手的失敗往往可能對每個人都造成客觀上的壞後果。

And yet the most disturbing finding of studies on schadenfreude and politics is that even in these cases, people report schadenfreude as long as their opponents lose out.

然而，關於 schadenfreude 和政治的研究中最令人不安的發現是，即使在這些情況下，只要對手輸了，人們也會報告 schadenfreude。

Scary as that is, you can take solace in the fact that most people understand that these feelings are socially inappropriate, which is why they're felt but not really spoken about.

儘管這很嚇人，但你可以感到安慰，因為大多數人都明白這些感覺在社交上是不恰當的，這就是為什麼它們被感受到但沒有真正被談論。

Those who report feelings of schadenfreude at objectively bad news, like an economic downturn hurting the opposing party, are also deeply ambivalent about just having that emotion.

那些對於經濟衰退等客觀壞消息，讓對手政黨受損時，會感到 schadenfreude 的人，對於這種情緒本身也感到非常矛盾。

All I did is point out the fact that on the COVID of the national inquiry, there was a picture of him and crazy Lee Harvey Oswald having breakfast.

我只是指出了事實，在國家調查的 COVID 期間，有一張他和瘋狂的 Lee Harvey Oswald 一起吃早餐的照片。

Now, Ted never denied that it was his father.

現在，Ted 從未否認那是他的父親。

One of the things that troubled me about the 2016 election was the presence of schadenfreude among Democrats and opponents of Donald Trump.

2016 年選舉讓我感到困擾的一件事，就是民主黨人和唐納·川普的對手們之間出現了 schadenfreude。

他似乎以某種方式解放了人們，而且

I think it's because ambivalence about schadenfreude in politics is a result of the fact that on some level, we believe our opponent group is genuinely trying to help, just going about it the wrong way.

我認為這是因為對政治上 schadenfreude 的矛盾，源於我們在某種程度上相信我們的對手群體是真心想幫忙，只是方法不對。

Trump, on the other hand, is so cartoonish, so nakedly self serving, that any reservations people might have about basking in his blunders just evaporated.

相較之下，川普是如此卡通化，如此赤裸裸地為自己服務，以至於人們對享受他的失誤可能有的任何顧慮都消失了。

Donald Trump is the perfect figure for schadenfreude.

唐納·川普是 schadenfreude 的完美對象。

What's more, he openly participates in it himself.

更何況，他自己也公開參與其中。

Trump offered the opportunity for guilt free schadenfreude, and

川普提供了毫無罪惡感的 schadenfreude 的機會，而且

this is what troubled me, because it was natural for Trump's supporters to take pleasure in his candidacy.

這讓我感到困擾，因為川普的支持者對他的參選感到高興是很自然的。

But what I saw all around me was his opponents feeling the same way.

但我看到周遭所有人，他的對手也感覺一樣。

For many, it was just as enjoyable as watching a fail compilation video, seeing him make appalling comment after appalling comment.

對許多人來說，這就像看失敗影片一樣有趣，看他發表一個又一個令人髮指的評論。

At the start, when he was a joke, there seemed to be little harm in expressing this schadenfreude.

一開始，當他還是個笑話時，表達這種 schadenfreude 似乎沒什麼大礙。

But there was an effect because the news media registered this feeling as interest and as a result gave an enormously lopsided amount of media coverage to his campaign, which made Trump the focus of everything.

但這產生了影響，因為新聞媒體將這種感覺視為興趣，結果給予他的競選活動極度不成比例的媒體報導，這讓川普成為一切的焦點。

It may be the first time in US history that collective schadenfreude influenced a political outcome.

這可能是美國歷史上第一次集體的 schadenfreude 影響了政治結果。

Right now, we're living through an intoxicating mixture of entertainment, politics, journalism and schadenfreude.

現在，我們正經歷著娛樂、政治、新聞和 schadenfreude 的令人陶醉的混合體。

It's a mixture that is unbelievably great for the news media.

這種混合體對新聞媒體來說簡直太棒了。

And as Trump is embroiled in the Russia investigation, the news media is showing its best side, but

而隨著川普捲入俄羅斯調查，新聞媒體展現了它最好的一面，但也

With each new revelation, each new bombshell report, the schadenfreude becomes stronger.

隨著每一個新發現、每一份爆炸性報導，schadenfreude 就變得更強烈。

And that incentive is impossible for media executives to resist.

媒體高層根本無法抗拒這種誘惑。

If Trump goes down, it'll be met with elation from certain sectors of the public.

如果川普垮臺，某些民眾群體將會欣喜若狂。

而且誰知道呢，他或許罪有應得，但

whatever happens with his presidency, schadenfreude is a drug that, that we ought to keep in check.

無論他的總統任期會發生什麼，schadenfreude 這種藥物，是我們應該加以約束的。

Because like any drug, a growing tolerance will eventually mean a growing desire for more of it more often.

因為就像任何藥物一樣，越常使用，耐受度就會越高，對它的渴望也會隨之增加。

And that's not a force we want powering our politics.

這股力量不該是驅動我們政治的動力。

I've been thinking about this for a while now, so it was great to sort of get it off my chest.

我對這件事想了很久，能把它說出來感覺真好。

This episode was brought to you by Squarespace.

本集節目由 Squarespace 贊助播出。

If you want to make a website and you want it to be a really easy process, Squarespace has some beautiful award winning designer templates to choose from that makes the process really simple.

如果你想架設網站，而且希望過程非常簡單，Squarespace 提供許多美麗、獲獎的設計師範本供你選擇，讓整個過程變得超簡單。

It's got 24 hour customer service, no upgrades, nothing to install, no patches ever.

它提供全天候客服，不用升級，不用安裝任何東西，也永遠不用更新。

And picking your domain name is really easy.

You can start your free trial@squarespace.com and if you use the offer code Nerdwriter, you can get 10% off your first purchase.

你可以在 squarespace.com 開始免費試用，如果你使用優惠碼 Nerdwriter，首次購買還可以享有 10% 折扣。

If you want to make a website, use Squarespace.

如果你想架設網站，就用 Squarespace。

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你是否在竊喜他人不幸？德語中的「Schadenfreude」真的太貼切了！ (Check Your Schadenfreude)

process

susceptible

deserve

esteem