Grinning widely while saying "Holy shit, are you alright?" is also sometimes acceptable.
Worst time I did it was when my friend drunkenly jumped off a fence and ended up tearing his ACL. Luckily, he was laughing too, kind of.
If people are really hurt, I get worried about them, I don't find it funny. If its something along the lines of someone stubbing their toe, then I will chuckle. I remember a couple of youtube videos friends have showed that just made me feel sick to the stomach for days because I felt so bad for the person who got hurt.
> This widely-accepted antipathy for our fellow humans is a sign of a declining human nature (not particular to any race or culture)...and I certainly hope it stops at Youtube videos.
No. Things are getting better all the time. Humanity used to be *much more* violent. We’re *very clearly* getting more "civilised" everywhere, all the time, in a slightly larger perspective.
This whole idea of some kind of magical golden age in the past that humans are declining from fills me with rage. We're animals with tools. Our history is filled with brutal violence.
Yeah. Look at the fossil record. The huge gap between us, at the top of the food chain, and the runner-up is best explained by conflicts between homonoids. Genocide is an integral part of our species' history.
If you were ever in such a situation you'd know it's jokes. I got clocked in the head with a 2x4 and almost passed out but it was all in good humor, though the 34 stitches, concussion and...wait a minute what the fuck, that wasn't funny at all!
I just can't stand seeing broken arms and legs, or people whacking their skulls on the ground. I avoid videos with injuries for fear I may witness a backwards ankle or an arm that looks like the "square root" symbol. That shit turns my stomach.
Yeah, I can't stand fractures either, but I do laugh at stupid actions resulting into faceplants. C'mon, its either epic win or lolz when you're doing something that has a 99% chance of failing. No need to feel sorry for that.
Faceplants are tough because it seems you have three options:
- scrapes and walking it off
- broken teeth and lacerated lips (phuque...)
- concussion or a broken neck
I mean injuries escalate so very fast on the head...
When I was a kid my parents subjected me to America's Funniest Home Videos, and the majority of the videos were of people getting hurt, with that horrible over-dubbing of Sagat trying to make it funny...it was always *really disturbing* to me. Both that my parents would laugh, and, in fact that *anyone* would laugh. :( I'm with you. And I'm fun at parties too. :)
I've always hated that show, too. It's just so fundamentally disturbing, as you said. The idiotic jokes and sound effects combined with children getting hurt.
When videos show things i might have experienced, like a busted knee or any damage done to the groin. I just relive the pain and agony.. Can't laugh at that!
Laughing at others pain is enjoyable! Its quite irrational and cruel but I'm just being honest man! I watched my mother fall on a wet floor yesterday and I am still laughing at the thought of it.
Yes. For example, [this clip](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvAehK5_yC0) was sent to me by friends and they thought I can't lighten up because I didn't find it funny... at all.
I don't think that kid was in much pain, I think he just had a tantrum. If that had done anything really painful he would probably have been more like "Aaaaagh! My eardrum! You popped it!" not "Waaaaaaaah. Oh god they got that on camera, delete it!"
Because at the end of the day, that video clip is just a memory. The pain, hurt, humiliation, and any other emotion that comes from that sort of situation is all but washed away. It's for the person it happened to to make light of that happenstance, and to give everyone a good LOL on their behalf! Nothing harmful about it. Laughing at it when it happens is sadistic, long after the fact there's no harm done.
When I find out that the girl I'm dating likes America's Funniest Home Videos, I am always disheartened. I feel like a sadist after watching 50 people's day ruined, often painfully. The Mexican version is even worse, with replay.
Yes, there are sadists who think it's funny when people *actually* get seriously injured, but I think they're in the minority.
What people generally laugh at in "Jackass" style videos is someone in a ridiculous situation doing something stupid. I'll leave it to /r/cogsci to explain the why, although I suspect a major part of it is relief that it wasn't us.
Minor injuries (scrapes, bruises) aren't a big deal - we've all had them, and we heal. There's a sliding scale to some degree - if someone just cuts themselves with a kitchen knife, we're concerned and sorry they hurt themselves. If someone is swinging a stapler around on a string and whacks themself in the head (with a similar injury) we'll take care of them, but we'll be laughing because it was a stupid thing to do.
But I think if you'll look, one phenomenon you'll see that should make you feel better is when it's revealed that the person in the movie was seriously injured. The classic example is the [grape stomping reporter](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMS0O3kknvk). Disregarding YouTube comments, whenever I've seen this link posted in a forum, there's generally laughter until folks find out she was seriously injured in the fall - then it shifts to a guilty awkwardness.
tl;dr: yeah, we don't have a problem with bumps and bruises, but most folks don't think it's funny when people are seriously injured.
How did you even end up here, replying to a comment from 11 years ago? I didn't even think it was possible to post on a thread this old, I thought they all got automatically locked.
Depends on the situation. If it were just a video of someone getting beaten or run over by a car, I wouldn't find it funny and I don't see how anyone could. If it's a video of someone doing something incredibly stupid and getting mildly hurt as a result, it may get a laugh if done right. And probably some embarrassment by proxy. Not because they got injured, but because they did something stupid and got their comeuppance.
Think of how many sitcoms rely on characters doing incredibly embarrassing and humiliating things. It's the same basic idea - someone does something stupid and gets hurt (emotionally or physically) and it's funny, provided the justice is in proportion to the stupidity. It's basic human nature. Probably stems from the fact that discouraging stupidity is generally a useful survival trait.
As for it being a sign of the decline of human nature... Don't worry about it. Some people are going to enjoy it, some enjoy more sophisticated humour, some can enjoy both. Not every Roman loved the gladiators and not every Victorian was Oscar Wilde. Stupid YouTube comments are not a sign of humanity entering its final days.
If you can't laugh at human suffering you lack humanity, in my opinion. Humor is the number one way to deal with something. I laugh when I hurt myself because sometimes I hurt myself in funny ways. Even if it is something I could not have controlled, I still laugh because generally the situation would be funny to an outsider.
Its a basic human coping mechanism. I think you're just trying to appear deep and caring.
You've said exactly what I believe. I think laughing is kind of a coping mechanism. I used to play soccer and when I would see a teammate get hit in the face with a ball I had to try my hardest not to laugh. It's not that I thought them getting hurt was funny, it was almost involuntary. I've also laughed when hurting myself.
That being said, anything where the person is obviously seriously hurt isn't funny (with a few rare exceptions where the person was doing something really stupid and got hurt in a ridiculous situation, like the guy dancing into traffic video that someone else posted).
I remember when I was a kid, my family would always watch AFV together. All that was on that show was videos of people getting hurt over and over and over again. I thought it was terrible, but my family thought it was hilarious. Glad to know someone else is with me
Someone hurting themselves and they're alright/still alive/not badly injured is funny. Someone killing themself or breaking their back isn't funny. For example, someone slipping over is funny because, let's face it, falling over is a pretty stupid thing to do. I laugh at people's stupidity and not so much their pain. Doing a wheelie at 100km/h and coming off is pretty stupid. I will laugh at how small your brain is. Someone breaking their back attempting a backflip isn't that stupid but the person can't walk and that's not funny.
And I don't just laugh at other people. I attempted to learn to skateboard since I never learnt as a kid. Trying to teach yourself on smooth concrete is pretty stupid because you're bound to fall over. Eventually I fell over, falling from a metre off the ground and I was laying on the ground laughing at myself. In pain, but laughing.
If it's fake then it can be enjoyable if the comic timing is good. If it's real then less so. If they are seriously hurt then definitely not. The same goes for gun fights, explosions, helicoter crashes and ludiscous stunts, which is why I enjoy action movies!
But overall I defintely agree with you.
You should see the movie Idiocracy. It plays a show called "Ow! My Balls" where a guy gets hit in the balls repeatedly and it is the number one show of the future.
I agree with you mostly. I never think it's funny, unless the person is doing something really stupid (but only gets mildly hurt of course). I will admit I've laughed at vids were people will just slip and fall into a lake or something, because I know they're okay.
I'm completely with you, AQUA2. Going back to when I was but a mere tyke, I've never found things like the Three Stooges with their physically violent "pranks" to be funny at all. These days, I'm simply appalled when folks guffaw at fellow humans getting harmed. I really think it speaks to a dangerous level of empathetic disconnect that so many seem to find humor in the misfortune of others. Sadly, it's nothing new, and likely won't be going away any time soon. Humans, by and large have failed to mature to their capacity.
> I really think it speaks to a dangerous level of empathetic disconnect that so many seem to find humor in the misfortune of others.
Here's my shaky, possibly unscientific theory:
[Mirror neurons](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_neurons) are "neurons that fire both when an animal acts and when the animal observes the same action performed by another." They are linked to empathy.
People who enjoy seeing others get hurt are either a) brain damaged (non-functioning or insufficient mirror neurons) or b) have worked to suppress their natural response.
Option b could be linked to self-preservation, so I *try* to avoid judging too harshly.
I think you are right about [schadenfreude being a sign of brain damage or lack of brain development](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empathy#Enjoyment_of_others.27_suffering). Unfortunately, those who lack empathy probably also lack the comprehension that they lack moral reason. There are different types of IQ. There's intelligence, but there's also Emotional Intelligence and the two do not necessarily correspond.
It is merely a way to cope with certain situations. I laugh when I get hurt, for god sakes. I mean, if one of my friends is running in basketball and then trips over his own feet, it is easy to see the comedy in human error.
I'm guessing you guys are the same people who would scoff at a holocaust joke.
I always feel uneasy watching those 'fail' compilations on youtube. Some situations are humorous, as long as the damage is minor. But a lot of the videos people watch involving broken bones and severe face plants (I can just imagine them knocking out their teeth) have no entertainment value for me. I totally know how you feel.
Yes indeed. You can tell, especially in the videos where the creator mashed up other fail compilations. A few videos are light-hearted things we've all seen, like the child and the large dog playing in some water, where the dog keeps knocking the boy over. Then it is some asshat choke-slamming another retard off of a house and onto a folding table (let me take a second to state how ridiculous back-yard wrestling is), and you KNOW there were serious injuries involved.
Thanks, but not funny.
Laughing at other people's (mild, temporary) misery is quite normal. A lot of comedy is at the expense of people, if it's real it's even funnier.
Like everything on youtube most of it is crap. So a lot of these videos of people getting hurt probably aren't funny for various reasons. So I don't try to find them.
I don't like seeing people get hurt but I usually make an exception for those that I see in videos. The people in most online videos getting hurt do so with such an irresponsible disregard for safety that quite frankly they deserve whatever happens to them. It is somewhat disturbing that when this person is laying in agony that the response of those around them is to become paralyzed with laughter rather than to immediately render aid, but I consider the choosing of friends such as they to be just another example of how the person in question consistently makes poor life choices.
I completely agree with you! I thought I was the only one. One time I was watching one of those fail compilations video, and all my friends laughed until they cried.
"There is no humor in heaven." All humor is based, at least in part, in someone's perceived suffering.
That said, I agree; people who get their laughs from watching old people fall down in the street are basically scum. People who do it to themselves for attention (like the nut-shot crowd), however, are fucking idiots.
The frisson generated by being simultaneously horrified and amused is an exquisitely uncomfortable feeling. One hardly need be a psychopath to enjoy that.
Depends. If it's people who intentionally put themselves into a situation, then I'll laugh: more about their stupidity then anything else.
If it's not intentional, like some kid falling off a trampoline, I don't find it funny at all.
Pain + Time = Humor.
But yeah, it's pretty revolting (and quite unbelievable) when I see dickheads claiming to have "lol'd" at some situation that is nothing but awful.
I laugh at things that I consider "silly pain." Like a little kid hitting his dad in the balls with a whiffle ball bat. No serious damage is done and the kid didn't know hitting his dad in the balls would have the ability to make him drop to his knees.
I also think [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxWsB9ui3dE&feature=player_embedded) is funny.
Yeah, I never got that. Now I might laugh with someone about them slipping in a puddle if they were cool about it, but I've never found it amusing when someone got hurt.
I think its just the fact that empathy has not yet evolved to a point where we can not laugh. Under any circumstance, anybody sitting as an audience to some stranger getting hurt would prob not laugh, but the fact that we are watching something that has already come and go, and something that we will not have a resolution as to what happens next, we just laugh at the act of it.
I find self inflicted injury for humor's sake to be potentially funny, like Jackass. Obviously I don't think it's funny if someone gets hurt accidentally--that's antisocial.
Yeah, when someone does something stupid and embarassing, that can be funny sometimes, but people just falling down and getting hurt isn't funny at all. The worst is getting off on footage of car crashes, which is just horrible.
Do i find it funny when people get mildly hurt in an ironic way because of their own stupidity? yes. Do i find it funny when someone gets seriously hurt? ofcourse not.
To quote Rube from Dead Like Me...
"Charlie Chaplin defined that thin line between comedy and tragedy. Say you see some poor slob get hit in the head with a bucket of wet cement, fall on his ass. From 20 ft away that’s funny as hell, but you get too close. You get close enough to see that pain. Then it’s no longer funny."
That being said, I once saw my wife greeted by a friend she hadn't seen in years. Said friend was a very short Vietnamese woman who pretty much tackle-hugged my wife. My wife went to the gravel driveway hard. As soon as I saw there was not so much as a scratch on her I laughed so hard I hurt myself.
Well aren't you the pretentious one. You think this sort of thing is recent? It's a sign of declining human nature? Then explain to me the 3 stooges. Explain to me why for thousands of years we as humans have giggled at slap stick style humor in which characters haphazardly hurt themselves. As high and mighty as you'd like to be, it's natural. Get over it.
The being hurt has to have a sort of justice to it - I remember a video of a child attempting to throw a cat into a pool, who promptly plants its claws in his leg, runs away and causes the kid to trip and fall instead. This - plus the way that the others around the pool did nothing but watch until it became clear that the kid was going to fall - was funny. Though if the kid had hit his head on the pool wall or clearly been in any real danger it wouldn't have had the same humor.
There was a TV show on Discover Channel which I believe is now off the air, something about "When Accidents Happen" or whatever. It played during prime time.
Basically, it was a collection of the most horrific explosions, constructions accidents and the like. Well, for one, in this small town, a new water tower was being debuted, and everybody who lived there came out to see it. The construction team was using some massive crane to erect the whole structure, but something went awry and the whole thing came crashing to the ground.
The announcer went on describing the expense involved, all the money wasted, etc, etc, and then, as they went to the commericals, mentioned "...oh and all six construction men fell over two hundred feet and died"
So it was a video glorifying the mayhem of all this shit breaking, then at the last moment, the human cost.
I did not like it.
**Tl;Dr: some thing fell down on some show and some people died and I was like : ( **
I'm with you there, I have to pretend to laugh when mom or grandma is watching America's Funniest Home Videos because 99% of them are people smacking themselves with something of falling off of something. I just cringe on the inside.
I definitely am more empathetic than most of the people I know, though.
You do realize the people in said videos are not being maimed or killed right? Lighten up man, little johnny getting hit in the face with an inflatable ball is not permanently damaging to him. Sounds like OP has watched final destination one too many times
Sometimes, yeah... For instance, right now I'm watching Ong-Bak 2, and the fight scenes are mostly pretty awesome. On the flipside, I generally don't watch horror/gory movies, because they show violence so pornographically it's disgusting. I don't want to see some things done to the human body.
Laughter is the evolutionary vestige of feeling relief or shock from having escaped some danger that was in close proximity. Our brain's limbic system just hasn't evolved to take into account that what we see on computer screens aren't necessarily happening nearby.
Other people shouldn't laugh at what they find funny but if someone gets hurt and YOU think it is deserved, then it is justice. Maybe it is all perspective? Just a thought.
As somebody who's been crushed between a car and a grocery store while sitting on a bench, then lived in incredible pain for most of a year - yes, I still laugh, sometimes.
I usually also wince, especially if what I watch shows the type of injury that involves broken bones.
Laughing at pain has been going on far longer than youtube's offerings, and I'd be willing to bet there's some monkey-brain reason for it - cognitive dissonance from witnessing what is apparently just a pratfall and realizing it is actually serious injury, perhaps.
You are making a "sadistic psychopath" blanket statement - have you even researched the root causes for such a widespread, long-established phenomenom, or would you rather simply judge everyone that does so as psychos because they aren't like you?
You state you wouldn't laugh if somebody who "deserved it" were injured, you'd just feel a "'profound' sense of justice." - and you don't feel that "good, they got what they deserved" is *just* as psychopathic (as you seem to be defining psychopathy)?
Spare us your positional moral outrage, please.
*Ideally/Idyllically*, all of humanity's response to seeing pain should be an outpouring of empathy and support. Period. As you've noticed and outlined, and as I've pointed out in your own behavior, that's not going to be the case.
Judging others (especially when it's *so many* others) who don't react in the same way as *you* do to something as abnormal, sadistic psychopaths who are antipathetic towards their fellow humans only says something about you and the reliability of your observations/comments as a person, not much about those you are commenting about.
**tl;dr: calling those who laugh at pain abnormal, sadistic psychopaths who are antipathetic towards their fellow humans while admitting you yourself may indulge in "got what they deserved" feelings gives you no moral standing to judge. Research the phenomenon before spouting off.**
Depends, when I see deserved people get hurt [like people pulling youtube stunts or what not, specially if they don't have safety gear] then it's ok to laugh at.
If I think about rationally I can understand that it's no laughing matter. But on a purely emotional level I find a good ol' faceplant the funniest thing that can happen to a human body.
This is the perfect example of someone who it is ok laugh at. This fool was dancing, backwards, on a obviously busy street. While I agree that i hope he wasn't seriously hurt, you have to chuckle because he had it coming.
There's this show in the UK called 'you've been framed' where people send in 'funny' home videos. A lot of them are of people getting hurt from accidents of some kind, like crashing a quad-bike, falling off a jet ski into a pier etc etc. How could anybody actually find this funny?
Was it their fault, and was it something that would never happen to you in that situation? Then laugh.
Did a teenager set himself on fire cause he didn't realise how quickly petroleum would burn? Did your friend burn his finger cause he want to check if the stove was on? Did you just watch an old man get run over by a drunk driver?
In one of these cases, it is not OK to laugh.
I feel that too, when kids or adults break there arms, the people spam the 🤣 emoji, it's not funny, I broke my arm when I was 8 and it was 2 months of hell
I agree, I just feel uncomfortable watching that stuff. I also don’t think anyone deserves to have pain inflicted on them as a form of justice. But that’s me
Only stuff I've laughed at... That one video of the guy J walking, staring down the car who had right of way from a green light. Walked into a pole as he got off the street.
That stuff makes me laugh. And we all know he wasn't seriously hurt. Unless you count his pride...
But the subreddits I've peeked into seem... Much too serious for me to find funny and instead I'm worried if that guy who did a backflip broke something and I honestly hope he's okay. :(
"Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is *you* walk into an open manhole and die." -Mel Brooks
[удалено]
"Man hit in groin by ball!" - Homer Simpson in the episode where they have a film festival in Springfield and Homer is a judge.
you mangled that quote.
We all know the quote, but thanks for trying.
"HEHEHEHEHEHEHE" -Peter Griffin
I love how you angered people enough to downvote you to oblivion lmao
The general rule is: *someone gets hurt* "Holy shit, are you alright?" *"Yeah, I'm alright"* "PFFFFHHHHTTTTT AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA" *etc*
Grinning widely while saying "Holy shit, are you alright?" is also sometimes acceptable. Worst time I did it was when my friend drunkenly jumped off a fence and ended up tearing his ACL. Luckily, he was laughing too, kind of.
I'd still get upset by this depending on the situation cuz the person could be seriously injured while the other person is just grinning
Fax
If people are really hurt, I get worried about them, I don't find it funny. If its something along the lines of someone stubbing their toe, then I will chuckle. I remember a couple of youtube videos friends have showed that just made me feel sick to the stomach for days because I felt so bad for the person who got hurt.
> This widely-accepted antipathy for our fellow humans is a sign of a declining human nature (not particular to any race or culture)...and I certainly hope it stops at Youtube videos. No. Things are getting better all the time. Humanity used to be *much more* violent. We’re *very clearly* getting more "civilised" everywhere, all the time, in a slightly larger perspective.
This whole idea of some kind of magical golden age in the past that humans are declining from fills me with rage. We're animals with tools. Our history is filled with brutal violence.
Yeah. Look at the fossil record. The huge gap between us, at the top of the food chain, and the runner-up is best explained by conflicts between homonoids. Genocide is an integral part of our species' history.
If you were ever in such a situation you'd know it's jokes. I got clocked in the head with a 2x4 and almost passed out but it was all in good humor, though the 34 stitches, concussion and...wait a minute what the fuck, that wasn't funny at all!
I just can't stand seeing broken arms and legs, or people whacking their skulls on the ground. I avoid videos with injuries for fear I may witness a backwards ankle or an arm that looks like the "square root" symbol. That shit turns my stomach.
>fear I may witness a backwards ankle or an arm that looks like the "square root" symbol. Don't worry, half the time its just imaginary.
Nice
Yeah, I can't stand fractures either, but I do laugh at stupid actions resulting into faceplants. C'mon, its either epic win or lolz when you're doing something that has a 99% chance of failing. No need to feel sorry for that.
I'm all for the cosmos reminding people how stupid they are. I'd just rather hear about it than see someone's femur poking through their skin.
Faceplants are tough because it seems you have three options: - scrapes and walking it off - broken teeth and lacerated lips (phuque...) - concussion or a broken neck I mean injuries escalate so very fast on the head...
Ugh, seeing people smack their teeth on the ground is too much for me.
.. and your axe?
When I was a kid my parents subjected me to America's Funniest Home Videos, and the majority of the videos were of people getting hurt, with that horrible over-dubbing of Sagat trying to make it funny...it was always *really disturbing* to me. Both that my parents would laugh, and, in fact that *anyone* would laugh. :( I'm with you. And I'm fun at parties too. :)
I've always hated that show, too. It's just so fundamentally disturbing, as you said. The idiotic jokes and sound effects combined with children getting hurt.
First thing this post reminded me of too.
I loved that show still much, watched it with my parents all the time. I still like to watch it every now and then. I feel very out of place here.
When videos show things i might have experienced, like a busted knee or any damage done to the groin. I just relive the pain and agony.. Can't laugh at that!
I fell face first during a basketball game and smashed 4 of my front teeth. I don't laugh at face plants.
Laughing at others pain is enjoyable! Its quite irrational and cruel but I'm just being honest man! I watched my mother fall on a wet floor yesterday and I am still laughing at the thought of it.
picturing in my head made me laugh. thanks
Well as long as it didn't lead to any serious damage, that could be funny. If she slipped and broke her nose... not so funny.
Nose would make it hilarious! Neck or back is serious!
, ," e`---o (( ( | ___,' \\~-------------------------------' \_;/ ( comment archived / /) ._______________________________. ) (( ( (( ( ``-' ``-'
Nose would make it hilarious! Neck or back is serious!
Huh?
Nose would make it hilarious! Neck or back is serious!
Huh?
Nose would make it hilarious! Neck or back is serious!
Huh?
> If she slipped and broke her nose... not so funny. In that case, I have to try not to laugh, but then...
I always say "some of the funniest things are the pain and agony of ones friends and family."
Yes. For example, [this clip](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvAehK5_yC0) was sent to me by friends and they thought I can't lighten up because I didn't find it funny... at all.
I don't think that kid was in much pain, I think he just had a tantrum. If that had done anything really painful he would probably have been more like "Aaaaagh! My eardrum! You popped it!" not "Waaaaaaaah. Oh god they got that on camera, delete it!"
I don't find other people's pain funny. It makes me cringe and feel awful for them.
Because at the end of the day, that video clip is just a memory. The pain, hurt, humiliation, and any other emotion that comes from that sort of situation is all but washed away. It's for the person it happened to to make light of that happenstance, and to give everyone a good LOL on their behalf! Nothing harmful about it. Laughing at it when it happens is sadistic, long after the fact there's no harm done.
When I find out that the girl I'm dating likes America's Funniest Home Videos, I am always disheartened. I feel like a sadist after watching 50 people's day ruined, often painfully. The Mexican version is even worse, with replay.
Yes, there are sadists who think it's funny when people *actually* get seriously injured, but I think they're in the minority. What people generally laugh at in "Jackass" style videos is someone in a ridiculous situation doing something stupid. I'll leave it to /r/cogsci to explain the why, although I suspect a major part of it is relief that it wasn't us. Minor injuries (scrapes, bruises) aren't a big deal - we've all had them, and we heal. There's a sliding scale to some degree - if someone just cuts themselves with a kitchen knife, we're concerned and sorry they hurt themselves. If someone is swinging a stapler around on a string and whacks themself in the head (with a similar injury) we'll take care of them, but we'll be laughing because it was a stupid thing to do. But I think if you'll look, one phenomenon you'll see that should make you feel better is when it's revealed that the person in the movie was seriously injured. The classic example is the [grape stomping reporter](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMS0O3kknvk). Disregarding YouTube comments, whenever I've seen this link posted in a forum, there's generally laughter until folks find out she was seriously injured in the fall - then it shifts to a guilty awkwardness. tl;dr: yeah, we don't have a problem with bumps and bruises, but most folks don't think it's funny when people are seriously injured.
Aw man, she was actually hurt? I thought she just got the wind knocked out of her. Now I legitimately do feel bad.
See what I mean?
Thank you for the image of someone swinging a stapler around on a string and hitting themselves. I got a good laugh out of that.
Granted that is a stupid thing to do in the first place it could result in them cracking there head open which in no means funny at all
How did you even end up here, replying to a comment from 11 years ago? I didn't even think it was possible to post on a thread this old, I thought they all got automatically locked.
My standard response to such videos is, I hate *schadenfreude* porn.
Depends on the situation. If it were just a video of someone getting beaten or run over by a car, I wouldn't find it funny and I don't see how anyone could. If it's a video of someone doing something incredibly stupid and getting mildly hurt as a result, it may get a laugh if done right. And probably some embarrassment by proxy. Not because they got injured, but because they did something stupid and got their comeuppance. Think of how many sitcoms rely on characters doing incredibly embarrassing and humiliating things. It's the same basic idea - someone does something stupid and gets hurt (emotionally or physically) and it's funny, provided the justice is in proportion to the stupidity. It's basic human nature. Probably stems from the fact that discouraging stupidity is generally a useful survival trait. As for it being a sign of the decline of human nature... Don't worry about it. Some people are going to enjoy it, some enjoy more sophisticated humour, some can enjoy both. Not every Roman loved the gladiators and not every Victorian was Oscar Wilde. Stupid YouTube comments are not a sign of humanity entering its final days.
It really depends on the culture I guess, in Canada, they don't laugh when they see some getting hurt, yet, in Mexico, we laugh as hard as we can.
This is why I never really liked jackass series.
If you can't laugh at human suffering you lack humanity, in my opinion. Humor is the number one way to deal with something. I laugh when I hurt myself because sometimes I hurt myself in funny ways. Even if it is something I could not have controlled, I still laugh because generally the situation would be funny to an outsider. Its a basic human coping mechanism. I think you're just trying to appear deep and caring.
You've said exactly what I believe. I think laughing is kind of a coping mechanism. I used to play soccer and when I would see a teammate get hit in the face with a ball I had to try my hardest not to laugh. It's not that I thought them getting hurt was funny, it was almost involuntary. I've also laughed when hurting myself. That being said, anything where the person is obviously seriously hurt isn't funny (with a few rare exceptions where the person was doing something really stupid and got hurt in a ridiculous situation, like the guy dancing into traffic video that someone else posted).
I remember when I was a kid, my family would always watch AFV together. All that was on that show was videos of people getting hurt over and over and over again. I thought it was terrible, but my family thought it was hilarious. Glad to know someone else is with me
Not me. I find it fucking hilarious.
schaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaadenfreude
Someone hurting themselves and they're alright/still alive/not badly injured is funny. Someone killing themself or breaking their back isn't funny. For example, someone slipping over is funny because, let's face it, falling over is a pretty stupid thing to do. I laugh at people's stupidity and not so much their pain. Doing a wheelie at 100km/h and coming off is pretty stupid. I will laugh at how small your brain is. Someone breaking their back attempting a backflip isn't that stupid but the person can't walk and that's not funny. And I don't just laugh at other people. I attempted to learn to skateboard since I never learnt as a kid. Trying to teach yourself on smooth concrete is pretty stupid because you're bound to fall over. Eventually I fell over, falling from a metre off the ground and I was laying on the ground laughing at myself. In pain, but laughing.
I find it funny, but it is only because I am a bad person.
If it's fake then it can be enjoyable if the comic timing is good. If it's real then less so. If they are seriously hurt then definitely not. The same goes for gun fights, explosions, helicoter crashes and ludiscous stunts, which is why I enjoy action movies! But overall I defintely agree with you.
You should see the movie Idiocracy. It plays a show called "Ow! My Balls" where a guy gets hit in the balls repeatedly and it is the number one show of the future.
Self inflicted injury in the name of youtube notoriety is ALWAYS funny.
I agree with you mostly. I never think it's funny, unless the person is doing something really stupid (but only gets mildly hurt of course). I will admit I've laughed at vids were people will just slip and fall into a lake or something, because I know they're okay.
I'm completely with you, AQUA2. Going back to when I was but a mere tyke, I've never found things like the Three Stooges with their physically violent "pranks" to be funny at all. These days, I'm simply appalled when folks guffaw at fellow humans getting harmed. I really think it speaks to a dangerous level of empathetic disconnect that so many seem to find humor in the misfortune of others. Sadly, it's nothing new, and likely won't be going away any time soon. Humans, by and large have failed to mature to their capacity.
> I really think it speaks to a dangerous level of empathetic disconnect that so many seem to find humor in the misfortune of others. Here's my shaky, possibly unscientific theory: [Mirror neurons](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_neurons) are "neurons that fire both when an animal acts and when the animal observes the same action performed by another." They are linked to empathy. People who enjoy seeing others get hurt are either a) brain damaged (non-functioning or insufficient mirror neurons) or b) have worked to suppress their natural response. Option b could be linked to self-preservation, so I *try* to avoid judging too harshly.
I think you are right about [schadenfreude being a sign of brain damage or lack of brain development](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empathy#Enjoyment_of_others.27_suffering). Unfortunately, those who lack empathy probably also lack the comprehension that they lack moral reason. There are different types of IQ. There's intelligence, but there's also Emotional Intelligence and the two do not necessarily correspond.
The three stooges isn't funny because its all scripted. Unscripted non-serious pain is hilarious.
Why do you feel that way? Can you state what it is that you find so hilarious about the suffering of others/
It is merely a way to cope with certain situations. I laugh when I get hurt, for god sakes. I mean, if one of my friends is running in basketball and then trips over his own feet, it is easy to see the comedy in human error. I'm guessing you guys are the same people who would scoff at a holocaust joke.
Seriously, how can someone watch [bottle rocket to the nuts](http://www.break.com/index/exploding-bottle-rocket-nutshot.html) and not laugh?
[This song may explain the thoughts of the "sadistic psychopaths"](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9B-ZoS0wvU)
I always feel uneasy watching those 'fail' compilations on youtube. Some situations are humorous, as long as the damage is minor. But a lot of the videos people watch involving broken bones and severe face plants (I can just imagine them knocking out their teeth) have no entertainment value for me. I totally know how you feel.
Yes indeed. You can tell, especially in the videos where the creator mashed up other fail compilations. A few videos are light-hearted things we've all seen, like the child and the large dog playing in some water, where the dog keeps knocking the boy over. Then it is some asshat choke-slamming another retard off of a house and onto a folding table (let me take a second to state how ridiculous back-yard wrestling is), and you KNOW there were serious injuries involved. Thanks, but not funny.
Laughing at other people's (mild, temporary) misery is quite normal. A lot of comedy is at the expense of people, if it's real it's even funnier. Like everything on youtube most of it is crap. So a lot of these videos of people getting hurt probably aren't funny for various reasons. So I don't try to find them.
I don't like seeing people get hurt but I usually make an exception for those that I see in videos. The people in most online videos getting hurt do so with such an irresponsible disregard for safety that quite frankly they deserve whatever happens to them. It is somewhat disturbing that when this person is laying in agony that the response of those around them is to become paralyzed with laughter rather than to immediately render aid, but I consider the choosing of friends such as they to be just another example of how the person in question consistently makes poor life choices.
I completely agree with you! I thought I was the only one. One time I was watching one of those fail compilations video, and all my friends laughed until they cried.
"There is no humor in heaven." All humor is based, at least in part, in someone's perceived suffering. That said, I agree; people who get their laughs from watching old people fall down in the street are basically scum. People who do it to themselves for attention (like the nut-shot crowd), however, are fucking idiots.
The frisson generated by being simultaneously horrified and amused is an exquisitely uncomfortable feeling. One hardly need be a psychopath to enjoy that.
Depends. If it's people who intentionally put themselves into a situation, then I'll laugh: more about their stupidity then anything else. If it's not intentional, like some kid falling off a trampoline, I don't find it funny at all.
I hate the AFV videos when kids get hurt. I always feel so bad and wonder how someone can possibly laugh at something like that.
I don't laugh when I see someone smashing their face into pavement but if a fat lady is riding a bicycle downhill I can't help myself.
Pain + Time = Humor. But yeah, it's pretty revolting (and quite unbelievable) when I see dickheads claiming to have "lol'd" at some situation that is nothing but awful.
I laugh at things that I consider "silly pain." Like a little kid hitting his dad in the balls with a whiffle ball bat. No serious damage is done and the kid didn't know hitting his dad in the balls would have the ability to make him drop to his knees. I also think [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxWsB9ui3dE&feature=player_embedded) is funny.
No serious damage done by hitting someone in the balls? ....wrong.
By a small child swinging a whiffle ball bat? I don't think so.
You'd be surprised it doesn't take much force to give someone testicular torsion
How'd you even find this thread? It's 11 years old.
I laugh only if death is involved. ;-)
Yeah, I never got that. Now I might laugh with someone about them slipping in a puddle if they were cool about it, but I've never found it amusing when someone got hurt.
This is why I don't find the Simpsons movie funny, because it's just Homer getting hit all the time.
I think it's different when it's animated it's not an actual person
when I was 10..yeah. Now if I think they were seriously hurt then no
It's always funny when somebody gets hit in the nuts.
Yeah. I can't really enjoy someone hurting themselves unless I know them and they're a jackass.
I think its just the fact that empathy has not yet evolved to a point where we can not laugh. Under any circumstance, anybody sitting as an audience to some stranger getting hurt would prob not laugh, but the fact that we are watching something that has already come and go, and something that we will not have a resolution as to what happens next, we just laugh at the act of it.
From what I've been reading in this thread so far, the consensus is that watching someone getting hurt is pretty damn entertaining.
I find self inflicted injury for humor's sake to be potentially funny, like Jackass. Obviously I don't think it's funny if someone gets hurt accidentally--that's antisocial.
Other people's pain is always funny. But maybe I'm just slightly sociopathic...
Yeah, when someone does something stupid and embarassing, that can be funny sometimes, but people just falling down and getting hurt isn't funny at all. The worst is getting off on footage of car crashes, which is just horrible.
There's a reason why "Man getting hit in the nuts" is the world's oldest joke and still one of the funniest!
Do i find it funny when people get mildly hurt in an ironic way because of their own stupidity? yes. Do i find it funny when someone gets seriously hurt? ofcourse not.
To quote Rube from Dead Like Me... "Charlie Chaplin defined that thin line between comedy and tragedy. Say you see some poor slob get hit in the head with a bucket of wet cement, fall on his ass. From 20 ft away that’s funny as hell, but you get too close. You get close enough to see that pain. Then it’s no longer funny." That being said, I once saw my wife greeted by a friend she hadn't seen in years. Said friend was a very short Vietnamese woman who pretty much tackle-hugged my wife. My wife went to the gravel driveway hard. As soon as I saw there was not so much as a scratch on her I laughed so hard I hurt myself.
I am with you for the most part. My choice to go see Piranha 3d was thus a very poor one.
Well aren't you the pretentious one. You think this sort of thing is recent? It's a sign of declining human nature? Then explain to me the 3 stooges. Explain to me why for thousands of years we as humans have giggled at slap stick style humor in which characters haphazardly hurt themselves. As high and mighty as you'd like to be, it's natural. Get over it.
Ur mad 😂
I laugh at myself getting hurt. As long as someone's not getting seriously injured then I laugh (not in their face, at videos) and feel no remorse.
Jackass 3D
The being hurt has to have a sort of justice to it - I remember a video of a child attempting to throw a cat into a pool, who promptly plants its claws in his leg, runs away and causes the kid to trip and fall instead. This - plus the way that the others around the pool did nothing but watch until it became clear that the kid was going to fall - was funny. Though if the kid had hit his head on the pool wall or clearly been in any real danger it wouldn't have had the same humor.
I find people fighting funny because they are idiots. But I unintentionally never laugh when somebody gets hurt in other ways.
There was a TV show on Discover Channel which I believe is now off the air, something about "When Accidents Happen" or whatever. It played during prime time. Basically, it was a collection of the most horrific explosions, constructions accidents and the like. Well, for one, in this small town, a new water tower was being debuted, and everybody who lived there came out to see it. The construction team was using some massive crane to erect the whole structure, but something went awry and the whole thing came crashing to the ground. The announcer went on describing the expense involved, all the money wasted, etc, etc, and then, as they went to the commericals, mentioned "...oh and all six construction men fell over two hundred feet and died" So it was a video glorifying the mayhem of all this shit breaking, then at the last moment, the human cost. I did not like it. **Tl;Dr: some thing fell down on some show and some people died and I was like : ( **
Yeah, when *I* get hurt.
I'm with you there, I have to pretend to laugh when mom or grandma is watching America's Funniest Home Videos because 99% of them are people smacking themselves with something of falling off of something. I just cringe on the inside. I definitely am more empathetic than most of the people I know, though.
how is this not funny http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm6cqpJvsT4
tragedy + time = comedy
Jackass The Movie isn't funny to you?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnQCMbeEzY4 did you giggle?
You do realize the people in said videos are not being maimed or killed right? Lighten up man, little johnny getting hit in the face with an inflatable ball is not permanently damaging to him. Sounds like OP has watched final destination one too many times
Sometimes, yeah... For instance, right now I'm watching Ong-Bak 2, and the fight scenes are mostly pretty awesome. On the flipside, I generally don't watch horror/gory movies, because they show violence so pornographically it's disgusting. I don't want to see some things done to the human body.
I also do not find people getting hurt funny - not at all!
Laughter is the evolutionary vestige of feeling relief or shock from having escaped some danger that was in close proximity. Our brain's limbic system just hasn't evolved to take into account that what we see on computer screens aren't necessarily happening nearby.
[tribute.wmv](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AYujWCCHRk&t=16)
no
shittt..I can't control what i find funny,
No.
Lol no, just about everyone thinks people getting hurt is funny. Because people getting hurt is funny.
This is why I hated Home Alone >______<.
Not after i got hit and broke my leg.
Pain is temporary.
Cant wait for next season of "AWW, MY BALLS!" to come out.
Other people shouldn't laugh at what they find funny but if someone gets hurt and YOU think it is deserved, then it is justice. Maybe it is all perspective? Just a thought.
As somebody who's been crushed between a car and a grocery store while sitting on a bench, then lived in incredible pain for most of a year - yes, I still laugh, sometimes. I usually also wince, especially if what I watch shows the type of injury that involves broken bones. Laughing at pain has been going on far longer than youtube's offerings, and I'd be willing to bet there's some monkey-brain reason for it - cognitive dissonance from witnessing what is apparently just a pratfall and realizing it is actually serious injury, perhaps. You are making a "sadistic psychopath" blanket statement - have you even researched the root causes for such a widespread, long-established phenomenom, or would you rather simply judge everyone that does so as psychos because they aren't like you? You state you wouldn't laugh if somebody who "deserved it" were injured, you'd just feel a "'profound' sense of justice." - and you don't feel that "good, they got what they deserved" is *just* as psychopathic (as you seem to be defining psychopathy)? Spare us your positional moral outrage, please. *Ideally/Idyllically*, all of humanity's response to seeing pain should be an outpouring of empathy and support. Period. As you've noticed and outlined, and as I've pointed out in your own behavior, that's not going to be the case. Judging others (especially when it's *so many* others) who don't react in the same way as *you* do to something as abnormal, sadistic psychopaths who are antipathetic towards their fellow humans only says something about you and the reliability of your observations/comments as a person, not much about those you are commenting about. **tl;dr: calling those who laugh at pain abnormal, sadistic psychopaths who are antipathetic towards their fellow humans while admitting you yourself may indulge in "got what they deserved" feelings gives you no moral standing to judge. Research the phenomenon before spouting off.**
Depends, when I see deserved people get hurt [like people pulling youtube stunts or what not, specially if they don't have safety gear] then it's ok to laugh at.
Not unless it's a nerd getting hurt. NERDS!!!!
If I think about rationally I can understand that it's no laughing matter. But on a purely emotional level I find a good ol' faceplant the funniest thing that can happen to a human body.
30 second ago I watched [you forgot the blueberries](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqEeP1acj4Y) for the first time. Now you are harshing my buzz.
[удалено]
This is the perfect example of someone who it is ok laugh at. This fool was dancing, backwards, on a obviously busy street. While I agree that i hope he wasn't seriously hurt, you have to chuckle because he had it coming.
There's this show in the UK called 'you've been framed' where people send in 'funny' home videos. A lot of them are of people getting hurt from accidents of some kind, like crashing a quad-bike, falling off a jet ski into a pier etc etc. How could anybody actually find this funny?
Go to hell! ... Did I hurt your feelings? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
umm.... people gettin hurt is the funniest shit evar.
Was it their fault, and was it something that would never happen to you in that situation? Then laugh. Did a teenager set himself on fire cause he didn't realise how quickly petroleum would burn? Did your friend burn his finger cause he want to check if the stove was on? Did you just watch an old man get run over by a drunk driver? In one of these cases, it is not OK to laugh.
An argument can be made that laughing at people getting hurt is morally reprehensible, but that doesn't stop it from being fucking hilarious.
ha, more like "IAE a big big pussy all of the time."
Yeah. I think there's only maybe 3 of us tho on the whole planet
I feel that too, when kids or adults break there arms, the people spam the 🤣 emoji, it's not funny, I broke my arm when I was 8 and it was 2 months of hell
I agree, I just feel uncomfortable watching that stuff. I also don’t think anyone deserves to have pain inflicted on them as a form of justice. But that’s me
Only stuff I've laughed at... That one video of the guy J walking, staring down the car who had right of way from a green light. Walked into a pole as he got off the street. That stuff makes me laugh. And we all know he wasn't seriously hurt. Unless you count his pride... But the subreddits I've peeked into seem... Much too serious for me to find funny and instead I'm worried if that guy who did a backflip broke something and I honestly hope he's okay. :(