Schadenfreude
That sensation is called “schadenfreude”, a quite useful German term to describe a not very nice attitude. But we see it all the time as people take advantage of and enjoy the misfortunes that fall into another person’s life.
There were some TV ads on a couple of years back for Marshall’s Discount Store that made me crazy. They ran relentlessly during the Christmas Season, and they all focused on the same theme. The ads were little dramas, showing some manufacturer or business owner who, through chance, stupidity or misfortune ended up with stock that could not be sold so Marshall’s had bought it all at a steep discount and was now passing on the savings to lucky you.
Their tagline was:
“Their Misfortune is Your Shopportunity”
The idea was that not only were you getting a super good deal, but someone else had suffered to pay the price for your “shopportunity.” What’s up with that? And what a preposterously consumerist word!
Paying a fair price for fair goods & services makes a fair and just world.
Stephanie Kelley
