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Is sadistic joy in the unhappiness of another person ever justified? I don't mean their physical or even mental pain but whether we are ever justified in enjoying the pillaging of someone's happiness, that they live a meaningless and empty life.

Personally, I do not think so, I think it is weak and based in contemptousness and an, often insane, will to punish.

user66697
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Do people taking part in this sadistic joy lead to an improvement in how society functions? If we were a social engineer, trying to design a better-functioning society than the present one, would we want to include more people with a predisposition to such joy, and cultural norms that encourage such joy?

I'd say no. There is a personality type that is more prone to experiencing such joy, a sadistic personality type, and this personality type is in general more detrimental to society than the average person. The joy cannot be aimed only at those who deserve it; the sadist tends to be sadistic towards anyone in their way, or easy targets that they can get away with being sadistic towards. This harms the innocent. So, the social engineer would wish there to be fewer people with this personality type.

So much for the sadistic personality type. What about cultural encouragements towards such joy? For instance, we can think of the "Two Minutes Hate" from 1984, in which authorities gather everyone in a room and encourage them to hate a particular enemy of the state. Again, I'd say this tends to be detrimental, because the attitude so encouraged will spill over into other social interactions, and harm people who do not deserve it.

It also encourages emotion-based decision making, such as in the sentencing of criminals or decisions to go to war. It biases these decisions towards greater cruelty. Society would be better off if such decisions were instead motivated by a rational weighing of costs and benefits, and compassion towards those who would be harmed.

Let me disclaim that if such joy could be experienced only towards those who truly do deserve it, and if such joy could be prevented from biasing decision-making towards greater cruelty, then it would do no harm, and joy is joy, which is good. But in practice such criteria cannot be met, so sadistic joy is detrimental to society.

causative
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    "And so wine is forbidden to everyone." - Rumi - I often think of the scene in "Saving Private Ryan" with the sharpshooter efficiently killing the Germans (to defend the American group in the scene) while firmly quoting the Old Testament about eliminating the people who get in God's way. I don't think he was enjoying that, but man, you do want at least a few folks with that temperament on your side when fighting a war. That's why God created Sociopathic people, because sometimes, you really need them, or else they wouldn't exist. – Scott Rowe Mar 22 '24 at 19:18
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Is sadistic joy in the unhappiness of another person ever justified?

Did the sadistic enjoyer act, in any way, shape or form, to directly or indirectly cause or contribute to said unhappiness?

If not, I guess it's hard to argue that said enjoyment is 'wrong' in any meaningful sense: it would be essentially (a sort of) thought police

ac15
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