There is a certain sense of schadenfreude, or pleasure at the misfortune of others when you hear about people who ruined their own lives and deserved it. Redditor u/rentinghappiness posted on the r/AskReddit subreddit asking that very question, saying, “Do you know (of) someone who ruined their life in just a matter of minutes? If so how did they do it ?”
The answers were vast and varied, from a bank robber who revealed his secret to people injuring themselves permanently due to poor decision-making. There are also those stories from folks who knew people who were simply unlucky or in the wrong place at the wrong time.
As psychologist and neuroscientist Dean Burnett explained in his article for the BBC, the concept of schadenfreude is hardwired into our brains thanks to millions of years of evolution. Humans are deeply social creatures, and as such, we’re always tracking status and hierarchy; when someone of a seemingly higher status stumbles, it can make us feel just a little bit better than them.
As Burnett noted in his article, “Nice, likeable people experiencing misfortune is seldom enjoyable, even if they are higher-status. This all stems from another deeply ingrained tendency of the human brain: the ‘Just World’ bias. Our brains have evolved to assume that the world is a fair place, even if the actual evidence for this doesn’t stack up.”
Below are 20 of the top stories shared on u/rentinghappiness’s Reddit post.
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“Some guy tried to come into my nightclub when he was clearly too drunk. I made the call to not let him in so he starts shouting at me and tries to aggressively walk up to me. I put my hands up in defense and he’s pushing back against me. Then the dude lunged at my boss next to me so my boss shoves him,” u/ExpiredPilot wrote.
“The guy tumbles backwards and slams the back of his head on a curb. Paralyzed from the neck down forever. Tried to take my boss to court for $15 million but the camera showed this guy instigating everything.”
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u/egmalone shared, “Third-hand story from a former co-worker: one of the other Marines at the base where he was stationed in the 90s stole plastic explosives from the test range and tried to sell them at a bar that was literally line of sight from the base. The first person to show any interest was an NCIS officer. That guy might still be in Leavenworth.”
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u/Wheelin-Woody wrote, “He was gonna be the one to put our dinky little private school on the map by going to the NFL as a kicker. He fell off a picnic table that was being pulled behind a pickup truck at a party. (Pasture Surfing) By the time I saw him again a year later he could almost feed himself without assistance.”
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u/GeneralXTL shared a story from their security job: “Security company (this happened before I worked there but some co-workers told me the story) Guy was doing well at his job. Got lots of promotions, on his way to lieutenant but was TOO into his job and got a police scanner that he would listen to. One day just as he was getting off work a high-speed chase went by. He hopped in his personal vehicle with his firearm, got to the front of the chase, blocked the suspect in, and pulled his gun. Suddenly the cops were much more interested in the crazy guy with a gun. Got hit with several felony charges.”
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