Laughing or chuckling at the problems of others Featured
Have you ever laughed at someone who was visibly struggling with the challenges of life?
Has your moment of suffering ever been the butt of a joke? How did it make you feel?
We seem to have leaders who laugh or chuckle at their people’s problems, suffering in this country.
Serious leaders don’t laugh or chuckle when their people are in distress and cry out for help. Leaders are expected to feel the distress their people who have serious problems meeting the cost of food, schools, health services, transport and many other necessities of life.
Psychologists have an explanation for this type of behaviour. They call it Katagelasticism – a psychological condition in which a person excessively enjoys laughing at others – from καταγελαστής, katagelastēs, ancient Greek for “mocker”.
Katagelasticists actively seek and establish situations in which they can laugh at others – at the expense of these people. There is a broad variety of things that katagelasticists would do – starting from harmless pranks or word plays to truly embarrassing and even harmful, mean-spirited jokes. They would be of the opinion that laughing at others is part of the daily life and if others do not like being laughed at, they should just fight back.
For the katagelasticists it is fun laughing at others and there is almost nothing that might hinder them from doing so. For them, some people even might provoke getting laughed at – and surely deserve being laughed at.
This is sadistic behaviour. What will such a person stop at? What won’t he do to have a laugh at you?
Is such a person really fit to be a leader of a country?
Fred M’membe
Silayi Village, Kalabo