Schadenfreude

It is said that some words are not translatable into English.

This is not true: if the concept is useful, the word will be in English, just wait.

This is one of the things I love about English.

Schadenfreude is now an English word (from the German  harm-joy).  It was once defined by Denis Norton, CBE on the BBC radio show My Word! as "That agreeable sensation one feels on watching someone spring on to a bicycle, only to discover the saddle [seat] is missing."

That is amusement at the expense of the pain of others.

Earlier, a major if unappreciated American sage and blogger wrote an article entitled,  Rare, surprising, interesting, and depressing event, about the This American Life 'article', Do Ask, Do Tell., of the show, The Incredible Rarity of Changing Your Mind.

He complained, there it was reported that a valid study that showed "changes in opinion came about not through 'reasoned' arguments, but by appeals to emotional connection ...", providing an uplifting story "in a 'Here we can see the importance of actual humans interacting'..." way.

This was depressing to the author because of what he perceived as the arational "limitations of most [people's] decision making" which he found "both alienating and depressing".

I would like to point out, because the data was reported was published in a peer reviewed, respectable journal (Science), and was reported to have been reproduced, the author said he would have to accept and deal with results -- you should not cherry pick science.

Oh, but he should have had faith.

The research article and the radio broadcast have both been retracted (see in Retraction Watch and (This American Life Retracts Story Based on Falsified Gay Marriage Study).

It seems that the surveys cannot be found to be 'missing', that the research unreporducilble by others, and that party conducting the research Michael LaCour, a graduate student at UCLA) fooled his advisor Donald Green, of Columbia.In fairness to Mr. LaCour, he states that he "will supply a definitive response on or before May 29, 2015."

(By the way, given recent research -- which I know is risky to quote -- the retraction will only make more people believe the underlying story....)

This pleases that author as:

1. It does show, in 'a mills of the gods gind slow, but exceeding fine'* sort of way,
   that science does work.
2. It gives some (small) hope that rational argument might be at least as
   valuable as emotional suasion in getting people to perform the correct action.
3. His disdain of this American Life may not be unjustified (which is unfair, but he doesn't care, he still finds Ira Glass' voice grating).

__________
* Earliest known source is in Adversus Mathematicos (Against the Mathematicians) by the Ancient Greek sceptic philosopher, Sextus Empiricus.  See also Retribution, by Longfellow.