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It seems to be growing more and more common, folks getting their jollies off ruining others' days. I can't fathom why. Nothing I can think of provides adequate reason why someone would willingly hurt another. Even as detached and mentally fucked up as I am, I still can't understand it. Surely somebody wouldn't like the tables turned on them, with themselves as the victims of whatever action they commit? So why? I know this is a childish thing to ask, but it just saddens me. And it's becoming harder and harder to avoid.

I just want people to stop hurting each other. I'm tired.

Do you know what schadenfreude is? One could argue that sadism is such an idea cranked up to noncomedic levels.

…Also, some people enjoy having pain inflicted on them (their reaction fuelling the inflicter), hence sadomasochism.

Try asking this guy.

I think you have to be born with it but I'm not sure.

The way i see it, fetishes are like phobias. It only makes sense to the people who have them, you'll never really understand it, so the best thing to do is just accept it and move on.

The internet. Remove the consequences of hurting someone directly and dehumanize them by putting them behind a screen and you have a recipe for disaster.

because its legal

I get a pleasant sense of satisfaction from it, honestly…
even more so when the recipient has done something to deserve it.

From some brief reading: sadistic personality disorder like many other personality disorders are, as far as modern psychology is concerned, derived mostly from problems experienced during childhood and the preteen years. So there's not meant to be an easily surmised appeal: being a disorder puts it out of reach of any plainly generalized rational explanation.

Sadism in regards to sex is much the same, and anyone trying to tell you that a person can neatly keep any sadistic tendencies in the bedroom without any impact on their life in general is probably lying to you. There's no harm in trying if you're a mild sadist, though. Masochists for one certainly enjoy having you around.

Sadism is a bit of a broad topic – it can have many different reasons for existing as well as its manifestations. Off the top of my head i'd say it can stem from dehumanising others, becoming disillusioned with society or simply by following the logic that if someone feels unhappy, everyone else should too.

Disorders sound like a good starting point for sadism, although the way one is raised can play a larger role in the development of sadistic tendencies.

My personal thoughts are that the sadists were always here, its becoming more acceptable to be one though in recent years.
Personally i find the reasoning behind it to be just another symptom of moral decay that for a large part has been caused by the elimination of religion in the average westerners life.

" Even as detached and mentally fucked up as I am,"
Youre not fucked up bro, you just seem lonely like most of us here.
Sorry its just my pet peeve when people call themselves disturbed, detached. etc.

You need to distinguish between actual sadism, which is a sexual fetish where consenting participates dominate and humiliate each other for arousal purposes and shadenfreude, where people experience humor or delight from seeing others' misfortune.

Actual sadism is heavily tied to the domination/humiliation fetishes that make up a large part of many other fetishes (petrifaction, watersports, bondage, vore, etc.). You could almost say it's refined domination/humiliation with none of the bells and whistles other fetishes add to it. It's also one of the very few fetishes that can actually be enacted IRL.

To wonder why it's popular is to wonder why domination/humiliation itself is popular. It's a difficult thing to answer since it lies at the base of so many fetishes. I would say the easiest answer is the relative versatility of both. You can get arousal from either the victim or the perpetrator. You can cause the two to flip roles and wring out a little poetic justice with little effort. You can play up or tone down the severity of things depending on the scenario.

It's not a perfect answer to the question, but it's at least something.

As to shadenfreude, it usually comes in one of two flavors: the arrogant and the stupid. When someone does something stupid (ride a skateboard down a hill and over a ramp), you enjoy seeing their stupidity rewarded with its natural conclusion. Likewise, when some acts arrogant (my team will win and your's sucks!), it's equally enjoyable seeing their arrogance rewarded with failure.

This is why real tragedies like train crashes almost never invoke shadenfreude--there's usually very little stupidity or arrogance on display and if there is, it's quickly overwhelmed by the fact that that stupidity or arrogance likely got someone innocent killed and the shadenfreude is quickly replaced with anger.

I just want people to stop hurting each other.

Actual sadism is (in the vast majority of instances) practiced by consenting parties--usually the one on the receiving end is aroused by being on the receiving end. Shadenfreude, meanwhile, is entirely passive. You watch the event happen but you have no control over it's outcome (like a Youtube video or news article).

Let me introduce you to some friends who can explain sadism.

Or you could read the works of the Marquis de Sade, who Sadism is named after. His works make the seediest side of Deviantart look like Children's lit.