It’s never nice to laugh at someone else’s misfortune. We would hate for someone to do that to us, so it’s good practice not to do it ourselves. This is not the way of the internet, though. It seems like at least half of the content we consume is so that we may take delight in the misfortune of others. It’s the legacy of shows like America’s Funniest Home Videos, where we’d tune in every week to watch people slip on ice and fall off roofs. There is something intensely activating about these kinds of videos. Maybe it’s a bad impulse that we should try to heal, or maybe we need outlets for it that ultimately don’t do anyone harm.