EndGameNYC

Oh, okay. Thanks.

I seriously doubt that people who derive pleasure from hurting other people are happy in the conventional sense of that word. Wherever there is overt sadism, masochism is lurking in the shadows. And vice-versa.

The compulsion to hurt other people, and/or confusing self-harm and harm to other people with pleasure, is typically associated with a virtually shattered ego and a total absence of self-esteem. Thus the compulsion to exert power over vulnerable others in order to feel some semblance of power, or just to feel alive. And not to feel the internal terror with which their lives play out, with the absolute exclusion of anything even resembling joy or happiness. The whole enterprise, the only purpose in their lives, is to avoid ego-annihilation, even (or especially) when that means hurting other people and further degrading themselves. A life of self- and other- degradation can under no circumstances be described as "happy," no matter how much we stretch that word's meaning.

Abusive parents, bullying of any kind, verbal and physical abuse, men who take advantage of women in distress, people who hurt animals...Pick your least favorite.

One way to measure a society is by referring to how it treats the most vulnerable among them. It's probably true that individual character can be measured in the same way, including how we treat our own most vulnerable "parts."