The Roots of Schadenfreude: Why We Take Pleasure in Other People's Pain What getting satisfaction from someone's mishaps or failures may say about you. A new book, Schadenfreude: The Joy of Pain: Schadenfreude and the Dark Side of. Jenna wants to know: is it ever okay to take pleasure from other people's misfortune? Implicit Schadenfreude of disaster spectators. The emotion of schadenfreude, which refers to.