Saturday, May 30, 2020

Schadenfreude: CNN's Fredo Cuomo loses half his viewers

Schadenfreude is a complex emotion, where rather than feeling sympathy towards someone's misfortune, schadenfreude evokes joyful feelings that take pleasure from watching someone fail. 
Monica Showalter  . . . Fredo's real problem is his behavior in general.
"First, he says he hates is job, which isn't the brightest way to attract a network audience. Seriously, would you want to watch a guy who hates his gold-plated job and quite probably you? Audiences pick up on these things and get the heck over to some rival program.
"Second, he got into public altercations with strangers, probably the stupidest thing anyone with a high profile job in New York City can do, given the ubiquity of cell phone cameras. Sure enough, when some provocateur called Cuomo a 'Fredo' he got into a public altercation captured on video and afterwards said he wished he could get into such dust-ups with strangers more freely. Incidents this stupid can only raise questions as to why he got his job at all at CNN. Seems there really is a 'Fredo' factor, suggesting that he was only hired because he was a powerful politician's relative.
"As if that wouldn't be enough to drive viewership away, he caught the coronavirus. But instead of isolating and recovering with dignity, he once again managed to pull off the opposite. He refused to wear his mask as the law dictated, which was example enough of an immature soul. Then, when a stranger on a bike asked him to put on his mask, per regulations, he got into yet another public altercation with a stranger.
"This guy isn't stable. And he's nor ready for prime time. No wonder his audience is fleeing."
Who was ‘Fredo’?  . . . “Fredo” as an insult is even related to the word “ciuccio,” which Falco said can mean “donkey” in Italian but also used to describe an incompetent family member in need of constant help.

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