Taking Pleasure at the Suffering of their Fellow Citizens

S. Aman

Marc 23, 2006

Toronto, Canada

I have been ardently following the political development in our country, not because I have any political aspirations but rather looking at it from the prism of seeing Ethiopia flourish and pull herself out from the grinding poverty which has exposed the population into unspeakable magnitude of hardship.  While we, the majority Diasporas thrive on any good news that emanates from home, few but loud minorities thrive on bad news for self-gratification. To gain some understanding, just have a glimpse at some of the websites such Ethiomedia and associates and you will quickly realize that they have dedicated their energy and time to constantly feed us with pessimistic views of what is happening in our country.   These websites have become so predictable that one can foresee it before it is posted certainly it will find its way to their websites.

Political differences are not unique only to Ethiopia and it will not be the last time we see these differences, but it is dumfounding to see fellow Ethiopians engaging in such reckless behaviour without any regard to the people who are directly affected as the attempt to extricate themselves from poverty. If this is not treason of an immense scale, what else could it be?

In this regard it is worth mentioning that during the Iraq sanctions, Iraqis who reside outside their country never campaigned and urged for cutting Development Aid to their country even if they despised the former president of Iraq.

This phenomenon is typical to the few Ethiopian Diasporas who have made a name out of it and no wonder all their noise has fallen on deaf ear. This irrational behaviour is exposing their hallow thinking and it is better for them to cease sooner than later in order to save themselves from  becoming a laughing stock.

I cannot find a rational explanation as to the behaviour of these individuals other than going back to my psychology text and find a term that will best describe them. People who take pleasure at the suffering of their fellow citizens, and thus I found it to be sadism.