Jaded

The current buzz on the internet around BigLaw firms that are nearing bankruptcy seems to have brought out the worst in some people.  Cloaked in anonymity, commentators on law blogs are using increasingly vile language to describe their satisfaction in seeing other people suffer, going so far as to actually encouraging people to "all go kill yourselves".  This is more than just a little Schadenfreude (a guilty pleasure we probably all delight in every now and then), this is disaster tourism and plain old meanness.

Why is it that this kind of commentary comes up most frequently on law fora?  Are lawyers so jaded and frustrated with their existence that their only pleasure is to watch their peers suffer?  What does that tell us about our profession? Or are these comments coming from people who were (sadly) laid off and as a result don't feel welcome in our profession, resorting to spraying their verbal vitriol all over it like a jilted lover?

I cautiously raise these questions with my officemate as we eat salads over our keyboards at lunch. I don't know him very well; for all I know he may be the single most active commentator out there, releasing his many frustrations under ever changing code names.  

"Hmpfh," he shrugs as he swallows a mouthful of designer hummus. "Why do you care? People are people, if someone goes down in flames, they're going to watch with popcorn.  Especially if it's a whole BigLaw firm going down at once, that's not just flames, that's 4th of July fireworks."

"Imagine if that happened at our firm though.  Wouldn't you like a little empathy rather than a bunch of goons standing in a circle around you, rubbing their hands at your misfortune?" I ask in a final attempt to evoke a slither of humanity.

"Nah," he says. "I'd get out as fast as I can and join the circle with the hand rubbers."

I no longer wonder whether my officemate belongs in the "Jaded" category. 

Secretly yours,

The Undercover Writer.