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It's clear from the "putting people down" and "name calling" part of that sentence that the criticizing is not meant in a constructive sense. The poster is clearly talking about a situation in which a person feels lifted up, happier by bringing others down. Such a person, in that capacity, is not providing constructive feedback.

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You can argue that they are not providing constructive feedback, but the claim was:

>a person tries to add happiness to their life by taking it away from other people around them

There's an ambiguity in the comment, but reading the comment charitably can dispel the notion that the person claimed any form of criticism is a form of maliciously bringing people down.

Read it however you want, but taken in context I disagree that that's their intended claim. I think that poster meant that malicious criticism is something that can make unhappy people feel a little better about themselves.

There is little ambiguity. The space of happiness was divided into two mutually exclusive groups (subtractive & additive) with the listed qualities.

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