Last month I saw something I would never forget. My brother was on the driveway when he accidentally slipped and fell on a patch of ice. Thankfully he wasn’t hurt. But even still watching him fall like that, seeing the misfortune of my own brother. It was just so…..hilarious! I couldn’t stop laughing. The look on his face,the way he flailed his arms around , oh man, comedy gold.
You see what I experienced is something called “Schadenfreude”, meaning shameful joy, is A German term used to describe the pleasure we get from watching others fail. And not just me, as us news on March 1,2017 explains, “Schadenfreude” is a act or feeling we all have, yet very few understand. So today we’ll first take a step into the background of then slide through some applications before finally slipping and falling into some implications of what sociologist Jeremy Lin dubs our socially clandestine human pleasure.
“Schadenfreude” is the topic and title of a song on the hit broadway show “Avenue Q” where characters sing about how much the love watching other fail, but really, jokes on them because they chose theater as a career
“Schadenfreude” is found in more than just plays, as the guardian puts it in 2017 “Schadenfreude” is everywhere from fail compilations, to America’s funniest home videos and even the classic slapstick comedies of the past. “Schadenfreude” Has a rich history in entertainment. It even goes back to Shakespeare’s comedies and clearly,
“Schadenfreude” is one of the oldest and most common tools for humor that have. The reason it’s so popular is because it comes so naturally. According to Psychology Today on March 27,2017 it all comes down to identity and self esteem, something we all have. When we watch someone else fail our Psyche receives a little boost knowing that we’re better off than they are. This is why we love to watch rivals loose or celebrities fall from greats. We’re not always laughing, but somewhere inside we feel good. In a society full of competition and comparison, it’s just natural for us to enjoy seeing others fail, because it means we’re doing better.
After all, we should all be familiar with competition. In fact, I feel like I’m surrounded by competition on a weekly basis. Because competition is everywhere, so is “Schadenfreude”
There are two major applications. Businesses and politics. First, businesses can use our “Schadenfreude” against their competition. As explained by tech farms on November 7, 2017, Samsung recently made a commercial that makes fun of apple. The commercial shows a loyal Apple customer, who keeps on buying new iPhones but each time he buys them they end up breaking, leading him to buy new phones that end up breaking as well. It’s funny to watch this guy fail over and over and eventually, apple and their customers become a joke, a source of “Schadenfreude”, and in order to avoid that same humiliation viewers now prefer Samsung, a company that isn’t the but of a joke. In the business world, companies like Samsung can manipulate our “Schadenfreude” to bear their competition.
however, perhaps a far more dangerous application of this feeling is in the world of politics. According to the American psychological Association, people love to watch the opposing party fail, and although this topic is beaten to death, there is no better example than the 2016 election. Somehow, Trump supporters as well as opponents like to watch him run for president. It was entertaining! For many, seeing him make ridiculous comment after ridiculous comment was just as fun as watching a fail compilation on YouTube. And while it brought laughs, it also brought an unforeseen consequence, and that was the news media, registering this feeling as interest. As a result they made Donald Trump the center of everything. People liked to watch, so they provided. According to a 2016 Harvard media study, Donald Trump received over 56% of all news coverage during his campaign. He became popular entertainment and it helped him win. In The world of politics “Schadenfreude” can have a deceivingly large influence on the outcome. So really it wasn’t the Russian hackers that made the election, it was the German psychologist.
Clearly “Schadenfreude” isn’t going anywhere, however its mediums are expanding. a rise in the Internet Also means a rise in “Schadenfreude”, and this has 2 major implications. First, it’s changing our morals. Second it’s fueling our sense of justice. According to The Mary Sue on October 30, 2017 there is now a website called Darwin awards.com in which users share their favorite stories of stupid deaths that improve the gene pool. Like the guy kissing a cobra, The guy testing out a noose, or the latest craze, people eating tide pods. Now in real life, it’s hard to joke about that, but on the Internet it’s suddenly completely OK. When you’re alone behind a computer screen, there’s no one to judge you for laughing. The Internet provides a source of guilt free
“Schadenfreude”, and as we expose ourselves to this feeling more and more what we perceive as right and wrong will continue to change.
Yet another application of “Schadenfreude” is fueling our sense of justice. A prime example of this is the recent “me too” movement. As Vox.com explains on January 9th, 2018 over the past few months countless men and women have accused over 250 celebrities, politicians, CEOs, and others of sexual misconduct since April 2017. Over 200 have lost their careers and we don’t feel bad. In fact, we’re gratified seeing these powerful men deserving to suffer. To be clear first and foremost we want to support the victims, but at the same time we want to bring their attackers down. It makes us happy.
“Schadenfreude” is one of the driving forces behind the social justice movement, and as it becomes more and more accessible online, we may be able to harness this feeling as a tool to keep Powers in check. And find progress through pressure.
From politics, too commercials, too funny misspelled tattoos that say “no rgerets”, we like to watch people fail. Today we explored the background, applications, and implications of “Schadenfreude”. Our natural tendency to enjoy seeing the misfortune of others. Clearly “Schadenfreude” is becoming more and more significant in our daily lives. From simply watching your brother fall to driving large political movements, “Schadenfreude” is no joke. So as we step forward into our future let’s do so with the mindset that is well aware of our own guilty pleasures and hopefully we won’t slip on the way.