Poetry Sunday: Schadenfreude
Image from AZ Quotes.
The Germans have a concept that is not easily translated into English. In fact, there is no purely English word that connotes a feeling of joy or pleasure at someone else's misfortune. Ironically, it's such a common feeling that it is almost criminal that there is no English word for it.
The word is "Schadenfreude."
Deriving pleasure from another person's pain, or experiencing joy at another person's bad luck, even the more cynical general feeling of happiness that divine Providence has fallen heavily on another person's head is perhaps the most human of feelings. It's human because it shows the weakness of the flesh. How enduringly human it is to know that someone who once was uncivil toward you has now had their comeuppance. It may not be just, but it most certainly is human.
Alexander Pope, one of the most quoted of English poets, wrote "To err is human, to forgive divine." It is very near the opposite of schadenfreude, in which there is no forgiveness. Rather, forgiveness is turned on its head.
Image from BrainyQuote.
One need not be a philosopher to know that forgiveness and schadenfreude are mutually exclusive. One cannot be happy that another has fallen on difficult times if one has forgiven that other. Nevertheless, we all do it. This is my confession.
I've kept it no secret. I was a National Guard officer. My president sent me to Iraq in 2005 for what I thought was a wrongheaded, unnecessary, and unjust quasi-military action. I was bitter. Upon my return, I wrote many poems. "Schadenfreude" is one of them.
To be honest, I can't be sure how this one came out. I believe I must have been reading Arthur Schopenhauer at the time, or maybe I stumbled upon the word and began to contemplate it. Either way, I began to feel unwinsomely joyful when the political tide of public opinion began to turn against the Bush Administration. To this day, I cannot stand the sheepish smirk of Dick Cheney. But the past is the past. Let it die.
I wrote the following poem during the first couple of years of my return. It has not been published other than in my collection of poems "Rumsfeld's Sandbox." I give it to you here, in all its human glory.
From the cover of "Rumsfeld's Sandbox."
Copyright Allen Taylor. All rights reserved.
Schadenfreude
It is the most exhilarating joy . . .
And not devilish at all.
Plagued by this world’s karmic clefts,
Lunging at angst like justice divined,
You claim verboten. Forbidden
By the gentrified elite, the kinder class,
It does define the spirit of the times.
Zeitgeist is ersatz for the common will,
The anima of the masses. Sturm and drang
Spring from sorrow. Forged on the anvil
Of a hurting heart, anticipation scours the soul,
Hammers the mind and kills so pure. Pleasure
From pain is the sweetest medicine,
And before you know what tide has swept you under,
Love and honor, like a disease, go kaput.
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@blockurator,
Or perhaps schadenfreude is exactly that ... "Just."
It's a concept not unrelated to "karma" and "getting your just deserts." People have an inbred sense of Fairness ... indeed, it is one of the six Moral Pillars upon which human beings universally construct their sense of right and wrong.
When we see people "get away with things" unpunished, it violates our innate sense of "Natural Justice" ... doing good should be rewarded, while doing bad should be punished.
While I'll happily admit to schadenfreude too, I've only ever felt it towards people I thought "had it coming to them." Never have I felt pleasure in the pain of a stranger or someone undeserving of a "taste of their own medicine."
While the Germans articulated a precise word for the concept, we have many phrases that express the sentiment tangentially.
As you said, it is very human. The question is whether it is wrong. And, I'm not at all certain that I believe that it is. I also feel pleasure when I see a good person rewarded.
Maybe schadenfreude is simply "feeling pleasure in seeing Justice Done."
Edit: BTW ... great poem/article. I got caught up in my meanderings and forgot to mention either. :-)
Quill
Thanks, Quill. I can always count on you for a good and articulate counter argument. I think the very nature of schadenfreude is its neutrality toward the moral order. There's nothing about experiencing joy at the misfortune of another that hints that this misfortune is well-deserved. It could be, or it might not be. It could be just that you stubbed your toe and that delighted me. Poor you, bedeviled me.
Karma is certainly someone getting what they deserved, or at least in a naturally cosmic sense. If there is anything quite like the akashic record, it is very much like an immutable blockchain for the spiritual world. You do something bad, the record records and it and it comes back to you in the next life. Maybe that'll teach you. The Western version of karma is treated sans reincarnation, but I believe its original understanding to be wrapped up in the idea of what you do in this life affects what you are in the next. In that sense, schadenfreude would be an absurd concept.
"Getting their just deserts" or "what comes around goes around" are a bit closer, but, again, with schadenfreude, it doesn't have to be about somebody getting what's coming to them. That certainly is one expression of it. But as I understand it, it's simply joy over another person's misfortunes, and they may not necessarily be deserved. I have known people who do take pleasure in seeing someone else suffer simply because the universe dealt them a bad hand. Maybe that's what Schopenhauer meant by "devilish." If so, he was certainly right!
@blockurator,
In the latter case (let's call it schadenfreude+), unconditional pleasure from pain, there would seem to be a substantial overlap with psychopathic symptoms. I wondered if this has been studied?
Psychopaths brains are actually wired differently. Intellectually, they know what they are doing is wrong, but there is little or no "emotional valence" attached to the knowledge. Normal people are riddled with guilt and shame at even imagining certain kinds of antisocial behavior and this acts as a behavioral brake. We know precisely where in the brain this all takes place (it's actually a three-point network of neurons). It would be interesting to image someone "high in schadenfreude+" to see if there's a match with psychopaths. Perhaps psychopathology is a spectrum and "schadenfreude+" is "psychopath light."
And with that, I conclude my rampant speculation. :-)
Quill
Ha ha! Good comeback. Schadenfreude+. I can see the psychotherapists having fun with that one. Psychopaths and sociopaths are in a different category altogether, in my opinion. Not only would they delight in another's misfortune, but many of them would take delight in creating that misfortune. Is there a word for that concept? There should be.
A timely post... lots of that going around the past couple years. Sometimes I think that's the only point for some people... not that they care about winning, they just love the look on the other team's face when they lose.
Very interesting. I didn't know you did poetry. Well done!
Yep, I've been writing poetry forever. Well, for nearly 30 years. These poems I'm sharing now are older poems, but I still write it on occasion even though I mostly write fiction today. Thanks for reading, and for the compliment.
good stuff, very potent for our times
Thanks. :-)
Great post @blockurator and the counter points provided by @quillfire have really provided a lot of food for thought. A cerebral buffet if you will.
Cool. Glad you liked it!
Schadenfreude?
Damn, I can't even begin to pronounce that without a tablespoon of alum!
RE: Your Poem
Karma is karma.
I feel ya, brother...
Namaste, JaiChai
Ha ha. Thanks. I'll send you a box of alum. ;-)
My German is terrible but you and I share a common target of 'shady or dark gladness'. I have zero qualms over feeling that way. I know that the injured forgives his tormentor for his own progress. The guilty as well, if they ask forgiveness, must take action to repair the harm they caused; do penance to find some growth in themselves, and i believe if they fail to do it sufficiently, they will or should find misfortune. It's the same as feeling 'justice is done' when someone is sentenced by a court.
You wrote a thought-provoking poem. I love that it is short, the message is substantial yet it's conveyed efficiently and is more memorable that way i think.
Thanks, my man. That's quite a thoughtful response. I appreciate it. Yes, I think this one packs a powerful punch with just a few short lines. It's a heavy concept worthy of consideration. I like what you said here:
Is that a religious belief or your personal philosophy? I'm curious because Catholics do believe in penance as a means of correcting wrongs, but I don't think there is any thought of misfortune as a necessary component to making it right. The idea is, if the wrongdoer approaches the confessional with a contrite heart and confesses the sin, they are made right with the penance. No need for misfortune to follow. Protestants do without the penance and just accept that an individual can confess to God in private and all is forgiven. But the misfortune part is left to God, who, in his sovereignty, decides whether misfortune is necessary or not. I think both of these are off-base in some sense. I'm just curious where you get your idea of penance/misfortune.
EDITED: You're absolutely right - misfortune is not called for - penance is about reparation, and restoration of self and others - the relations (human and divine) which sin inevitably severs. Penance is a part of a process of healing . My reading of your verses led me to think this was concerning a very human persona, having felt trust broken, made vulnerable, hurt, injured. In response to that, twe in our frailty and limited understanding, revel in misfortune or bad consequences or plain bad luck befalling those we see as wrongdoers. I can identify with that, and I would admit feeling that way. It is not part of the idea of penance at all. Unlike penance or restoration, wishing ill on others, is harmful in the greater scheme of things. Yet, we still consider punishment a part of justice - don't we...?
I was raised Catholic; and having muslim relatives, I learned how significantly these two faiths overlap, especially in this area of sin and restoration after sin. Your poem really stands out here, and your response underlines just how significant it is. Thank you once again my man!
Woah such a beautifully written poem, keep the work up.
Thanks!
Poem always be my opponent...i never get into its phrases...but good to know you have some pretty bad exp of Iraq. Coming back from warzone and writing so deep meaning poem is itself a great thing....hope you had pretty good experience of Iraq and all ruthless casulaties
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Iraq wasn't too bad. I was just upset I had to be there at all. But it wasn't like trench warfare or anything.
I really love your poetry. Always a pleasure to read your posts!!!
Thanks!