I have a friend (I’ll call him Alan (not his real name) ) who takes special joy in humorous accounts or situations that involve particularly difficult consequences for the butt of the joke, the victim, as it were. Schadenfreude humor is his absolute favorite, and the worse the consequences, the more raucous his laughter and joy. In his mind, it may represent a cosmic balancing of some sort that finds deep approval within him, something richly deserved by someone he dislikes or disagrees with our has a grudge toward. And, their receiving it means that life has seen fit to punish them, as he wished for them. Of course, it is a question whether they will recognize this dubious 'life lesson.' But he doesn't care about that. They got 'hit,' and for the moment, that's enough for him.
Schadenfreude, in my lifetime, has become one of the best known German words in our language. It does rank behind a few, that have been appropriated in their entirety into English. Words like Kindergarten (garden of children) and Volkswagen (car of the folk, or people, people’s car). Many other common words trace to German. We often hear talk of giving someone ‘flak.’ Flak was originally anti-aircraft fire in WW II, but the origin of the word is German, from FLiegerAbwehrKanone (Or anti-aircraft cannon). The Gestapo is well known from that period, it came from GEheime STaatsPOlizei. I have capitalized the letters taken to form the abbreviated words, they are not capitalized normally in German. The first letter of nouns is, but not the subsequent letters, not even subsequent letters of compound words containing two or more nouns.
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There are many other German words in circulation in our language, here, of course. Weltschmerz, for example, is a compound word that describes a great weariness with the world, often a borderline exhaustion with the stresses that can abound. We Democrats have a sense of that. For many of us it was much worse during the Bush years, but its effects today, with the non-stop attacks on rights and justice BY the right leading to greater frustration than many of us hoped for during the administration of a Democratic president.
Although, as a German major, I love the German language and its novel way of accurately describing phenomena that would otherwise take us a number of words, Schadenfreude is not one of my favorite words. I am not immune to it, as when Larry Craig was arrested for lewd acts in a bathroom stall, which illuminated the kind of hypocrisy we so often see from conservatives. Or, when Mitt Romney got caught deriding 47% of our electorate, which backfired on him in the election, in which he wound up with that precise percentage of the vote. Or the many incidents in which conservatives have mistakenly told the truth, forcing their colleagues to remonstrate them and disavow their words, no matter how passionately they agree with them deep down.
A remarkable British social psychologist named Henri Tajfel wrote extensively about in-groups and out-groups and their behavioral dynamics. Very often, according to Tajfel, members of an in-group express their in-group loyalty by demonstrating great hostility toward members of the out-group. Of course, that is not a liberal or a conservative behavior, as it affects us all. Schadenfreude is but one of the clearer examples of it, when we take joy in the misfortune of our adversaries.
There is a German word that I like much better. It speaks more clearly to me, personally. That word is Einfühlungsvermögen. Often translated as ‘empathy, for me the word is much richer than that. I think of it as a capacity for feeling one’s way into the emotional circumstances of another. I think of it as compassionate, with an intention to reach a deeper sympathetic understanding of what is going on with another.
As compassion is, for me, one of the most powerful arguments for (and expressions of!) progressive morality, Einfühlungsvermögen is like an expansion of myself, perhaps a path deeper into sentience, into greater understanding, caring, growth. So many political arguments (from all sides, sadly) tend to view the human as static, unchanging, immutable. I do not see it that way. I see growth, change, evolution. I see it in myself. I see it in others. I see it in political developments. Unlike all other species, as far as I know, we could make conscious choices about the direction our evolution takes. We can choose compassion, fairness, equality. We can choose creativity, creative expression, creative solutions to heretofore intractable problems.
By and large conservatives don’t do that. They seek static social circumstances, unchanging. They seek the perpetuation of poverty, hunger, discrimination/bigotry. They seek relative advantage, selfish advantage, not improved opportunity for all, indeed, never equal or even equitable opportunity. They promote belief in a static species, that cannot learn, cannot change, cannot evolve. They will lose for THAT reason, too, because they cannot change nature itself, which exists on change. They cannot stop it, they cannot veto it, or block it. Policies that seek to do so are doomed. So sorry.
There are things that lead us forward, and things that lead us backward. They like the things that lead us backward, which (though I am as subject to it as anyone) I think Schadenfreude does. I like things that I think lead us forward, into a finer, greater humanity, which I think Einfühlungsvermögen does. They don't like it, they typically don't use it, and they don't want others in our society using it, not us, and certainly not the people they consider 'their' voters.
I find myself turning, as I so often do, to my beloved old tv series, The West Wing.
Right at the beginning of the series (Episode 5) the template for the conflict between Toby and president Bartlet was clearly set, when Toby, in a pickup basketball game with the president and his staff, bemoaned the fact that, all too often, the president seemed to allow his 'demons' victory over his 'better angels,' for political expediency. Quoting Toby (from westwingtranscripts:
TOBY
Oh, this is perfect, you know that? This is a perfect metaphor. After you're gone, and the poets write, 'The Legend of Josiah Bartlet,' let them write you as a tragic figure, sir. Let the poets write that he had the tools of greatness, but the voices of his better angels were shouted down by his obsessive need to win.
It provided a conflict tension throughout the series, of course, but the only time they discussed it so explicitly was in that fifth episode of the first season. It came up again later in the episode, in quieter, more private circumstance, and Bartlet quizzed Toby about it (same source as above):
BARTLET
The other night when we were playing basketball, did you mean what you said? My demons were shouting down the better angels in my brain?
TOBY
Yes, sir. I did.
BARTLET
You think that's what's stopping me from greatness?
TOBY
Yes.
BARTLET
I suppose you're right.
TOBY
Tell you what though, sir. In a battle between a President's demons and his better angels, for the first time in a long while, I think we might just have ourselves a fair fight.
Of course, without getting into a sux/rox debate in Top Comments, very many of us have bemoaned the fact that Obama is not more liberal, not led strongly enough by the wisdom of more progressive morality. Yet, in our ways, each of us may conduct a corresponding internal debate on the issues, on the paths we take as Democrats, an internal dialogue, as it were, between our 'demons' and our 'better angels.'
For me, indulgence in Schadenfreude is tipping to the demons' side, taking a guilty pleasure in another's misfortune, perhaps in a situation where my better angels might find a more enlightened path. Engaging my Einfühlungsvermögen, on the other hand, is honoring my better angels without compromise.
Now, in the 'battle' between Einfühlungsvermögen and Schadenfreude, which one wins? My dear friend, brillig, has one of my all-time favorite Daily Kos siglines (Cherokee, in origin):
But hate wears you down, and does not hurt your enemy. It is like taking poison and wishing your enemy would die.
I like it because it reminds me of the
Cherokee fable, in which a Cherokee elder tells his grandson that two wolves live in each of us, in constant battle.
He said "my son, the battle is between two 'wolves' inside us all. One is evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
The other is good. It is joy, peace love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?..."
The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one that you feed."
So it may be with Schadenfreude and Einfühlungsvermögen, as well. Which to feed?
It is not my place to evaluate comparable internal debates you might experience, nor is it my place to judge. By all means make the political fight as powerfully and passionately as you can! Use the tools available to you to make that fight - what those might be, I will never know (unless you diary them, perhaps!). So that is totally your concern, not mine. But thank you for reading tonight about aspects of that internal dialogue as they appear to me. May our shared passion and commitment bear great fruit this November with Democratic victories across the land!
If nothing else, thanks for reading about Einfühlungsvermögen tonight. Do with it as you will!
On to tonight’s comments! Graciously formatted by brillig!
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From brillig:
d3clark lays out the AZ Republican hypocrisy in Hunter's Arizona Republican vice chair resigns after he suggests sterilizing welfare recipients.
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Some comment flags:
Flagged by Indiana Bob, this comment by JoanMar both has Daniele's back, and takes CNN's Michaela Pereira to task for her shameful blame-the-victim interview.
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Top Mojo for yesterday, September 14th, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary FAQing Top Mojo.
1) The grift that keeps on grifting. by agnostic — 183
2) Oh. My. Gawd! by Deja — 133
3) The couple is inter-racial by ExpatGirl — 116
4) Right, because nothing she says has any meaning by AoT — 115
5) Whoâ„¢? n/t by JeffW — 106
6) Sanders should run, period by Karl Rover — 106
7) And Obama admires and identifies with Reagan. by Words In Action — 102
8) LOL "the Thrilla from Wasilla"! by NYFM — 98
9) So were the cops, after the fact: by nailbender — 88
10) I don't think that the Palins are being judged by psnyder — 75
11) Oh Hai Whoknu! "I Told You, We Don't Need A Cat"!! by leonard145b — 74
12) Nothing's gonna keep #sekritarmy down. by jwinIL14 — 73
13) Yeah I bet it's SOP in cases like this by Lost Left Coaster — 72
14) I may have spoken too soon about Mývatn. by Rei — 71
15) Yeah, right? Stay classy, guys... by Whamadoodle — 70
16) Hillary is stumbling outta the gates, by dclawyer06 — 67
17) Not that this will do any good, but Obama never by SottoVoce — 65
18) IMO, we're not at the stage by rexymeteorite — 64
19) No it's not guilt by association by Tasini — 64
20) Why Would You Go to an Obama Invited Group to by Gooserock — 64
21) I am white, and was brought up Protestant by Youffraita — 62
22) I live less than one mile from Studio City by Shockwave — 62
23) Not only has the NFL been aware of abuse, by JaxDem — 61
24) Two kinds of people in this world... by PhilJD — 60
25) I'm trying to suss out the liberal in that group.. by dclawyer06 — 59
26) I see it differently by hester — 58
27) worth noting by wilderness voice — 58
28) I live in a smallish city by Youffraita — 58
29) This is Good News!! for John McCain!!! by Rashaverak — 58
30) Out of context? by AoT — 57
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