SCHADENFREUDE

I am going to begin this post with a confession. I have what the MAGA (Make America Great Again) maniacs call TDS. This stands for “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” Don’t bother looking it up in the DSM-5-TR.  It is not there, though Trump supporters believe it should be classified as a mental disorder. “Psychology Today” contains a rough but hardly a clinical description of TDS, noting that it is:

a notion that the everyday activities of President Trump trigger some people into distorted opinions, extreme emotions and hysterical behaviors.”

Yep! That’s me! Ask my wife Deena if you don’t believe me. Whenever Donald J. Trump comes on television, I get emotional and hysterical. I feel that this coming election is a battle between good and evil, though President Biden is hardly a horse that I’d normally bet my money on. I don’t blame President Biden for forgetting where he is or what day of the week it is. He is only six years older than I, and sometimes I’m confused myself. I keep track of time at this point in my life by when the trash is picked up in our neighborhood. My week begins on Friday when the garbage collectors pull up in front of the house and my week ends on Thursday night when I dutifully drag the cans to the curb again.

Joe Biden though my lens

I see President Biden as a tragic figure, a Greek hero wounded by the untimely death of his son Beau. President Biden knows tragedy. I remember when he was a Senator diagnosed with an aneurysm in his brain, requiring not one but two surgeries. However, I don’t remember that day in December 1972 when his thirty-year-old wife Neilia pulled in front of an eighteen wheeler on Delaware Hwy 7, a road that I travelled on many times when I lived in Dover. Neilia died. So did Biden’s one year old daughter. His sons were each critically injured but survived. Yet, Donald J. Trump might say truthfully (or otherwise) that no one in history has ever suffered as much as Donald Trump has.

See, there I go again. That’s TDS.

I don’t believe Joe Biden has an evil bone in his body, but I see his son Hunter’s scandals as something that is pulling him down.  President Biden and the First Lady love their children.  Who am I to say otherwise?  If the members of that family broke the law, they will have to answer for it like any other family must.

So, while I would not describe President Biden as “angelic,” I do believe that Deena and I are on the side of the angels by not jumping on the MAGA bandwagon. No doubt, many MAGA might banish us to the outer darkness for our disbelief, disrespect and audacity.

The problem with Schadenfreude

Here is where sin comes into play.  According to one source:

Schadenfreude is a term borrowed from German. It is a compound of Schaden (“damage/harm”) and Freude (“joy”). The German word was first mentioned in English texts in 1852 and 1867, and first used in English running text in 1895.”

According to grammar.com, Schadenfreude “describes important emotions that most of us have experienced. But we do not often talk about them.” Essentially, the term means to take pleasure in the misery and suffering of others.”

Examples of Schadenfreude:

This problem starts are a very young age. You find it in grade school when the best student in a class gets an unexpectedly poor grade.  Other average students may laugh and smirk as if some child has just been pulled off his pedestal.  Or, maybe the teenage daughter of a politician who constantly finds fault in others suddenly has a mental health crisis of her own.  It’s easy to say “Physician, heal thyself” or “He saw problems in the lives of other families but did not see the problem in his own family.”  Is this truly a cause for celebration?

This attitude of Schadenfreude has something to do with bullying.  Children (and the adults that they learned this behavior from) practice it to exert power, fit in, or out of jealously.  How do people respond when an arrogant billionaire must file for bankruptcy?  Or income tax evasion?  The answer is they often celebrate the misfortune (damage or harm) to others.  Perhaps this is just human nature, or no big deal?

I subscribe to a discussion board.  Those of you who ever have, know that there are all sorts of people who are part of the group.  There are boastful individuals, shy subscribers, just ordinary decent people, some who seem to constantly find fault with others, and an occasional person who sounds like an adult.  Who someone slips up, by violating the norms of the community, or unfairly criticizing another member, they, themselves become fair game.  Occasionally I’ll add a comment that provides more heat than light, but usually I delete what I’ve written—I’m just venting.  However, thanks to emojis, the one’s that laugh and smirk and signify being bored, confused, etc., I can still involve myself in less than helpful behavior by “piling on.”  So, I realize this is a problem and I’m working on it.  How is it a problem?  Isn’t it just really innocent activity of no real world consequence?

Not exactly. Scripture warns us against this

“Do not rejoice and gloat when your enemy falls, And, do not let your heart be glad [in self-righteousness] when he stumbles, Or the LORD will see your gloating and be displeased, And, turn His anger away from your enemy.” Proverb 24:17-18

Solomon (who is thought to be the author of Proverbs) addresses the issue of Schadenfreude.  To me as a political science major, the most important events of 2024 will be political.  Trump loses his business license. Trump is found guilty of felony charges.  Trump loses the general election.  This to another person with TDS would be an occasion to celebrate.  A “drinks are on me” moment.  But Solomon has a warning from God here and it speaks to me, personally.  It says that any misfortune to Donald Trump is not to be celebrated. I “. . . should not let [my] heart be glad when he stumbles.”  Solomon says that to do so would be displeasing to God.  Period.

Emily Anhalt, a clinical psychologist and cofounder of the mental health app Coa, told The New York Times that schadenfreude can be an “ego protector.” Feeling good about someone else’s loss can protect you from similar pain, or it can help you bond with others. But studies have found that too much of a schadenfreude thing can make people less empathetic and compassionate toward others. 

So, I’ll continue to struggle with Schadenfreude. Most people around me may not have noticed it, but God does.