I have no hard figures to back this up, exactly, but I’m pretty sure schadenfreude has become the new national pastime.
Taking pleasure in another’s misfortune is -- if not our default emotion -- pretty darn close to the mood in America right now.
I know I got a huge dose of it when I heard Christine O’Donnell had lost her race in Delaware, early Tuesday night.
Then, I experienced another sweet round of it a few hours later when Harry Reid was declared the winner in Nevada and Sharron Angle the loser. Aww, I thought, smiling widely, wonder what Sharron’s doing right now?
Meanwhile, in living rooms and country clubs around the nation, Republicans and FOX News analysts were swooning with schadenfreude. By God, we put the hurt on Obama, they were crooning. We’re the hammer, he’s the nail.
And the defeat of Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House? Wow, that news raised the schad-o-meter past the red line.
It’s tough to deny. Progressives felt this uncharitable version of satisfaction two years ago when we saw the Roves and Limbaughs of the world licking their wounds. I, who am not really a bad person (only a baddish person), kind of loved the moment when I thought we’d seen the last of the GOP idealogues for a while.
Little did we know they would morph into something even more shrill and maverick-y.
I mean, in 2008, who possibly imagined that they would erupt like a boil from the head of Sarah Palin and multiply?
But that’s the thing about schadenfreude: It is enjoyable, but it’s short lived. The cycle is about 730 days. And the happier we are at someone else’s downfall, the happier they will be when it’s our turn.
So, to the people standing on the sidelines of my unhappiness wearing smiles, right now, I say: Just remember this moment two years from now
3 comments:
You're not baddish. You rock my world with your clever ramblings.
Who would have ever thought things could get "more shrill and maverick-y" You need to hurry up and get a patent on that "schad-o-meter." It'll make the perfect stocking stuffer for gloaty Republicans and Tea Partiers. I see them using it like frat boys going for the high score on a breathalyzer.
There are likely to be many schadenfreude moments over the next couple of years as the Republicans try to operate as a unified party. Claire McCaskill said as much on election night ... with twinkle in her eye. ... That said, I'm looking forward to having Ron Paul chair the committee that oversees the Federal Reserve. He would prefer to dissolve the Fed than oversee it. (Not that I agree with the dissolution of the Fed, but the close relationship between the Fed and the Treasury is a concern.)
http://www.examiner.com/finance-examiner-in-national/the-fed-s-worst-nightmare-ron-paul-to-chair-monetary-policy-subcommittee
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