They say everyone loves a bit of “schadenfreude.” According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, schadenfreude means “pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune.” Merriam-Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary similarly defines the term as “a feeling of enjoyment that comes from seeing or hearing about the troubles of other people.”
Since animals do not take pleasure in other animals’ misfortune, schadenfreude is a uniquely human trait. It is truly a shame that humans are inferior to animals in this regard. According to researchers, humans begin to display symptoms of schadenfreude as early as two years old. Then it remains a distinctive social emotion throughout life, but it can also breed “inequity aversion,” which means “preference for fairness and resistance to inequality.” Therefore, just a little bit of schadenfreude may be understandable and even justifiable. However, if we habitually enjoy other people’s miseries, it surely is problematic.
Embarrassingly, however, we see schadenfreude in our society every day. For example, when a celebrity is caught in a scandal and loses his reputation and popularity, we tend to enjoy his misfortune unless we are dedicated fans. When someone we know is in trouble, we also feel good, even though we are sorry for their misery. We know that it is mean and ill-natured, and yet we cannot help taking pleasure in other people’s misfortunes.
Politicians, too, often exhibit political schadenfreude. Some politicians have political rivals and foes whom they want to see fall. Thus, they frequently criticize, slander or sling mud at their adversaries, and feel good when their enemies are ruined and destroyed. Ironically, the slings and arrows they shoot at their foes are likely to return to them eventually, as if they were boomerangs. In that sense, an act of schadenfreude by a politician may end up being political suicide.
Those who take pleasure in others’ troubles have one thing in common: They are also jealous of hotshots who are much better than or far ahead of them. Thus, they want to shoot down those who make them jealous and feel inferior. That is why they tend to disparage a successful person’s accomplishments by dismissing his ability and competence, conjuring up excuses to justify their jealousy, muttering, “He must have bribed someone,” or “Some influential person must have helped him from behind.”
However, it is highly unwise to bear such a trait because it will seriously damage our own personality and humanity. Moreover, we too are likely to end up miserable in the end because other people may also enjoy our misfortunes or try to pull us down when we make it to the top.
Indeed, it is unwise to constantly compare ourselves to those who are better than us, only to make us feel jealous and discouraged. Such an attitude will only make us feel inferior to others and unhappy throughout our lives. Why, then, should we compare ourselves to others and feel miserable?
Instead of being jealous and depressed by comparing ourselves to those who are wealthier, smarter or more privileged, perhaps we should try to learn from their success stories. Or we should compare ourselves to those who are less fortunate and be grateful for what we have now. Then, we will be able to live happily ever after.
Unfortunately, however, the Korean people’s happiness index is very low primarily because of their habitual comparison to others. No matter how high Korea’s gross national product is, the Korean level of happiness will be low if the Korean people keep comparing themselves with others who are better off. Life is short, and we are supposed to live happily. It is silly to suffer needlessly from an inferiority complex by comparing ourselves to others.
Moreover, the feeling of enjoyment that comes from another person’s misfortune is not genuine happiness. In fact, it is a twisted, distorted form of guilty pleasure. To live happily in the truest sense, we should be happy when others are happy and sad when others are sad. We should spread good news and share one another’s sorrow together. In fact, however, we tend to spread bad news fast and turn our backs on other people’s miseries.
Of course, there are good people who worry about us when we are in trouble. However, even those people often become jealous and callous when our problem is solved easily and quickly. The truth is that even those good people may secretly enjoy our misfortune and become bitter and sour when we overcome our trouble and restore our strength smoothly.
We are not supposed to be jealous of others or enjoy other people’s misfortunes. We should overcome the so-called “crab mentality” or “crabs in a bucket” mindset that undermines or pulls down others who are successful. We also should not compare ourselves to others. As the famous French phrase says, "Comparaison n'est pas raison" -- comparison is not reasonable. Indeed, we should shun both schadenfreude and comparison.
Kim Seong-kon
Kim Seong-kon is a professor emeritus of English at Seoul National University and a visiting scholar at Dartmouth College. The views expressed here are the writer's own. -- Ed
khnews@heraldcorp.com
