Have you ever laughed at someone slipping on ice or maybe a funny video of someone else getting mildly hurt? Chances are you have, and what you experienced is something called Schadenfreude. Schadenfreude is the experience of joy or pleasure that we get from someone else’s misfortune. The German term, when translated, means “harmjoy.”
Today, Schadenfreude is all around us. It’s in the way we do politics, the way we treat our friends and is present all over the Internet. Now, we’ve probably all — at some point in our lives — experienced this feeling, whether it be from the misfortune of our friends, families, or even strangers!
Politically, this feeling of guilty joy is celebrated by different countries and their people when the leader of an opposing country dies or suffers from misfortune. Although it sounds grim, this feeling of political misfortune is felt by thousands, if not millions. For example, in May of 2020, when people around the world believed Kim Jong Un suffered from a heart attack, many celebrated. This is how Schadenfreude is present in politics especially for controversial politicians.
Just like the people who celebrated the North Korean dictator’s alleged death, I myself have experienced this feeling of guilty joy all the time.
One day, my friend and I were walking home from school when suddenly he slipped on a patch of ice — and without any remorse, without asking “Are you okay,” or lending a hand, I bursted out into laughter. You see at that very moment, without any conscious thought, I experienced this feeling called Schadenfreude. My personal experience goes to show that this sudden feeling of guilty joy is in fact an unconscious part of human nature and that a term the majority of the population does not know is something that they feel on a regular basis.
However, this feeling isn’t something that is deemed “positive.” German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer dubbed it “an infallible sign of a thoroughly bad heart. The worst trait in human nature.” Yet, the weird part of Schopenhauer’s view on Schadenfreude is that it is also present among the youngest generation of kids. Children in elementary school or kids as young as 5 years old also feel this emotion! In fact, because they enjoy laughing at others’ misfortune, famous cartoon networks purposely include a clumsy unintelligent character that always seems to get hurt.
The most common example is in the famous cartoon: Tom and Jerry. According to B-Rights, this cat and mouse duo, who always seems to injure themselves or each other, ranked number 1 in kids shows across all platforms in 2013! This globally famous cartoon goes to show how Schadenfreude is a part of our daily lives, especially among kids. Production companies and authors today use this feeling as a rhetorical device that keeps viewers, listeners, and readers engaged.
Therefore, I disagree with Arthur Schopenhauer’s take on Schadenfreude. If this feeling of guilty joy is “an infallible sign of a thoroughly bad heart,” then why do children as young as 5 years old feel this way when watching these cartoons? Does this mean that all children who laugh when Tom and Jerry get injured are worse kids than those who don’t? No! Schadenfreude may have been frowned upon in the past but as time goes on this unconscious feeling became intertwined with today’s culture, which has turned it into a social norm.
