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A sly smile crosses your lips.
Heather Hazzan. Wardrobe styling by Yuiko Ikebata. Hair by Jerome Cultrera. Makeup by Deanna Melluso.
You hear about a self-righteous politician caught with his pants down and feel a spasm of glee.
And then there was that time your boss had toilet paper stuck to her shoe.
In the time Ive spent studying schadenfreude, Ive come to believe this emotion has been unfairly maligned.
You dont have to look hard to find moral philosophers and theologians telling you how bad it is.
Sometimes it gets to the heart of what we care about most.
Take our celebration of justice carried out.
We might assume schadenfreude is antisocial, but actually, the opposite is true.
Its the warm glow of justice restored, a celebration of playing fair and abiding by the rules.
We crave this buzz of justice so much that we are prepared to pay for it.
Schadenfreude, it is increasingly clear, is part of what helps our societies survive.
Schadenfreude can also help us when it comes to keeping power in check.
But is there also a little glint of pleasure?
And not just because a wrongdoer has finally been caught, but because apparently entrenched hierarchies are being dismantled.
Each joke, wrote George Orwell, is a tiny revolution.
We all know we shouldntcompare ourselves to one another, that we should be happy with our lot.
It can be a comfort, making lifes unfairnesses easier to swallow.
It can even be an antidote to the more dangerous effects of envy unchecked.
And in an age bent on perfection, it reminds us that its not just us who failseveryone does.
That involuntary sly smile does not invalidate the compassion you also feel.
I no longer feel shame about my schadenfreude.
And I think that you dont need to either.
Much better to own it, and look it in the eye.
For we live in a culture very used to glossing over spiky, difficult, uncomfortable feelings.
