Laughing at others’ misfortune is fine for ‘fail’ videos. It’s poison for politics

The German word schadenfreude describes taking pleasure in another’s misfortune – a combination of joy and amusement that’s omnipresent in everything from William Shakespeare’s comedies to America’s Funniest Home Videos. While relatively harmless in the context of, say, watching YouTube footage of a brutal bellyflop, in politics, it hijacks media coverage and pollutes clear thinking about decisions that have far-reaching consequences. In this incisive video essay, Evan Puschak (also known as The Nerdwriter) discusses the troubling rise of schadenfreude in political discourse in the age of Donald Trump .