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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 .
Video by The Nerdwriter
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Consciousness and altered states
What do screens depicting serene natural scenes mean to those living in lock-up?
12 minutes
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Family life
A mother and child bond in an unusual prison visitation space in this poignant portrait
11 minutes
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Social psychology
What happened when a crypto scam swept over a sleepy town in the Caucasus
18 minutes
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Virtues and vices
Why Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Adam Smith were divided on the virtues of vanity
5 minutes
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War and peace
A frontline soldier’s moving account of the fabled ‘Christmas truce’ of 1914
12 minutes
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Childhood and adolescence
The police camp where tween girls enter a sisterhood of law and order
28 minutes
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Technology and the self
A haunting scene from ‘Minority Report’ inspires a voyage into time and memory
7 minutes
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Family life
The stream-of-consciousness thoughts and memories that emerge while cooking a meal
5 minutes
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Ageing and death
We’re not the only animals that appear to grieve. What are the implications?
6 minutes