One Man's Armageddon is Another's Schadenfreude

"The illusion of control is more persuasive than the reality of uncertainty." - Morgan Housel, The Psychology of Money

Nov 13, 2024

It's been more than a week since the US election and I've yet to see any sign of our impending doom. Q's handmaiden uniform hasn't been delivered yet. Nor have our gulag assignment papers. When I told her she has to make me a sandwich anyway, she laughed and said, "Make me one while your at it, will you?"

I was assured if the US election ended with a particular result, Western Civilization would be toast. So far, the only smoking remains I've sensed in the wind are from the brats I forgot were on the grill. Instead of the sound of tanks rolling down the streets all I hear are tiny pops from ruptured echo chambers. I was promised a blitzkrieg, the likes of which would have made the effort by Pretend Hitler from a hundred years ago look like a stern rebuke from Milton Waddams. My classified intelligence report has revealed the only thing storming the world are a tidal wave of sobby TikTok videos clogging the InterTubes.

As of today, according to the one sided side of the story there are over 75 million Hitlers walking around in the USA. I don't mean to cause stress or loss of sleep, but you should know if you're sitting next to someone, there's a darn good chance one of you is Literally Hitler™.

Ah, well. Yascha Mounk captures pretty much my thinking on how things turned out:

"The outcome of last Tuesday's election is not owed to the popularity of Donald Trump; it is owed to the unpopularity of the alternatives."

And Sasha Stone has the best take so far: It Wasn't an Election. It Was an Intervention

"Trump drove so many mad, from the Never Trumpers to the Woke Left, because they destroyed themselves trying to destroy him. Their biggest problem was that they were never fighting the real Trump. They were fighting one they invented, a supervillain whose mere presence could end democracy itself."

Personally, I thought Trump was a buffoon eight years ago and I think he's a buffoon now. But Literally Hitler™? I've read too much historical source material - including "Mein Kampf" - to be anything but offended when someone equates any American politician - living or dead - to Hitler. Making such a call tells me zero about the target, but tells me worlds about the person making it - they are either dangerously malicious or absurdly ignorant. Either way, they are not to be trusted with anything more important than a cotton ball.

Nonetheless, a post-election Germanic ambiance of a sort can be felt by those not caught in the throws of store-bought existential angst. Schadenfreude - "pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune." Broadly speaking, there are two types I've observed over the past week.

The type exemplified by making fun of the TiKTokers who emote into their cell phones and feel compelled to dump their grieving into the InterTubes.
The type exemplified by making fun of those among the ruling class who deliberately lead constituents into their personal hell holes.

Participating in the first type of schadenfreude is particularly ugly, no matter how much clever snark is sprinkled in. Let them emote. A good cry over a loss that's perceived as import is the first step toward growth and maturation. Unfortunate, perhaps, that they chose to do so in front of a cruelly indifferent Internet. But that, too, can be a "teachable moment."

The second type of schadenfreude, however, when expressed with a mocking attitude and well seasoned with snark and satire, serves a purpose. America's ever swelling narcissistic ruling class - politicians, journalists, educators, celebrities, etc. - needs a good dose of anti-inflammatory humiliation and degradation.

I had one wish for this election - that it be decisive one way or another. I could accept either candidate if the vote were decisive, but ambiguity was sure to be the least favorable outcome. We were always going to end up with both Armageddon and Nirvana. With a decisive vote we would get more of one side's Nirvana and less of the other side's Armageddon. So there it is. Yea for me!