On Saturday, I sat down to read Monica Lewinsky's excellently written essay in Vanity Fair. Lucidly detailing the struggles she has faced since being dubbed American's premier BJ Queen - arguably also "the most humiliated woman in the world, in 1998" - the whole thing made for an interesting read, there's no doubt. But there was one line which stuck out at me.
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"We have, to borrow a term from historian Nicolaus Mills, a "culture of humiliation" that not only encourages and revels in Schadenfreude but also rewards those who humiliate others".
Schadenfreude, I thought to myself, long after I finished the article. S/he's a wily old beast, isn't he? S/he's the devil on our shoulder when we LOL at the poor chick whose skirt flies up in the street revealing a particularly unedifying wedgie; or when we read a tabloid exposé, indicting the latest serial cheat. S/he's the powerful mafioso that motivates us to read The Mail Online, Perez Hilton, The National Enquirer. S/he's the part of us who cheers, when some reality totty gets a drink poured over their head, or when the annoying drunk guy in the bar, or restaurant, is finally - and with much pomp and ceremony - shooed out of the venue. That guy got what was coming! We think, gleefully - though we are not entirely sure why.
For a supposedly empathetic species, it's extraordinary that schadenfreude has grown like it has; both untamed and more worryingly, nurtured. It has become so engrained in our culture that we look upon it as some sort of justice keeper. A way to balance the right and wrong. In Lewinsky's case, she gave the president head. So it is, of course, totally OK that she had to read a The New York Observer piece, a group discussion comprising New York's leading feminists, about how she had "third-stage gum disease". They pointed out that she "was not that pretty" and as for future employment, she could merely "rent her mouth out". She was systematically destroyed, via national media, by the very group of women who claim to bolster other women up.
The literal interpretation of the German word 'schadenfreude' into English, is 'harm joy'. In harming others, we derive joy. In its most crude, essentially harmless form, it is watching a hapless little boy fling himself over the handlebars on You've Been Framed; or enjoying a Jilly Cooper-style anecdote about a vengeful wife making her loathed husband eat dog food, in his meat pie (true story. Heard it from friend of friend of friend of - oh.) But in it's most disturbing guise, it is a collective culture breaking down a person's psyche. Most notably, it is that of pop culture's youngest celebrities and most worryingly of all, it is often young women, being derided by other women. Three years ago, for example, it was Mischa and Lindsay (Li-Lo's antics continue, but we've already grown bored) then last year it was Amanda Bynes - who had us laughing at her random Twitter abuse of Drake and double cheek piercings far more than it had us concerned that this was a 'Hollywood pop princess' suffering an obvious mental breakdown.
Now we find ourselves busy jeering at Justin Bieber; as he is videoed peeing, or being sick, or being questioned in custody. Can you imagine if you were arrested, aged 19 and everyone got to watch a recording of you being questioned? Being an arrogant asshole, sure, because you are not yet 20 and you're probably terrified and too immature to deal with the situation at hand. And let's take Miley - 2015's most enthusiastic case study. The fact that Miley happily owns her 'wild' persona enrages conservative culture. They want her to be embarrassed about the fact that she is writhing on a gold car with her bum on show. Because they would be mortified to do that, they feel that she should be (I am not including 'we' in this, as I do not have issue with Miley.) Until it is proved that she is, in fact, damaged and out of control and gets her comeuppance, popular culture will not rest. It won't be satisfied, this churning schadenfreudian beast, until Miley has submitted herself to public humiliation and embarrassingly, fails to rise out of its ashes.
