Gossip and Schadenfreude: A National Pastime
If you are in a British pub and someone drops a pint or better still an entire tray of drinks, then most people within the immediate vicinity will cheer. A few years ago I was in a pub near London ComicCon and some wag shouted “Fus Ro Dah”. But I digress. The thing is, in these situations no one will go to help. Nope, we’re too busy laughing. Laughing at someone else's misery, embarrassment and inconvenience. Does this say something about British culture and our national psychology? We seem to like other people’s failures. There has always been a fascination with celebrity culture, especially with the rise and fall of such individuals but it seems to have become more unpleasant of late. Do we revel too much in other people’s misery due to some major shift in our national psyche? Is the combative and aggressive nature of contemporary political discourse to blame?
The recent debacle regarding BBC News presenter Huw Edwards is in many ways a microcosm of this malady. The Sun, a questionable tabloid with a history of rabble rousing and lying, claimed it had evidence of a “household name” indulging in criminal behaviour with a minor by soliciting explicit pictures. The BBC, the UK public funded broadcaster which is currently suffering from an identity crisis after making several high profile mistakes, then made matters worse by failing to address the claims promptly. Huw Edwards is very much the public face of the BBC, having been the main news anchor for so many era-defining news stories. The public relish for this story when it broke, was palpable. I realise that people like gossip but there was more to this than mere tittle-tattle. Even I wanted to know who the “household name” was before it was finally announced. It would appear that someone's ruin is morbidly enthralling.
Exactly why do we like gossip so much? Especially the salacious or malicious kind. In this case was it a particular dislike of Mr Edwards or the fact that he is in many ways an avatar for the BBC? Was it an example of watching someone who has reached the proverbial top, then fall from grace. A form of bespoke schadenfreude? Or was it a more politically motivated experience? A manifestation of the tribalistic nature of modern social discourse and a facet of the culture war? There was a similar amount of hysteria and delight recently over ITV presenter Phillip Schofield and his downfall, although that was more about moral judgement and possibly homophobia. Looking at such things in a wider context, there certainly seems to be a lot more spite driving peoples love for malicious gossip. You only have to read people's comments on tabloid news websites. They are mean spirited, unempathetic and riddled with assumptions, bias and prejudice.
There has been a growing culture of judgement running through tabloid newsprint and websites in recent years. Articles about sporting events which focus more on the audience, their manners and behaviour. Or reports about hot weather and the crowds on the beach. Aren’t they overweight and shocking? And then there’s the young people going out clubbing. Look, they’ve had too much to drink and should they really be wearing that? All too often such articles hide behind a superficial level of reporting, when in fact they are simply encouraging readers to pass judgement upon another socioeconomic group. Now it is a fact of human nature to dislike other people and for groups to segregate themselves. But we also have to also function as a cohesive society, so encouraging us to hate one another only increases tribalism. You only have to look to the US and wonder where it may all end.
The Huw Edwards story also raises such subjects as press regulation, UK libel laws and media ownership. The traditional UK press is predominantly right wing and does not reflect the political and social views held by the majority of the UK population. Yet it spreads discontent daily, slowly increases division and pushes its owners political agenda. We are now reaping the consequences of this growing disharmony. The UK is becoming cruel, lacking in empathy and very divided. It will end up becoming socially and politically ungovernable like the US. The population is also partly to blame with its insatiable appetite for gossip, scandal and schadenfreude. Does this ultimately boil down to the fact that many people feel their own lives are so utterly bleak and awful that they want others to suffer the same fate? What a chilling thought. A nation suffering an existential crisis that would prefer to burn everything down, rather than fix the situation.
