Wednesday, April 11, 2018
Karma
Among the words that have come to mean something else, there is karma. Originally a respectable, though wrong, religious concept from Hinduism, it has become in America a synonym for "revenge by people other than me, or by unknown forces." It is not an expression of some balance of the universe which plays out at a subtle level according to what you have contributed, but a mean-spirited declaration that "someone deserved to get punished and I am gleeful." Hiding behind an Eastern religion, which are known to be favored by really cool, gentle, and nonjudgmental people makes it all the sweeter. I wish no ill to others, because I am not an evil evangelical. The universe itself has punished this person I dislike.
"It is not an expression of some balance of the universe which plays out at a subtle level according to what you have contributed, but a mean-spirited declaration that 'someone deserved to get punished and I am gleeful.'"
ReplyDeleteI have certainly seen it used with the mean-spiritedness that you describe, but I think that mean-spiritedness only comes along with the "karma" metaphor sometimes, not always. Sometimes the "karma" metaphor is used not for schadefreude, but as a more neutral point about how various hasty or lazy or otherwise expedient practices work better in the short run than in the long run, or relatedly that risky practices that pay off small and occasionally lose big can look like a good idea until they don't.
Compare the "technical debt" concept in software engineering, or (from dim memory of, perhaps, reading Nassim Taleb) the quant finance slang jargon of a trading strategy which eats like a sparrow and craps like an elephant. Humans being humans, sometimes people do invoke those concepts with lip-smacking schadefreudelicious glee, but not always. And conversely, even expressions which are rather close to an explicit schadefreude sentiment --- such as various old proverbial forms like "you have made your bed, now sleep in it" --- seem to be intended in part as general cautionary instruction, not just for nasty celebrations on the graves of specific allegedly incautious folk.
I believe the more obvious notion is "gloating". Worse than "schadenfreude".
ReplyDeleteAgree with William. A good counterpoint is Kevin Costner's line from 'Field of Dreams', "I need all the karma I can get" as they pick up the hitchiking Archie Graham. The concept of cosmic justice, whether wished on a malefactor or deserved as a result of your own actions, is as old as people's belief in supernatural powers. "You reap what you sow." 'Karma' was appropriated because it sounded hipper than the folkisms your grandma used.
ReplyDeleteI think the change has come over the last few years. It was occasional before, though the more usual meaning now.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen anyone use the term "instant karma" to refer to something nice happening to someone.
ReplyDelete