Envy

Can still recall that fleeting moment "back in the day": new to the state, first time hitting the Colorado slopes, picking my way down a splendid bump run when, out of nowhere, comes some dude shredding it and popping a perfect 360 aerial off a mogul not ten feet away. The first reaction was exhilaration. The second was envy, defined by Aristotle as the pain at the sight of another's good fortune stirred by "those who have what we ought to have."

The emotion comes in two flavors: the "good" kind, the one that acts as a positive motivational force; and the "bad" kind, a schadenfreude desire for the "hero" to fail. In this instance, the moment simply passed along with any ski bum fantasy, yet a slight twinge of that residual memory remains forty years later.

No study of the human condition is complete without acknowledging the existence and effect of this powerful emotion (click here). One theory suggests envy is rooted in the self-preservation instinct of infants to dominate their parents' finite attention. Perhaps so, but the question then becomes how this scarcity mentality serves us as we grow. Kids begin to correlate their social status with material objects. Early adolescent self-esteem, fragile at best, becomes intertwined with peer opinion. 

Self-esteem later becomes associated with non-material envy such as romantic relationships, physical appearance, achievement, and popularity. The pop song "Jessie's Girl" ("Why Can't I Find A Woman Like That?") captured a certain adolescent (male) envy, helping that anthem-of-sorts reach the top spot for weeks in the U.S. and Australia. With young adulthood comes then a shift to other subjects of envy such as career or salary. The point is that the emotion remains part of the human nature even as the objects of desire change. 

We'll discuss how envy manifests in our own lives now that we're all grown up and have fully accepted who we are. Or maybe not. One difficulty with the topic is the natural embarrassment to even acknowledge its presence. It somehow makes us seem small, vulnerable. But consider this: advertisements for autos still target unmet psychological needs (big, powerful whatever); Facebook remains, in part, a vehicle for comparing projected lives; emotional manipulation often replaces rational political discourse. 

Enter the politics of envy. We've discussed issues surrounding wealth inequality in America. The focus has, by and large, been one of rational analysis e.g. the defense of capitalism by taking note of Winston Churchill's observation, "The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. The inherent virtue of Socialism is the equal sharing of miseries."

Maybe so but man is also (maybe primarily) an emotional creature -- beware the gospel of envy. Something is propelling the politics of Sanders, Warren, and AOC (!?!). There are limits to tolerance, especially in a world of wretched excess, widening inequality, and a growing sense of overall unfairness. That's the "bad" kind of envy i.e. the kind that can lead to a let-them-eat cake hubris followed by a convulsion. 

Speaking of which, Sebastien Chamfort captured some sense of that which animated that revolution when he wrote in the 18th century of a nameless French gentleman, "A fanatical social climber, observing all round the Palace of Versailles it stank of urine, told his tenants and servants to come around and make water around his chateau."