Big words for bad times

Here's a delicious Xitter item via former GOP-establishment lawyer George Conway (Xeorge Xonway; @gtconway3d):

I know many of you like to visit New York City during the holiday season and in case you make it to lower Manhattan this year I made this map I hope you will find helpful.

 

Conway's bleat inspired me to think about the word schadenfreude. I think we can presume Mr. Conway is experiencing this emotion, as are many of us on observing Trump's legal troubles. Thanks, New York.

As you likely know, the word names "the experience of pleasure, joy, or self-satisfaction that comes from learning of or witnessing the troubles, failures, or humiliation of another." Wikipedia continues "It is a borrowed word from German, with no direct translation, that originated in the 18th century."

Though I knew what it meant, I don't think schadenfreude was part of my vocabulary of use until the current burst of commentary. E.P. says she thinks much usage may have been high cultured-literary; her New York actor father spoke it aloud.

Another word/concept which is having a moment during these fraught Trump times is stochastic terrorism or terrorist. A definition: "the public demonization of a person or group resulting in the incitement of a violent act, which is statistically probable but whose specifics cannot be predicted."

This seems to be the diagnosis of social scientists for the numerous dangerous armed nut jobs inspired by Mr. Trump's crazy ravings since his 2020 defeat. The implication is that the rest of us cannot predict where hated-incited violence may be aimed, but it is out there, seething for action. 

General Mark Milley's dignified short response to Trump's recent provocations is inspiring.