Whenever tragedy, or even minor setback, befalls anyone of questionable nature an alarming number of people slither from their digital pits to remind their less learned audiences of the need to reject any notion of glee that something appropriately terrible has just happened. This monotonous moralistic grandstanding plumbs the depths of religiosity in culture, often freely mixing and claiming aspects of other faiths to present the case of a cosmic debt against anyone who would find solace in misfortune.
Puritanism never left the United States. I’m sure the vipers hiss in other countries just as intently but I can really only speak for the exhausting nature of the American culture of Respectability Theater and how our puritanical self-flagellation is enforced to control dissent rather than spiritually purify. In short, it’s acceptable to feel relief or satisfaction at the misfortune of people in power, particularly when the power they abuse disenfranchises and actively harms large swaths of the country they intend to rule.
For the sake of dating this piece, Trump has contracted Covid-19, as has a sizable portion of the attendees at an event in the White House rose garden reveling in the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg by nominating her ideological opposite. This event bears amusing similarity to the plight of Prince Prospero in the Poe short story, The Masque of the Red Death.
In the story, Prospero’s country is decimated by a plague known at the Red Death which kills swiftly and is terrifyingly contagious. Prospero assembles a ghoulish court of sycophants and schemers (otherwise known as his “friends”) and barricades himself inside one of his palaces. There the court parties away their lives to distract from the creeping horrors of the world outside. They’ve left the poor to die as they view themselves as unassailable by the plague.
The reapers overseeing our current plague think similarly about their chances of catching Covid. It’s easier to peddle damaging political rhetoric when you think you won’t suffer because of it. In this instance, empowering the illiterati that make up a vocal number of Trump’s supporters required viewing any change in routine because of Covid as a denial of freedom rather than a worthy and temporary sacrifice for the benefit of the nation.
A still from the 1964 film The Masque of the Red Death. Death is a rainbow.
Only the poor would be disproportionately affected by this disinformation campaign, our overlords concluded, so it was fine to rile up the base and secretly observe safety precautions when they weren’t around to see it. The rich look after their own and class disparity affords them medical care that they gleefully deny the peasantry.
But the trouble is that viruses don’t care about the money you have. You cannot flaunt rank and influence over the lurking, invisible threat of microbes in the wind. Or in a gaggle of unmasked courtiers who started to believe in their financial wizardry to the point that they didn’t have to abide by safety precautions off camera either.
The Red Death claims Prospero and his court mercilessly by the end, and they are left unmourned as time trudges on. Poe’s implication is likely that no one is left to mourn, but I feel it also sides with the idea that the isolated and aloof rulers of the world are not worth mourning. Their deeds ultimately bring about their destruction, but also tremendous pain to the people they sought to rule. Now we don’t know if there’s anything Prospero could have done to fight the Red Death but we do know his ultimate decision of locking himself in a palace and partying forever was ineffectual for everyone involved.
So now, the Red Death has come for Trump. Should we feel sorry for him after months of downplaying a threat that has claimed over 200,000 lives and infected millions more unnecessarily, almost directly because of his selfish desire to cling to power? Has he not become our Prince Prospero desperate to distract himself with the illusion of control and prominence? If we’re not brought to have compassion for Prospero’s actions, why should we fall over ourselves to extend compassion to Trump?
When we extract concepts like “karma” or “divine oversight” from the world, we’re left with the reality that bad people do bad things and are infrequently met with consequence. That consequence is cathartic to observers who deal with the ramifications of abused power and platform. For a staggering swath of the American populace, this country’s open courtship of fascism is tied directly to Trump’s personality cult. A cult that likely will not survive his inopportune passing should his fight with Covid not go well. His legacy will still bring pain, however, just a different kind.
Yet those less directly impacted by fascistic rhetoric and legal exploitation cling to the notion that to find joy in someone’s misfortune is sinful, that to embrace the pettiness of life and the fleeting reprieve from existential dread is terrible. This plea for respecting people even if you have every reason to actively hate them is the last vestige of Puritanical concepts of codified morality and respectability. Society is increasingly moving beyond the need for a morality oversight board but those who most benefit from it loathe to see it go.
From observation, I think some of this need to chastise the sincere emotional response of others comes from the fear that those who think staunch centrism is the only truth are a breath away from facing that same consequence, that to deny the faith-instilled notion of retribution being entirely god’s domain imperils them if they do not agree with the “mob rule.” Why fear the mob? Because they hope to still curry favor with the ruling classes for access and power they instinctively know makes them pariahs to the lower classes.
And I do think a theistic understanding that being perceived as “cruel” in God’s eyes motivates all of this. Being afraid of others feeling genuine and expressing that sincerity can throw worldviews into conflict when we’ve spent a lot of time being told God is just yet God has allowed for countless suffering while those directly involved with exacerbating that suffering continue through life unhindered. Whatever justice that being subscribes to is not one I have any interest involving myself with once I’m through the base game of surviving its ardent supporters.
Despite centuries of attending the Respectability Theater of not defying your rulers lest you meet divine judgment, humans remain compelled to revel in the misfortune of others. In our current climate, aspersions against the poor, the politically left-leaning, and otherwise socially minded are not only abundant but also reinforced through religious practice predicated on solidifying the power of the ruling class. But the moment any of this is questioned or a real consequence befalls the powerful, this same crowd demands their suffering not be made light of.
Which is what’s happening with Trump and crew suffering a real consequence and it becoming a mortal sin to delight in that. It’s always permissible to abuse the less affluent in this worldview because beating them down further distracts from your own class disparity or your continued benefit from said disparity. Once reminded that no one is unassailable, people rush to install protective rhetoric that seeks to make the downtrodden respect power by casting their catharsis as sinful or morally bankrupt.
Do not weep for Prince Prospero. We do not need to cling to a doctrine that says you must respect those who have no respect for you. From a Satanic perspective, we should face the world with compassion and reason but that does not mean affording compassion simply to be seen doing so. You’re not going to join Trump’s masquerade by being seen to respect and care for an abusive old man who’s entire existence is predicated on how much he can exploit people around him. Nor should you want to join that gilded procession as you’re no safer from the realities of consequence or Covid as anyone else.
Spend less time shedding tears for princes and more time uplifting those around you. Allow people to feel the weight of the last 4 years ease slightly because a man who deserves far worse is finally meeting consequence. Respectability Theater is as illusory as all productions and not worth concerning yourself with. This is not to say you shouldn’t respect others, but more that you should strive to assess why someone is worth respect and what your role in supporting them is.
Below is a recording of Basil Rathbone reading The Masque of the Red Death. I recommend you listen.