Rubbernecking failure

We can’t help but quietly enjoy a healthy dose of schadenfreude. 

Failure, especially when experienced by individuals or institutions with a long track record of success, is fascinating.

Take the US. For the entire lifetime of pretty much everyone alive, the country has been the world’s preeminent power. But this week, Christopher Caldwell, the author of ‘The Age of Entitlement: America Since the Sixties’ declared the nation “officially an empire in decline”. 

He’s not the only one. Bernie Sanders talks of reversing America’s decline. China cautiously considers the nation to be in its “imperial twilight”. The world is moving away from using the dollar as its reserve currency. The Economist even compared Donald Trump to Caligula.

Forget thinking about the Roman Empire on a daily basis, a similar fate is playing out in real time.

The US isn’t alone. Failure gets clicks. 

The UK’s decline is being measured by the presence of ‘toilet deserts’. Anthropic foreshadowed the possible collapse of SaaS companies with the launch of ten new tools. The sad tale of Timmy the Whale has generated more headlines for a ‘catastrophic failure’ in tracking technology. The possibility of Tottenham Hotspur being relegated has created a (deeply unpleasant) content frenzy.

Which brings us to this week’s Farrer byelection. Whatever happens, they’ll be schadenfreude aplenty. Either the Liberals will take another hit by surrendering their former leader’s seat or One Nation will fall short of a seat they appear to expect to win. It could be a lose-lose for plenty of politicians, but a win-win for those responsible for hot takes and analysis.  

There’s nothing wrong with rubbernecking when failure strikes a previously thriving entity - it’s the sunnier side to the increasingly derided tall poppy syndrome. All big whales sometimes need to be taken down a peg or two. Except poor Timmy, of course.