Finally...A Word for It
Watching the Republican leadership race and listening to the rhetoric of Trump and his supporters, I've been struck with a sense that there is an undercurrent of something quite distasteful in the culture of that particular demographic that I've not been able to put my finger on. It "feels" hostile, bitter, and contagious and I think I've finally stumbled upon a word that best describes it... ressentiment. Not resentment...but ressentiment, a French word that suggests a malady in the human spirit that carries with it resentment integrated with contempt, but a contemptuous resentment that is born out of frustration with self that emerges as blame towards others. It's like an infection and has much to do with un-justified indignation that one is unable to obtain that which one envies and covets, particularly when they envy and covet from those they see as rivals. Ressentiment convinces one that they are an underdog, especi...