Contrarian: Beware Greek schadenfreude

Beware Greek schadenfreude

David Stevenson says the rest of the world should not be too quick to gloat about Greece's misfortunes, as other countries could easily suffer a similar fate.

I was never very good at German, but the word ‘schadenfreude’ has stuck in my memory over the 30 years since I scraped a bad C in the subject. This wonderfully evocative word describes the pleasure one derives from another person’s misfortune. It is also a word that perfectly describes the gloating on display about Greece. None of us should take any pleasure in what is happening to our Aegean friends, not least because a variant of it could eventually be visited upon us at some stage.  Greece is the word: Could a default spark complete economic derailment?  The Greek tragedy is no...