Via Roderick Long, here are the opening lines from “Madame Guillotine” (from the Scarlet Pimpernel musical):
I know the gutter, and I know the stink of the street;
kicked like a dog, I have spat out the bile of defeat.
All you beauties who towered above me,
you who gave me the smack of your rod –
now I give you the gutter,
I give you the judgement of God!
Vengeance victorious!
These are the glorious days ….
Connect that attitude to Dostoevsky’s Underground Man (of hating 2×2=4 fame), Nietzsche’s diagnosis of ressentiment, and today’s revenge-of-the-losers psychology permeating Wokeness.
Related: My Open College podcast, Envy’s Moral-Psychological Challenge.
(The painting above is Gericault’s Envy.)