This comment from yesterday's thread was perfect, I think: https://tkohhh.social/post/289633/1295767
To quote: "War is not uplifting. Fascism is not uplifting. Pollution is not uplifting. Murder is not uplifting. Famine is not uplifting. Bigotry is not uplifting. Genocide in particular is not uplifting."
Any of those things ENDING is uplifting news, but celebrating because a despot stubbed his toe is not uplifting.
Also, I don't think "catharsis" and "schadenfreude" are interchangeable. When people talk about schadenfreude they are specifically talking about feeling good because something bad happened. Catharsis is a much broader term that would likely be too restrictive for this type of community.
It's 100% about being on topic. It's especially important when most people see the content in the context of a mixed feed where they might upvote a news story that they like without noticing which community it was posted in.