The latest World Happiness Report shows Finland and four other Nordics lead the world in happiness, while the USA falls from 14th to 19th. Is this just a byproduct of capitalism and vigorous immigration, or a curable condition caused by too much government and politics?
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USA Happiness Falls in Latest Report: Finland and Nordics Lead the World
The latest World Happiness Report shows Finland and four other Nordics lead the world in happiness, while the USA falls from 14th to 19th. Is this just a byproduct of capitalism and vigorous immigration, or a curable condition caused by too much government and politics?
11 replies on “USA Happiness Falls in Latest Report: Finland and Nordics Lead the World”
Bingo. The classic American dream is one husband, on wife, some kids and a home, that operates with morals and faith. The farther you go from that ideal, the less happy people are. Technological items that make things worse include the use of electricity–people sleep less due to the light bulb, so we are over-tired–and media, both regular media and social media, which is fully politicized so you can never get a break from it. Other things include a perception of a lack of justice (punishment of criminals), the rise of tort law, the accepted use of drugs (both legal and illegal), cell phone addiction, population increase (which grows urban areas while destroying wilderness) and a general lack of morality make people focus on the ills of society all day long. These things and the constant rapture of technology means that we never live in the moment anymore, and so we never really experience our real lives anymore. Stop tweeting, stop blogging, and live in the moment more often. Until we step away from the 24-hour media and talk to real people, this unhappiness will only increase. IMHO, anyway.
“The Pursuit of Happiness” is, strictly speaking, a nonsense. Happiness is a by-product of achieving other goals, it cannot be a goal in itself.
Happiness would starts with the Family and ends with the Individual. Finally the 10 most Powerful 2-letter words summarize everything: IF IT IS TO BE IT IS UP TO ME.
I would think that the best indicator for the benefits of HAPPINESS within a country would be HOW? many individualism migrate tom said country. m Though America did not reach the Top of the Happy isa country it by a large margin LEADS in individuals desiring to land in the country of OPPORTUNITY, America, therefore the winner is America.
My wife has been unswerving and adamant that we sit down as a family for at least one meal every day, during which she asks each of us to describe one positive thing that happened.
Having just come back from an extended trip in the orient…and 3rd world where the wealth disparity is tremendous and poor people are a distinct majority class, I witnessed something Bill said that reflects not only on happiness but our freedom as well. Politicians have embedded themselves into everyday life and become a corrupt class busy with keeping their groups in power and stealing as much wealth as they can while promising the usual ‘free stuff’ and claiming the moral high ground that it became obvious to me that politics mixed in with economics (trade)is poisonous to social well being. We must put politicians back in their boxes where they came or we’ll lose a lot more than our happiness.
I’ve got to say, the reason that we keep falling in the happiness poll is because of our victim culture. I was at the airport waiting to board when a group of college students from Howard University arrived. One had a t-shirt on decrying police terrorism and preached loudly why she wore it. Others were loudly mentioning every perceived slight they had encountered and how they would “slap that bitch” yelling “you don’t want none of this!” It was obvious to anyone that the way to fit in in their group was to be a champion victim. I kept thinking that if they used their brains and looks to seek and find happiness rather than wallow in who was the greatest victim they could be successful.
I blame Obama. He encouraged this. He fed this. He rewarded this. He is a big reason that we are falling in happiness. I’m so pleased that the current President for all of his flaws at least is seeking a positive outcome. Let’s help him Make America Great Again.
Interesting point that Bill makes about Japan. If you’ve never read it check out this article by the late A.A. Gill.
http://spillly.com/mad-in-japan-an-entertaining-read-via-brodiegal/
My Dad was a fighter pilot and ace in WWII. At first he had no animus toward the individual Japanese; it was war, Japan attacked us, and Japan therefore had to be fought. That all changed one morning in the Philippines. The Japs had just pulled out a day or two before, about a mile or so where his unit was camped. That particular morning he went around the bend to a stream to wash up and shave. What he saw made him puke – the rotting corpses of five “comfort girls,” each with a bullet in her head. Dad said that after that, going out on a mission was like going out duck hunting!
On a recent cruise, I went to some lectures about the Titanic. The final one was about what happened to some of the survivors. One was a Japanese businessman who managed to climb aboard a piece of floating debris after the sinking, and was rescued. When he went home he was ostracized and lived out his life in disgrace, because he should have died.
It’s too bad that so many states have given up celebrating VJ Day. RI, I believe, is the last state which still keeps it, although it’s now called “Victory Day.” I still call it VJ Day.
japan like everywhere else is changing and to try to asses it to western standards is wrong. the spilly article is borderline racist bit is the authors viewpoint and shows their inability to release their innate value systems. western norms did not really reach japan in force until MacArthur did. but the US did not turn Japan into another US State – the US allowed it to keep it’s identity- if the US had decided to set up Re-education camps then you might have a different outcome- not necessarily a better one however.
Man, if we could mandate the 2 parent family dinner, MOST of our problems would fade away