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Wanna be happy - move to Finland
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Re: Wanna be happy - move to Finland [cerveloguy] [ In reply to ]
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This news item comes out every year.

My belief is that the distribution of joy and suffering is constant.
That all people experience a similar ratio of joy and suffering- regardless of (or in spite) of the circumstances.

The difference is not in the amount of joy and suffering- but in what people say about it.


The truth is that some people don’t have all that much to complain about.
And some people aren’t that inclined to do that much complaining anyway.

The Norse, the Canadians, Kiwis and Aussies- are not happier.
They just don’t have that much to complain about (relative to the rest of the world).
And they are not all a bunch of whiny bitches who would complain anyway.

Now, in contrast, the Haitians and Somalis have legitimate gripes. But aren’t necessarily unhappy.

And the USA, France (and others) just have a very high percentage of whiny bitches.
Last edited by: Velocibuddha: Mar 14, 18 18:51
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Re: Wanna be happy - move to Finland [Velocibuddha] [ In reply to ]
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That all people experience a similar ratio of joy and suffering- regardless of (or in spite) of the circumstances.

Let me see if I understand this statement. You're saying that a person living in abject poverty, no housing, no health care, scrounging for food and never having enough to eat experiences as much "Joy" as a person living in the US making top 10% money, with health care, housing never wondering where their next meal is coming from and that person experiences as much "Suffering" as the poor person? I tend to believe this is a false statement.

Even if one believes that individuals adapt and somehow experience whatever conditions they are in as the same your statement excludes the fact that some people actually do not have as many of the chemicals necessary to experience joy as others do.

Now, in contrast, the Haitians and Somalis have legitimate gripes. But aren’t necessarily unhappy.

The question is a question of degree not of absolutes. People are rarely always happy or always unhappy. I'd pretty much guarantee that if we took a person that had no housing, was always hungry in danger of being killed by some warlord and dropped them into the safety of a first world country they would experience happiness far more often then they did before.

And the USA, France (and others) just have a very high percentage of whiny bitches.


This is actually where I think the percentages remain relatively the same. I would guess the percentage of "Whiny bitches" are about the same in a refugee camp as they are in a million dollar neighborhood. It's just that we tend to be lenient with a "Whiney bitch" that is whining about not haven eaten in three days and not so lenient with the one that is bitching about how the valet left an off odor in there Bentley.

You'll have people that don't bitch about the conditions they are in regardless of how bad and you'll have people that will bitch about there conditions no matter how good.

Matt
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Re: Wanna be happy - move to Finland [Velocibuddha] [ In reply to ]
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Societies seem to be the happiest when people are all either very poor or all very rich, it apparently doesn't make that much difference just as long as everybody is about the same. When you have societies with large differences between the two that's where the unhappiness is.
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Re: Wanna be happy - move to Finland [cerveloguy] [ In reply to ]
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Well are you forgetting this thread on alcohol consumption by Country?

As a first generation American born of Finnish immigrant parents, I represent your remarks.

________
It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev
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Re: Wanna be happy - move to Finland [cerveloguy] [ In reply to ]
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cerveloguy wrote:
Societies seem to be the happiest when people are all either very poor or all very rich, it apparently doesn't make that much difference just as long as everybody is about the same. When you have societies with large differences between the two that's where the unhappiness is.

A previous iteration of this research stated that the “rich people” in one country are (slightly) more likely to say they are happy than the “poor people” of a the same country.

But that there isn’t much relationship between the overall wealth of the country and the percentage of people in that country that say they were happy.

This would confirm your theory.

A wealthy country with a few extremely wealthy people and large number of less wealthy people would have more people who would consider themselves “poor.”

Also statistically the “happier” countries in this study- Scandanvia, Canada, NZ, Australia probably have more economic homogeneity than the USA, France (and other less happy) wealthy countries.
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Re: Wanna be happy - move to Finland [cerveloguy] [ In reply to ]
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No way am I moving to Finland.



--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody
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Re: Wanna be happy - move to Finland [Velocibuddha] [ In reply to ]
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Velocibuddha wrote:
cerveloguy wrote:
Societies seem to be the happiest when people are all either very poor or all very rich, it apparently doesn't make that much difference just as long as everybody is about the same. When you have societies with large differences between the two that's where the unhappiness is.


A previous iteration of this research stated that the “rich people” in one country are (slightly) more likely to say they are happy than the “poor people” of a the same country.

But that there isn’t much relationship between the overall wealth of the country and the percentage of people in that country that say they were happy.

This would confirm your theory.

A wealthy country with a few extremely wealthy people and large number of less wealthy people would have more people who would consider themselves “poor.”

Also statistically the “happier” countries in this study- Scandanvia, Canada, NZ, Australia probably have more economic homogeneity than the USA, France (and other less happy) wealthy countries.

That would be a very easy study - Gini coefficient vs. happiness
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Re: Wanna be happy - move to Finland [Velocibuddha] [ In reply to ]
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Article was kind of nebulous about how they measured happiness..... " based on factors such as life expectancy, social support and corruption."
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