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If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

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Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#241

Post by anovikov »

I see one real thing here - since 2017, the sense of stability in everyone's lives has been throughly upended - and perhaps, stability really matters for people to the point that rich, but unstable and precarious life feels worse than poorer, but predictable one. Too many things change too fast and no one knows what comes next. A lot of those things were actually positive changes, but people are afraid and bitterly unhappy anyway.

Maybe policymakers who come from wealth and are thoroughly insulated from life upheavals, just don't get that and should take that into account - public information/propaganda system should project some sense of stability.

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#242

Post by hattmall »

samarthr1 wrote: post #186
sealthedeal wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in a nice suburb outside of Austin in the hills, and it's incredible. If I moved to Europe, I would still live outside of the city with some land where I have privacy. Living in a dense area is cool for some people, but not others.

Exactly! Having a house that is large enough to support whatever hobby(/ies) one takes up is an underappreciated aspect of suburban living. Growing up, (moderately wealthy) in a comparatively decent sized apartment, in a decent area, the biggest reason to not take up something like woodworking, or say working on a car, or for that matter gardening. So, as soon as I graduated, I moved out of the city, into a suburb. I…

Are you implying 30 minutes away by car is a short / good thing? That's adding an hour to anything you want to do. Assuming you work 8 hours and sleep 8 hours that's taking like 15% of your free time just in getting somewhere.

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#243

Post by MattGrommes »

The specific decline in happiness in English speaking countries is very interesting. My first guess is that non-English speakers have to use their own news sources and don't fall prey to the same doom and gloom, everything is terrible, "news" sources on cable and the internet.

Seems like there might be a good lesson in there.

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#244

Post by cucumber3732842 »

stackghost wrote: post #81
comrade1234 wrote: post #6

I feel like wealthy americans live like poor Europeans - they live far outside the city in crowded suburbs, no amenities walking distance so they have to drive everywhere, having to commute an hour to their job, eating bad manufactured food... I'm American but moved to Europe years ago. It may be even better being poor here because at least you might live in a village and you'll have healthcare and your government wo…

The suburb move is sort of a nouveau-riche /upper middle class thing. It's like that here in Canada too. Poor people rent apartments in places with easy access to transit, and if they "make it" then the next step is to buy a house in a bedroom community where if you want to do literally anything you need to pile into the car, but hey at least your kids have a yard to play in. The next step up is being able to afford…

>The suburb move is sort of a nouveau-riche/upper middle class thing.

Used to just be a middle class thing.

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#245

Post by xyzelement »

everdrive wrote: post #218
xyzelement wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I should have said is the two guys are fairly representative and more importantly line up to the story: if we are so Rich how are we so sad. So I used to relatively rich friends as the example:)

That's totally fair. I think to the extent that wealth degrades community you're going to have a clear trend.

The counterpoint of the example I used is that among my religious friends wealth has not degraded family/community.

Small personal example - we are undergoing home renovation right now to create a larger dining room that can accommodate better our extended family. I see this kind of behavior among friends and family who are religious and can afford to.

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#246

Post by WalterBright »

lambdaone wrote: post #73

I once aspired to American citizenship, and was dazzled by its wealth, opportunity, can-do attitude and freedom. Now I can't imagine wanting to go there - everything I see or hear, from both American and other sources, right or left, suggests a deeply unhappy country at war with itself.

[flagged]

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#247

Post by MattRogish »

I find it interesting that all the trend lines start going negative around 2001. I wonder why that's not remarked upon? 9/11 itself was - obviously - epically terrible, but the impact of the event was recoverable.

Our response to it (Iraq war, forever wars, etc.) combined with the realization that the USA are be "the baddies" and we've been lied to since forever, probably might have been the thing that set all the dominos up.

COVID was the straw that broke the camel's back. Had we _not_ had the disastrous response to 9/11, I suspect we could've weathered COVID better (like the rest of the world has.)

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#248

Post by xyzelement »

tock wrote: post #234
xyzelement wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is a common reaction that I used to agree with but no longer. I think religion tends to capture something essential about reality that atheism excluded by definition. There's a reason no atheist society has historically arisen and thrived in the way that you are suggesting. If it was possible why hasn't it happened. The idea of atheism is ancient - why has it not worked?

Large sections of China, Japan, etc are atheists. Why do you think it hasn't worked?

Well for one obvious example is both of those societies are only recently atheist (<100 years) and that they both have an absolute dismal birth rate that makes it hard to imagine how they will look like a hundred years from now.

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#249

Post by spwa4 »

bombcar wrote: post #216
spwa4 wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ssshhhh ... in reality it's of course the case that the poorer a country is, the more unequal it is. In Pakistan the gulf between rich and poor is easily 100x what it is in the US. The most luxurious hotels in the world, the most decadent, aren't in Washington. They're in places like Teheran. Like Islamabad. Like Kinshasa. Things like, hotels where 5 prostitutes on standby per room is standard. The richest people in…

There's a point somewhere where the money becomes a scorecard - once you can afford the best room at the Kinshasa luxury hotel, you can't really "go higher" on that axis, you need something else.

Of course you can go higher. Haven't you read how Kim Jong Un does it? Well, communism of course, and [1]

Sure you can afford the best room. But can you afford 100 prostitutes on standby? Choice matters.

Sure you can afford the best room with 100 prostitutes. But can you afford to give 100 of your "friends" rooms with 10 prostitutes each? Can you afford to have the hotel just kick every other guest out at your whim?

Can you afford to just own the entire hotel, have it fully staffed in case you drop by with 100 friends, 24/7? (ie. what Putin does) [2]

How about 1000? (totally not a reference to Erdogan's Palace that one) [3]

To go back to North Korean "socialism"'s accomplishments: can you have such a hotel on wheels?

How about 1000, but give each of those 1000 servants in addition to the prostitutes.

How about ...?

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_B52kyj-vA

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQbCOYnp_fA

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVrZQmR1Syg

Re: If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?

#250

Post by geremiiah »

BJones12 wrote: post #151
725686 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What has atheism anything to do with this?

Because the article's question is 'how did America get so sad' and the answer is 'because it lost Christianity' because Christianity makes people less sad.

People who are lucky in life never question their faith, because why would they? That's why Christians are happier. I grew up Christian, but I was not lucky in life. Christianity did fuck all to help me. Actually, I find more peace in my lack of faith now. But everyone is different.
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