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Happiness report: Norway is the happiest place on earth

bbc.com

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Re: Happiness report: Norway is the happiest place on earth

#131

Post by taway_1212 »

jernfrost wrote: post #77
barking wrote: post #42

Does this explain why the Scandanavian countries are the number one preferred destination for refugees?

I think Scandinavian countries have often been more welcome and generous to refugees. And they often get more rights with respect to citizenship and assistance in training and working. The big problem with Scandinavia for refugees is that despite generous welfare programs, there are very few low skilled jobs. Southern Europe is easier in the regard although they seem to often be more racist and give less assistance.…

> Brexit showed there is quite extreme xenophobia alive and well in Britain

Xenophobia is irrational hatred towards foreigners, while Brexiters had very rational qualms about them (mainly about lowering wages for jobs).

Re: Happiness report: Norway is the happiest place on earth

#132

Post by j2bax »

colmvp wrote: post #66
greydius wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe one of the keys to happiness is simply appreciating what you have. I've met people that live very comfortable lives but are perpetually miserable because nothing is ever enough for them.

At times, I think social media helps perpetuate this unhappiness, especially when we have a tendency to only showcase the best in public. Getting married. Having a kid. Happy moments. Vacations. Career achievements. Keeping up with the Joneses has been a term for over a 100 years. Fantastic events are wonderful to see in small doses, but when it's a constant stream of oneupsmanship of who is doing better than others,…

It's incredibly telling when you know people really well that project a model of perfection on Facebook/Instagram whose real life/attitude is an entirely different story. I can't understand how these people justify their untruthful social projection when they know plenty of people that see both sides. The best (maybe worst?) part is all the people that don't know them locally/currently who provide endless gobs of affirmation for how wonderful of a person they are.

It's reasons like these, and the complete waste of time and escapism that has become Facebook in my life that I made a resolution to unfollow everyone except the closest family and friends and delete the mobile app. So far I don't feel like I'm missing anything, and ultimately I think my life has become richer/better for it. If you aren't being paid for it, or finding great joy from it there are much more fulfilling things to kill your time with... reading, the outdoors, time with friends (unglued from the digital world).

Re: Happiness report: Norway is the happiest place on earth

#133

Post by digi_owl »

anothercomment wrote: post #100

One of the most depressing things I ever read is about Norwegians not having good ideas for spending their money, so the tend to opt for buying second and third holiday homes. I mean I am sure having holiday homes provides a certain degree of happiness, it was just the mundaneness and banality of the human condition that depressed me about it.

It is likely a bit more nuanced than that.

Likely for most families you do not need to go back many generations to find a farmers origin.

For those it was not unusual to have some kind of cabin in the hills (4 walls and a roof, not much more than to keep the weather at bay) used for hunting and such.

So the idea of having a cabin to retreat to is ingrained.

In recent years though it seems to have taken on a bit of a caricature of itself as monied interests have taken to build clusters of "cabins" that are as well equipped as full on houses and selling them. You may liken it to tract housing.

And most of these are not bought with straight up money, but debt. One thing to note is that most of the top entries on the happiness list also are up top on the list of household debt, where housing and similar loans make up a big part.

Most of the nations, Norway included, is likely to have their own variant of a "subprime crisis" sooner rather than later.

Re: Happiness report: Norway is the happiest place on earth

#134

Post by antisthenes »

senior_james wrote: post #75

Most of the time, people that have more freedom are less happy. I remember stories I heard about people moving from Soviet Russia to the United States back in the early 80s. They were unhappy and stressed out because in the soviet union, they were assigned a job and the government took care of them. Here in the United States, you had to fend for yourself. Freedom isn't always pleasant and happy, but it's better for t…

> They were unhappy and stressed out because in the soviet union, they were assigned a job and the government took care of them. Here in the United States, you had to fend for yourself.

What does this have to do with freedom? It's about having basic safety nets for your citizens. "Freedom to fail", which is what you're describing, exists wherever you want it to exist so the country and even society is irrelevant.

> I've been all over the world and don't know anywhere that has as much freedom as the US.

Yes, it's nice to be affluent in the United States.

Re: Happiness report: Norway is the happiest place on earth

#135

Post by olavk »

klausjensen wrote: post #126
olavk wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Law of Jante is not about success as such, and not really about criticizing success either. It is a law that says you should not pretend you are better than your peers. If success makes you act as if you are actually better than other people (bragging, acting arrogant, or just publicly suggesting that you actually deserve the success) you are met with disapproval. But the disapproval is not towards the success it…

It might be too long since I read Aksel Sandemose's "En flyktning krysser sit spor", which is where the Law of Jante originates, but if you read the 10 commandments of Jante, I think you are a bit on the soft side in your interpretation. :) http://denstoredanske.dk/Kunst_og_kultur/Litteratur/Nyere_mo...

The book is extremely harsh, but I don't really think the law as expressed in the book is applicable to Scandinavian culture in general.

Also, the Law of Jante made him kill a sailor at a deserted bay in Newfoundland. So we should be careful when understanding the book as some universal sociological study.

In the book he states the law is a way for the lower classes to keep each other down, and he explicit states the law of Jante exists among the proletariat everywhere and is stronger in Brooklyn than in Jante (the fictional Scandinavian town in the book). He was a socialist, of course.

I do think a "soft form" of the law can be used to understand Scandinavian culture to some extent.

Re: Happiness report: Norway is the happiest place on earth

#137

Post by ConceptJunkie »

dguaraglia wrote: post #115
aedron wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very true. I bet Scandinavia ranks highest in 'average happiness', but much lower in 'peak happiness', if that makes sense. There is a kind of oppressive atmosphere here where you are expected to subdue yourself, like it is a sin to stick out in a positive way (how dare you make the rest of us feel worse off with your success).

I concur with jamesblonde. American culture is very particular in that it encourages bragging and self-aggrandizing as a good character trait. It takes a while to get used to that when moving to the US. As a simple example a very good friend of mine had issues with interviewing for jobs because she'd understate her achievements. She'd be asked "so what's your experience with Photoshop and Illustrator" and she'd say "…

I've been told before that I understate my skills and capabilities in my resume, but I state things to a degree that I'm comfortable with.

I think the problem arises from most resumes being BS, so if your resume doesn't claim you have 20 years experience in a 5-year-old technology, etc., recruiters probably think you're a complete loser. Well, that and the fact that most recruiters don't seem to have the reading comprehension of a dead badger...

Re: Happiness report: Norway is the happiest place on earth

#138

Post by superfx »

jernfrost wrote: post #73
nkrisc wrote: post #17

After visiting Norway in the summer, the only thing that would give me pause with regards to living there is the winter. I live at 41°N right now and I think winter has to much darkness. Imagining the opposite of the Norwegian summer I experienced is a bit much for me.

As a Norwegian I absolutely hate the winter. It is my number ONE complaint about this country. I have for decades considered moving to some other country, but I never seem to be able to find a good alternative candidate. So many countries with nice climates are so broken in all sort of other important ways. I did plan many years ago to settle in America, but I found it hard to accept the values of American society. W…

The US is a very large and culturally heterogenous country. While some of your concerns are valid, I suspect you will find much in common with people living in liberal coastal cities like SF, NYC, Boston, etc.

Re: Happiness report: Norway is the happiest place on earth

#139

Post by setrofim_ »

jernfrost wrote: post #63
mi_noi_noi wrote: post #12

I am Norwegian and wonder how much of this is cultural. Most people here know that the rest of the world has much lower living standards. So for many it is perhaps rude or shameful to claim to be unhappy or dissatisfied. I know it says "subjective happiness" in the report, but I still suspect it might be an influence.

1) Happiness is not as subjective as people think. Research suggest that what people state about their own happiness correlates very well with how friends and colleagues would describe a person as. 2) Having lived abroad extensively and traveled around many places keenly trying to observe these things I'd say Norwegian happiness is real. But we have a tendency in Norway to take every good thing for granted and compla…

> 1) Happiness is not as subjective as people think. Research suggest that what people state about their own happiness correlates very well with how friends and colleagues would describe a person as.

This just means that how happy a person feels correlates well with how happy others perceive them to be. This says nothing about whether their subjective feelings reflect objective reality.

Research actually seems to suggest that happiness is very subjective, and may in fact have a strong genetic component[0]. I.e. whether a particular person is happy is dictated less by their circumstances and more by their outlook/personality/genetics. Of course, one's circumstances also play a role (e.g. a person will be less happy immediately after the death of a loved one), but subjective factors seem to win out overall.

[0] e.g. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/media-spotlight/201302/...

Re: Happiness report: Norway is the happiest place on earth

#140

Post by scarface74 »

jernfrost wrote: post #63
mi_noi_noi wrote: post #12

I am Norwegian and wonder how much of this is cultural. Most people here know that the rest of the world has much lower living standards. So for many it is perhaps rude or shameful to claim to be unhappy or dissatisfied. I know it says "subjective happiness" in the report, but I still suspect it might be an influence.

1) Happiness is not as subjective as people think. Research suggest that what people state about their own happiness correlates very well with how friends and colleagues would describe a person as. 2) Having lived abroad extensively and traveled around many places keenly trying to observe these things I'd say Norwegian happiness is real. But we have a tendency in Norway to take every good thing for granted and compla…

There have been plenty of studies showing that when you have a homogenous society, people are more likely to care about the common good.

When you have an "us" and "them" society, people are a lot more concerned that "they" are getting over and not working as hard.

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