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I hesitate to trust umbrella measurements of the health of our economy when I know I cannot trust so much else of I read. Corporate advertising and public relat
by gt_ 9y ago
I hesitate to trust umbrella measurements of the health of our economy when I know I cannot trust so much else of I read. Corporate advertising and public relations will reasonably generate an environment of cynicism.
Why do I trust this article’s claims? I don’t necessarily. But, it reflects what I observe and my understandings of how humans live with one another.
America is a society optimized for individualism, but humans are social beings. This is basic stuff, but it’s undermined through propaganda and shame.
- stevenwoo 9y agoTo your last point, America is also so large and diverse it's going to be hard to come up with too many sweeping conclusions from data like this. There's always going to be a few success stories about individualism but that doesn't help the median person who is just making ends meet, barely, and the homelessness issue that is worse in America than probably anywhere on earth especially given our cumulative wealth. The UN does have a happiness measure for what it's worth, it's probably better for smaller more homogenous countries. It interesting to compare what the UN study measures versus the American only one here. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/14/finland-happiest-country-world-un-report https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/14/finland-happie...
- TheCoelacanth 9y agoI don't think the homogeneous part is accurate. Four of the top eleven countries in the happiness ranking are Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand and Israel. Those are among the least homogeneous of any western countries. All have over 25% of their populations who are immigrants.