Comments on: Unhappy States of Mind?

By: dimitri halikias

dimitri halikias — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 14:02:24 +0000

Ok i think i misunderstood you at first. I thought you were implying that being liberal somehow made you less happy than being conservative

By: Aaron W.

Aaron W. — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 05:02:00 +0000

Well, if the cities are predominantly liberal, and also have higher crime, poverty, and suicide rates, then that means that the predominantly liberal inhabitants of those cities have higher crime, poverty, and suicide rates than the predominantly conservative inhabitants of more rural areas, which would say something about them. Maybe mindsets was the wrong word.

By: dimitri halikias

dimitri halikias — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 01:11:19 +0000

I don’t think that it has anything to do with the mindsets of liberals vs. conservatives

By: Aaron W.

Aaron W. — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 02:58:24 +0000

You’re probably right about the crime, poverty and suicide rates, but I don’t see how what you said about cities being liberal contradicts anything I said.

By: dimitri halikias

dimitri halikias — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 03:57:26 +0000

that’s an interesting observation, but how I would respond is that large cities tend to have higher crime, poverty, and suicide rates – key indicators in measuring “happiness.” Also, large urban areas tend to be highly liberal, and states with large urban populations typically vote democratic. I don’t really buy much in your political mindset argument.

By: Aaron W.

Aaron W. — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 20:56:34 +0000

Thank you.

By: Eli Prysant

Eli Prysant — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 01:05:07 +0000

You have fun with that

By: Moira Anthony

Moira Anthony — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 19:13:21 +0000

With Aaron, I mean.

By: Moira Anthony

Moira Anthony — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 19:12:55 +0000

Excellent point. I agree completely.

By: Nicole

Nicole — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 21:35:18 +0000

How does one define happiness? However the report got its information, it doesn’t sound like the process was very accurate, partially because there is simply no way to determine exactly how happy a person is. Wealth, stress, and culture are all factors, but happiness can’t simply be determined from them. A poll would most likely show how optimistic and/or pessimistic the average person in a state is; not the actually happiness of these people. Also, I don’t think that the people who did the study are politically motivated… it sounds like the “happier” states were generally the more rural ones, which actually does make some sense, and many southern states are the ones where more people are conservative. Very thought-provoking article.