Given the way the MSM obsesses over the “happiness” of countries like Finland and Denmark, I have to confess I’m a little surprised that the US was in the Top 20 for happiness in the first place. Serves me right for believing any MSM narrative, really.
My bad. I’m working on it.
But this is the news today:
So after teaching an entire generation that:
- If they are not oppressed, they are oppressors
- Everything they do is destroying the planet
- That “success” is itself a form of oppression
- The “American Dream” is not only dead, but a form of oppression
- The future is “owning nothing, and liking it” while eating an insect-based diet
I’m even more amazed.
And remembering the effect Jimmy Carter’s “Malaise” speech had on me, I have to think that either:
- there’s a huge opportunity waiting out there for a Reagan-like figure to unleash an untapped store of hope, or
- Big Left learned from its mistakes in the ’70s, and has trained all hope out of the Millennial and Z generations.
Not sure which is true – maybe both?
But that question is the basis of a project I’ve been mulling for a bit.
I blame the education industry – social promotion, participation ribbons, mainstreaming and grade inflation. Everyone Can Be Anything So Dream Big!
No, they can’t. Some lack the capacity, some lack the tenacity, some lack the family connections, and lying to them that a 3.0 gpa Bachelor’s in Social Studies from State U. will entitle them to fame and riches while saving the world, causes discontent when the student loan payments come due.
Reality is the generations following Baby Boomers will have a tougher time because they’re not living in the world’s only industrialized nation, the world doesn’t kowtow to us anymore, jobs that could have been rewarding (electrician, aircraft mechanic, welder) are shunned in favor of dwelling in a cubicle.
We failed to manage expectations. Now comes disappointment. Next comes discontent followed by rebellion.
Funny. I was just reading about this in a Danish (electronic) newspaper, 24Nyt.
Peter Gundelach, a professor in sociology [Danes love experts, jdm], who is behind a very broad mapping of Danish values, believes that Danes equate their self-satisfaction with themselves with a happy life. […] If Danes are really the happiest in the world, then they are extremely good at hiding it and smiling in spite of the high rates of suicide, dissatisfaction, loneliness, and use of “happy pills”. Danish happiness is a myth, but it’s a myth that sells well.
One of six parameters is “social support”, i.e. “welfare”. So it’s no surprise that most of the top happy nations are….socialist to a great degree.
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