Liberalism is Not Conducive to Happiness

McGentrix wrote:

snood wrote:
I find a lot of anger in white male conservatives who think they are some kind of threatened species.

Should it surprise anyone that snood finds a lot of anger in white male conservatives? I know I am not surprised.

I was mulling this relationship the other day. Wonder if snood has questions about how this dynamic originates....?

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George Will wrote the lead in. ****, no wonder he concludes that.

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If I remember my developmental psychology from college... I am pretty sure it was Erik Erikson who talked about a state of "mental foreclosure".

Mental foreclosure is when you accept your beliefs as absolute truth without honestly questioning them. This is one of the states you can reach in your forming your identity.

The alternative to mental foreclosure is either a mature identity (where you have decided what to believe, but have honestly accept the problems with your viewpoint and continue searching), or a state of searching without having decided yet.

Studies have shown that people in mental forclosure experience the least stress (and I assume that this would make them the happiest). Very religious people who ignore any of the messy contradictions in their beliefs are certainly the happiest I know.

The number of Conservative who still talk glowingly about schools and hospitals being built in Iraq (as if this makes up for the turmoil there); who continue to say that life in US prison camps is "better than their lives before being captures;...etc. are clearly in this state.

A state of happy denial is a state of happiness.... but I don't want to be there.

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okie wrote:

The term, "angry left" has been popping up a bit more lately.

I think the word they want is "deranged".

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There's another way to look at that, eb.

Realism v Idealism. The idealists eschew realism, and complain about what isn't done yet, no matter how impossible it currently is.

The realists are amazed at the progress we've made in acheiving some goals, and what actual progress we realistically plan to make.

What has been achieved in the middle of such a freaking mess in Iraq is great. Complaining on the sidelines is useless to Iraq, the US and humankind.

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There's another category, too, Lash (well, probably more than just one more).

Those who take a middle ground, neither a realist nor an idealist (as you have described them). I'll call them creatives. They do not live to solve 'problems'(since something is only a problem if you decide it is), or to whine and bang their heads against walls, but rather to create and learn. They have no strict political/religious allegiance, but may stand wherever seems best suited at the time.

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flushd wrote:

There's another category, too, Lash (well, probably more than just one more).

Those who take a middle ground, neither a realist nor an idealist (as you have described them). I'll call them creatives. They do not live to solve 'problems'(since something is only a problem if you decide it is), or to whine and bang their heads against walls, but rather to create and learn. They have no strict political/religious allegiance, but may stand wherever seems best suited at the time.

Those are called moderates.
Name one famous moderate,and what did they accomplish?

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They are not called moderates, bc they might show up anywhere on the political spectrum at any time. That's the whole point. Razz

And yes, those people rarely are recognized in their times. A lot of them get chewed up or killed or silenced.

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George Will, the eternally sour-faced TV "personality," who more often looks like he just had a meal of sour grapes and just removed a splintered broomstick from his ass represents "happiness." This is a profound joke.

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Lash wrote:

McGentrix wrote:
snood wrote:
I find a lot of anger in white male conservatives who think they are some kind of threatened species.

Should it surprise anyone that snood finds a lot of anger in white male conservatives? I know I am not surprised.

I was mulling this relationship the other day. Wonder if snood has questions about how this dynamic originates....?

Lemme see, I'm obviously not as cerebrally gifted as Lash, but lemme guess... hmmm... I bet you mean I started it, huh?

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ebrown_p wrote:

Foxy, Do you really expect a serious response to the rather silly premise of this thread?

OK, then... I will give you one.

There are clearly both unhappy liberals and unhappy conservatives. (Right now there are probably more happy conservatives than liberals, but that is a transient thing that might very well might change in 2006 or 2008).

But the difference is WHY liberals and conservative are unhappy.

Things that make conservatives unhappy:
- Homosexuals marrying.
- Immigrants crossing the border to make a better life for themselve and their families.
- Single mothers getting food stamps.

Things that make liberals unhappy.
- Prisoners of the US government being tortured.
- Kids and wives dying from handguns.
- Families without access to health care.

The difference is clear...
...Liberals get unhappy because others are unjustly unhappy.
...Conservatives get unhappy because others are unjustly happy.

Conservatives are deeply upset with welfare-- even though it doubtlessly helps deserving families who are truly in need-- because some people get more than they deserve.

Liberals are deeply upset with Guantanamo-- even though some of the prisoners are doubtlessly connected to terrorism-- because some prisoners there are imprisoned injustly without cause.

The question eBrown is what makes liberal happy? Several have denied the premise. All you have done in your post is three (angry and bashing) statements about what makes conservatives unhappy and what makes liberal unhappy. The thread title, however, is "Liberalism is not Conducive to Happiness". Other liberals are also taking shots at conservatives or whatever is going on socially or politically or George Will and referencing themselves as angry. So far nobody has shown how in any way liberals are happier or even happy about anything.

So if the thread title is so silly and/or incorrect, or George Will is so wrong, what in the sociopolitical spectrum makes liberals happy? Can you think of 10 things? 5 things? Anything?

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I can think of one right away -- if a bomb would fall into your house.

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Well that is certainly a happy thought LW. Are you seeing that one thing that makes liberals happy is seeing conservative points of view or the conservatives who express them blown up, squashed, silenced, or whatever?

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Actually I was joking but it makes me extremely happy to see people who laud politicians and get handed their plate of crow every time.

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Okay there's one thing that makes liberals happy:
1) Seeing people getting discredited. (Can we safely say this means conservative people being discredited as opposed to liberal people?)

Any others? Anybody?

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Jeez, who could possibly be "happy", given the conflict & instability that Bush & co. have created in the world? What's to be happy about, politically? Personally, I would be a lot happier now if the Iraq invasion, for example, had never happened.

p.s. .... Can someone enlighten me on the RealClearPolitics web-site (that this article came from). Looks rather more like RealConservativePolitics to me ....

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The truth is the sourpuss George Will was unlikely happy when he wrote that essay. Being gleeful in putting down a huge portion of the population to bolster one's own ego is hardly a formula for happiness. Who could be happy discussing politicians? I do it for a relatively small amoung of time and quickly realize what a drudge it is. I'd rather do some happy things myself. Those on these boards who are preoccupied with politics are advised to do the same.

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Msolga you kind of reinforced George Will's thesis.

The George Will column was also certainly posted in the many newspapers to which he is syndicated. RealClear politics is a collection of sources that speak to the headline news of the day and includes pro and con views on virtually all major issues plus some interesting commentary. TechCentral that produces the website probably does tilt a bit right of center philosophically, but the sources they use for the major issues are generally quite balanced with all available points of view. You will also find this to be true of the Drudge website that also includes a lot of different points of view in the links provided.

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Foxfyre wrote:

Msolga you kind of reinforced George Will's thesis.

The George Will column was alsp also certainly posted in the many newspapers to which he is syndicated. RealClear politics is a collection of sources that speak to the headline news of the day and includes pro and con views on virtually all major issues plus some interesting commentary. They probably do tilt a bit right of center philosophically, but the sources they use are generally quite balanced with all available views.

Thesis? I wouldn't quite call it that.

I don't know about reinforcing his view, either. It's quite possible to be a contented with your own personal life, yet quite appalled by political events at the same time & to want to change things for the better. You don't necessarily have to be an unhappy person to recognize, say, a social injustice or an ill-advised invasion of another country. What does being "happy" have to do it?

Seriously, that site is considered balanced? It seems more than a little tilted to the right, to me.

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Liberalism is Not Conducive to Happiness

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