I received a book over the holidays, which explores the themes relevant to human happiness or well being in different societies. The first culture is Denmark:
The high taxes that I had initially been skeptical about apparently serve to nudge Danes away from pursuing material wealth to an excessive degree, while providing them with the kind of long-term satisfaction that comes from education, health care, and an economic safety net. The folk school tradition [(which emphasizes the question "who are you?" instead of "what can you do?")], meanwhile imbued Danes with an appreciation of the arts, a populist sense of democracy, and a habit of joining clubs that keeps these Scandinavians from becoming socially isolated. Danish happiness, it seems, is also strongly linked to the trust that ordinary citizens feel for one another and to their sense that their feelings and opinions are adequately heard. pp. 49-50 Dan Buettner, Thrive
This information will not surprise many of those involved in the Zeitgeist Movement, but it surprises many Americans because we are indoctrinated from youth that money is the real measure of success and achievement, that taxes are as terrible as death itself, and that to be educated is to develop a skill to make us employable. These values differ so dramatically from what's described in the study about Danes. Another main finding was that an important factor in happiness is living in a place where everyone is of equal status. This was a very prominent point made in the recent Zeitgeist Moving Forward film: the socioeconomic disparity itself causes a stress that reduces health and longevity, when controlling for other factors like access to health services.
America talks a lot about "equality" but we all know that our everyday lives do not manifest this characteristic of equal access. An old colleague from Australia used to joke, "I thought America was a classless society, but the first thing I was asked before getting my ticket to the US was, "First class, Business class, or Coach?" In considering the 300 million dollar bonuses that some Wall St Executives get, it's remarkable to think that a huge swath of society is only worth minimum wage, $7.25/hr., while these Execs get approximately $144,000/hr. When money is essentially the only means to make a living, does this disparity not speak to the way that some people are disvalued while others are astronomically overvalued?
If money were only a means to buy artwork, it may be different, but since it is used to buy food, shelter, health care, water, transportation, and every form of recreation, it makes sense that this inequality of socioeconomic circumstances contributes to a pervasive stress. There is a chronic acknowledgement that some food, housing, and the like are unattainable for those not rich enough. Always less than.
The high taxes that I had initially been skeptical about apparently serve to nudge Danes away from pursuing material wealth to an excessive degree, while providing them with the kind of long-term satisfaction that comes from education, health care, and an economic safety net. The folk school tradition [(which emphasizes the question "who are you?" instead of "what can you do?")], meanwhile imbued Danes with an appreciation of the arts, a populist sense of democracy, and a habit of joining clubs that keeps these Scandinavians from becoming socially isolated. Danish happiness, it seems, is also strongly linked to the trust that ordinary citizens feel for one another and to their sense that their feelings and opinions are adequately heard. pp. 49-50 Dan Buettner, Thrive
This information will not surprise many of those involved in the Zeitgeist Movement, but it surprises many Americans because we are indoctrinated from youth that money is the real measure of success and achievement, that taxes are as terrible as death itself, and that to be educated is to develop a skill to make us employable. These values differ so dramatically from what's described in the study about Danes. Another main finding was that an important factor in happiness is living in a place where everyone is of equal status. This was a very prominent point made in the recent Zeitgeist Moving Forward film: the socioeconomic disparity itself causes a stress that reduces health and longevity, when controlling for other factors like access to health services.
America talks a lot about "equality" but we all know that our everyday lives do not manifest this characteristic of equal access. An old colleague from Australia used to joke, "I thought America was a classless society, but the first thing I was asked before getting my ticket to the US was, "First class, Business class, or Coach?" In considering the 300 million dollar bonuses that some Wall St Executives get, it's remarkable to think that a huge swath of society is only worth minimum wage, $7.25/hr., while these Execs get approximately $144,000/hr. When money is essentially the only means to make a living, does this disparity not speak to the way that some people are disvalued while others are astronomically overvalued?
If money were only a means to buy artwork, it may be different, but since it is used to buy food, shelter, health care, water, transportation, and every form of recreation, it makes sense that this inequality of socioeconomic circumstances contributes to a pervasive stress. There is a chronic acknowledgement that some food, housing, and the like are unattainable for those not rich enough. Always less than.
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