Gallup published the findings of its on-going health and well-being survey and discovered that Americans would be happier and healthier if they lived in Denmark. Using the same poll, 83% of Danes are not just happy and healthy, they are thriving. Compare that to the United States were just 49% of people are thriving while nearly as many people are struggling (47%) if not actively suffering (4%).
This probably comes as no news to Americans who are in the middle of a presidential election that likely won’t rid the White House of the Republican menace and enduring yet another slide in home valuations amid economic slow down, sky-rocketing gasoline prices and steadily increasing food prices. Americans know that it sucks to be them, and if they didn’t after Barack Obama set them straight on their “bitterness” problem that manifests in a complusive need to go to church, legally arm themselves and talk smack about immigrants, well now they do.
And if you are thinking that this might be some worthless study that some pointy domed researcher at Harvard will parse into a best-selling self-help tome to secure his tenure and meet Oprah, you would be correct in thinking so as there is plenty of precedent – but still very wrong. The researchers hope that their findings which can be broken down by occupation, commute time and exercise habits, will help employers better understand what they can do to create happier and healthier workers. And if that isn’t enough to give the thinking person nightmare visions of the future, there is the further hope that these same statistics could even be used to compare health and happiness by ZIP code, creating quite a measuring stick for future generations of politicians.
Excuse me? There is happiness to be found as a cog in the great wheel of capitalism while being political pawns of Satan?
And it gets better.
“There’s never been anything quite like it,” said Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel Prize winner in economic sciences.
“You’re getting details about what it’s like to live in this country,” said Kahneman, a Princeton University professor brought in by Gallup to discuss the potential uses for the data. “What is the experience of the weekend? What is the experience of the weekday for someone who is sick and has to go to work in the morning? We are going to learn a great deal about what are the determinants of actual happiness.”
Determinants of actual happiness? Weekends. They make most people happy whereas having to go to work sick – not so much. They need to break down data to figure this out? Yes. The answer is yes because it’s not about people being happy and healthy and thriving. It’s about corporations making profits for shareholders and politicians manipulating the masses sedated with “happiness”. Kind of Matrix-y, don’t ya think? Find out what people want and plug them into it.
anniegirl1138 
A lot of Hollywood films about people living their dreams end up with the protagonist making a lot of money – the one that comes to mind is “The Pursuit of Happyness”. Didn’t he end up being in stockbroking or finance?
A Danish friend of mine was telling me that when she grew up she didn’t understand the whole status anxiety thing because it is a far more egalitarian society. People were not hung up on owning more houses (ala rich dad poor dad phenomenon) and pay was more equitable regardless of profession. That and the more vulnerable in society had a safety net. Great infrastructure.
I think if your personality suits our very competitive, dog eat dogs, rat race society – and you buy into what you’re supposed to buy into, you can live happily. But when you’re values are less in tune with the society you live in, it’s pretty difficult to get to work in the morning.
Interesting post, way more complex then I can get into, as my head tends to really hurt these days when I tackle anything more difficult then where did I put my care keys. I can really relate to this though, sadly. I do not have some of the things that were alluded to in the quotes you used to contend with, such as a long commute, or long hours, but still I am unhappy. I see things in this country going very badly now, not just on a career front, but on an EVERYTHING front and that has me so unhappy. I fear that even if workers were happy that the rest of what is happening to us would squash that in an instant.
The article mentioned that weekends make people happy, but I fear that that will soon come to a screeching halt as we are increasingly forced to sit inside our soon-to-be foreclosed homes, watching gas prices soar, staring at the one can of food in the house and deciding who gets to eat it tonight.
I know in my case as I get older I have a REAL need to simplify my life, but damn this is ridiculous.
I might start seriously looking at moving abroad…the moon sounds pretty good right about now…though the US wants to conquer that too I am sure.
Do the ends justify the means? Is it better than “beatings will continue until morale improves”?
This is a complex piece you have written, Annie! i like it! Working with a group of young employees at the office, purusing a change in our corporate culture through the viral marketing of “The Dream Manager” – a book that captures the “help people achieve their dreams, and they’re better, more loyal employees” concept…
There are many broken people in the US, while we remain a wealthy nation. At this point, i welcome any mechanism to tackle even the symptoms – we’re a capitalist nation. Perhaps working through the corporate bottom line is the only way to make change…
Matrix-y indeed. I’ve been somewhat baffled by the media coverage of the recent release of the video game “Grand Theft Auto IV”. Excuse me? WTF? This is what people want?