To Anonymous and Dima

Submitted by JustMe (United States), Feb 25, 2006 at 16:23

Two studies I found:

This study placed Filipinos #1 in a study - September 7, 2005 [conducted in the Philippines by the Social Weather Stations poll group as part of a World Values Survey coordinated by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research.]

"Filipino happiness is really part of our coping mechanisms, rather than being the product of a good life."
"I'm ambivalent about these compliments, and that ambivalence came back to me as I read the Yazhou Zhoukan articles, which paint a picture of a country buckling under the economic crisis, with widespread poverty and serious political problems, referring to the clamor for Ms Arroyo to resign. One Chinese phrase used in the article summarized it all: "amid great suffering, happiness.""

Here's another study saying Nigerians are the happiest in the world:

"Nigerians: A recent study (a worldwide investigation of socio-cultural and political changes across the world), allegedly carried out between 1999 and 2001 and published in a British Science magazine, has been reported as describing Nigeria as the home of the happiest people on earth. The same report also said the least happy live in Romania, in Eastern Europe.

But a cross-section of Nigerians reacting to the claim has queried the authenticity of the research, saying the outcome of the study is not a true reflection of the situation in Nigeria."

"Some Nigerians suspect the people's legendary resilience, even in the face of life-threatening difficulty and abuse, has been mistaken for happiness. "And that is where the problem lies" says Kingsley Obom-Egbulem, an Information Officer with Journalists Against Aids. "The truth is that problems alone can't kill a Nigerian" he continues, "In spite of the odds, he will always survive. Sometimes it beats my imagination to think that some people are contented with living under bridges. Whenever I see them playing and eating in such unhealthy environment, it occurs to me that they are not in the least perturbed by their situation. What we are experiencing in this country is enough to dampen the masses' spirit"."

Wondering if Nigerians are truly happy in the face of insecurity of lives and property and excruciating conditions at home, Adams concludes that the only happy people in the country are those in government: " They are the ones who have nothing to worry about because they and their families benefit from corrupt government officials".

So here are two different studies with different results, and then there's the one you quoted which I also saw. I guess I would say happiness is pretty difficult to measure. It has to do with one's perception of their situation. I'm not trying to be crude, but an example that comes to mind is if you throw a bone out to a well fed dog, it probably isn't quite as excited as a dog that hasn't ate in several days. It doesn't take much to make a starving dog happy. Please don't take offense that I used dogs in this example.

I'm glad you've got one husband. I can see you think husbands in the U.S. are unfaithful and go to prostitutes, belly dancers, girlfriends, concumbines, etc. In my marriage that hasn't occurred. Some husbands and wives are unfaithful, at which point I would advise either the behavior stop and work things out, if not, I would divorce. No one should put up with that behavior. I know this may sound like I'm a big fan of divorce, but I'm not. It should never be done lightly, only when VERY necessary. You may say you watch our talk shows on tv which show unfaithful husbands and wives and Mormons marrying multiple partners, and I would say to you that these shows find the worse cases they can in order to keep people watching. I know there are Mormons all over this country but they are honestly considered a cult to most people. As I said before, they are not representative of our country, just a segment of our society. My grandmother lived with my mom until she passed away at the age of 91. We all enjoyed her very much. We do have nursing homes for families that can't take care of their elderly. I guess I'm at a disadvantage since I'm not sure where you're from, but I guess from what you wrote that there aren't such places in your society. I may buy a bottle of wine once every three or four months; I go to a bar maybe that often and drink some beer and throw darts, which I find fun. All my money goes to my family too. I wasn't trying to say we have such a GREATER society than yours, but I think you all think ours is pretty bad. Someone mentioned the movie 'American Beauty' sums up our country. I haven't seen it, but can only imagine it portrays us at our worst. You really have to take our movie and television not so literally. They like to portray us in a very left left wing liberal light. That's Hollywood!! (very different than the rest of the country.)

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".