THINGS ARE GOOD, SO WHY ARE WE SO PESSIMISTIC?

The Local ^ | Aug 3, 2007 | Nima Sanandaji

[JohnA]

New research shows us that people around the world, including in the West, are satisfied with their lives and are enjoying a rising quality of life. So why are westerners so pessimistic, asks Nima Sanandaji, of think-tank Captus.

[Toddsterpatriot]

So why are westerners so pessimistic

Not enough fiber.

[Rummenigge]

because it’s so good that it will be hard to keep it that way :)

(Prepare for the worst and hope the best)

[dakine]

It’s their bosses’ fault...

[IronJack]

I suspect it’s because there’s profit in gloom. Frightened people are easily manipulated, so it’s in someone’s best interest to keep people scared. And unhappy people often welcome change. So if you’re a left-winger trying to agitate against the status quo, you’d do so by breeding discontent, even though there is little empirical reason for that angst.

[JohnA]

Notice this is from The Local, the English language Swedish paper.

Why am I pessimistic? And at the same time, optimistic?

I can get same-day service from Saab but it takes a week to get a lifetime oil change from a Toyota dealer. Go GM go!

[Vision]

Because they’re nitwit liberals who listen to negative propaganda that passes as news.

[Greg F]

Could be because we all know deep in our hearts that it is unsustainable. The head of the GAO and CBO say that our budget is unsustainable and will require 20% increase in taxes/reduction in spending for the next 75 years to make it so . . .

We are whistling past the graveyard. People aren’t pessimistic ENOUGH to make the politicians act . . .

[JohnA]

At least 1/3 this item discusses the fearsome Muslims, who are becoming far less likely to support terrorism.

Good news.

[Wings-n-Wind]

THINGS ARE GOOD, SO WHY ARE WE SO PESSIMISTIC?

Because we cannot sem to find sane, stable and pragmatic political leadership...

IOW...
We have become so open-minded our brains have fallen out...

[GingisK]

...enjoying a rising quality of life...

Let me see... My salary is 75% of what it was five years ago, and prices of everything have doubled in that time. I can't find work I trained for and refined for thirty years simply because my countrymen can find folks in third world countries to do that work at salary levels far below poverty levels in this country. Since Americans don't respect quality in anything they get, shoddy work is perfectly acceptable from those garden spots. The quality issue once again makes it impossible to buy well made products anymore.

My own government encourages illegal invasion of this Nation, and erosion of our way of life. These invaders command us to "return to Europe", and our government goons still think they are doing the right thing.

I could go on and on.

Yeah, I should really be optimistic.

[Paradox]

I believe a certain amount of pessimism is Human Nature. Its what made us prepare for the future, in times of plenty. Those not as pessimistic lived it up, only to die off in times of hardship.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

I suspect it’s because there’s profit in gloom

As much as this, I think people enjoy being pessimistic -- there's entertainment in pessimism. People enjoy thinking that some dramatic disaster is just around the corner, it breaks the boredom of day-in, day-out. It makes mundane life more dangerous and interesting. Just like the movies.

It's one reason the GREAT DOOM of global warming has caought on with people...it's our own little disaster movie that thrill-upon-thrills might be happening in our life.

People are bored a lot...a lot more than any let on. Pessimism and the coming disaster, whatever the hell it is, actually brightens their thoughts from the blue sameness of their boring lives.

[JohnA]

Good answer.

[ontap]

Can you say Democrat!!!

[stockstrader]

Because the MSM is still hard-core liberal,,,,and unfortunately, that is still where many get their news.

[antisocial]

Well, it seems to me that our country is in need of some improvement when nearly 49% of the voters voted for a traitor like John Kerry.

[ModelBreaker]

We are pessimistic because the West has boxed itself into a corner. Despite our wealth, we now have a culture that cannot persist. (1) The pill and the woman's movement have resulted in our being outbred by inferior cultures that have no intention of adopting our ways; and (2) the organs of government, media and academia have all been harnessed by the left to prevent us from passing our culture onto our children; and (3) Globalization means that our middle class is now competing against the middle class in, say, India. The middle is not holding. Western culture, for all its faults, is the only light shining in the world today. Although we think of it as "forever", it is limited in time and geography to a very small portion of humanity. Western culture is nearing its end because it cannot reproduce itself as effectively as stone-age cultures from the middle east.

Regular people sense this--maybe not as precisely as I describe above; but they understand that huge changes for the worse are underway. Our grandchildren or great-grandchildren will live in much meaner and less enlightened times. Those times will likely be understood in the far future as a new dark ages.

So I guess I count as one of the pessimists, despite the wonderful, comfortable life the Lord has given me.

[sarasota]

I share your pessimism related to the downward spiral; but my spirit still knows how to rise above it.

[theDentist]

So why are westerners so pessimistic

Too much news. FOX, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, the alphabet stations, local news, talk radio, internet... a minute-by-minute news cycle....

is anyone surprised we're so pessimistic?