Posted on 07/05/2024 9:53:13 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
When Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence that our unalienable rights include life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, he had a very specific definition of happiness in mind. He believed that happiness was the result of living virtuously — that becoming a fully happy human required devoting yourself to service to your fellow beings.
His words galvanized generations of Americans to seek out their own personal well-being. Yet the happiness we pursue today is a far cry from that which Jefferson envisioned. It’s putting us in conflict with ourselves, and with others.
Modern Americans have been conditioned to believe that happiness is something that we get for ourselves, by ourselves, through achieving material wealth, personal success and individual gratification. I call this belief Old Happy. It is powered by systems of individualism, capitalism and domination that have fueled our culture for generations.
Growing up in this individualistic culture, we are taught to see ourselves as separate from other people. We’re taught that happiness comes from focusing more and more on ourselves and that we can perfect and grow this happiness through personal achievement. This does not work. In one 2015 study, researchers tried to understand why Americans who aggressively pursued happiness were, in fact, more likely to be lonely and depressed. It was because they believed that focusing on themselves was the secret to finding happiness.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
By not owning anything and insisting on being happy?
Remove government regulation and control and leave me alone
they wrote an article portraying a supreme libertarian like Jefferson... as a communist.
They are skilled at doing the same for whoever else in history to try to brainwash people
Hey LA Times, I notice you are not being of service to me. You have not mowed my yard or washed my cars. Actions speak louder than hollow words.
Secure our borders and leave me alone
Yes. Be happy through ‘radical acceptance’ of indentured servitude.
By giving up.
You will own nothing and like it.
“....I call this belief Old Happy.”
I call the author’s belief on this topic “Horse$hit”.
So the elite take everything for themselves that would make you happy and then decide how you will be happy with what is left. We will let you grow watermelons in your own nightsoil, and you will be happy.
Americans have already surrendered. Oh sure, some will brag "not me!", but the reality is the country is ready to be enslaved rather than right back.
You can’t be truly happy until you own nothing, have no privacy, eat bugs, are defenseless, and, of course, vote ‘rat in every election.
That is what will define political and social conflict in the 21st century. Will rugged individualism or collectivism win out?
Woke psychobabble
This is so wrong. No man is an island we are taught, but we are free to chose our associates and between ourselves decide how we as a community of friends and associates are going to be "happy" and full-filled based upon the fruit of our own labor - e.g. personl achievment, which means personl contribution to society these elite AHs keep forgetting. The elite tell us you will be happy with what we give you, living where we tell you to live, how we tell you to live, doing what we tell you to do - and oh, don't even think about thinking what we don't tell you to think.
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