Yet you posted this article in the "News/Activism" forum. :-)
Happiness isn’t something that you experience, it’s something you remember.
We remember the pre-pandemic Trump years.
“We have the highest number of billionaires and millionaires of any country, who collectively could use their power and resources to permanently end the struggles of millions of Americans. “
Must be the pre-election talking point - seeing this in a lot of places all at once.
“Permanently end the struggles of millions...” The only way to do that is to round them up into camps and exterminate them. Life is struggle.
These people are sick and evil.
Happiness is a byproduct of one’s purpose or contentment in the processes of every day living.
This is the attitude among the elites on the Left (and the same on the Right elites, but for different reasons)
They write this BS, always assuming they won't have to be part of the "little people", that they will have the "freedom" to pursue what THEY think is important. Things like like multimillion dollar beachfront homes, vacations to great places, cars that are comfortable good shoes, expensive meals, the top electronic devices, and you could go on and on and on. These jackasses are the ones who deliberately destroyed family, religion, and community of any kind in their quest to reform our society into people cut off from each other, isolated, and lonely. THEY are the ones primarily responsible for this.
It is telling that this ignorant jackass of an author said these things:
"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.
"If we contribute our knowledge, talents and humanity to our collective happiness rather than the pursuit of personal wealth, power and fame, personal happiness would likely also be achieved."
This thought process, shared by all Leftists, is entirely contradictory to what the founders of this country, INCLUDING JEFFERSON, thought. They recognized fully the concept of collectivization as inherently and unfixable EVIL.
And the Founders also believed and understood that Personal Freedom and Economic Freedom are inextricably intertwined.
You CANNOT have Personal Freedom without Economic Freedom, and you cannot have Economic Freedom without Personal Freedom.
Eat bugs, be happy? I’m not going to read the article. I’m already happy.
The author needs crayons, a coloring book, milk and cookies, then a warm blanket and a 2pm nap.
At least we don’t live on less than $2 a day
Oh, I’m so glad you posted this article from The Los Angeles Times on how to secure happiness.
I plan to read every word. Twice. And put into practice what they say to do.
Thanks comrade.
“True happiness is collective.”
“Americans can get happier by changing how we pursue happiness.....”
Sounds like a start of an meandering, non sensical speech by the Cackling Co-Pilot aka Willie Brown’s beaotch.
Odd that she didn’t mention that Jefferson derived his statement from John Locke’s “life, liberty and property”. I don’t have a reference, but I have seen where some authors have stated that Jefferson modified Locke’s phase to avoid the issue of slaves as property.
My experience has taught me that the acquisition of things is not the key to happiness but freedom is absolutely indispensable. Telling me that I will find happiness by being less selfish, which really means serving the state, is bull crap.
Jefferson was just paraphrasing Locke’s original equation of happiness = property. I suppose he thought the ‘pursuit of happiness’ sounded a little softer than the ‘pursuit of property’; his judgement was properly correct. But if Jefferson had no place telling us property equals happiness, the Times has equally no business telling us it doesn’t.
Forced altruism, which involves coercively taking from some individuals to provide unearned benefits to others, would violate multiple key criteria for an objective law in a rational society:
Not grounded in observable reality
There is no observable, empirical basis in reality to justify forcibly expropriating the products of an individual's effort to give to others who did not earn it. It contradicts the undeniable fact that individuals have distinct efforts, values, and resultant outcomes.
Violations of valid philosophical principles
Forced altruism violates the bedrock philosophic axiom that individual human beings have sovereign minds/bodies and inalienable rights, including property rights over the fruits of their labor. It treats people as mere means to others' ends.
Severed from derivation of property rights
Property rights are derived from an individual's application of their reason and effort to transform nature's resources for their own use. Forced altruism severs this integral mind-effort-product connection.
Contradicts human nature and rational self-interest
As volitional beings, humans rationally act to gain values that sustain their lives. Forced altruism negates this reality by forcibly taking the product of their effort aimed at their own interests.
Destroys incentives for productive effort
By divorcing effort from reward, policies of forced altruism cripple the incentives for economic productivity and wealth creation necessary for human flourishing.
Not universally applicable via objective criteria
Forced altruism discriminates by subjectively deeming some individuals as unfairly "privileged" to justify taking their property for others deemed more deserving based on no objective standard.
Logically incoherent and self-contradictory
Forced altruism claims to be advocating selflessness while itself employing the supremely selfish act of forcible expropriation against peaceful individuals to achieve its aims. Rather than being derived from observations about reality and valid ethical principles, forced altruism stems from non-objective emotional premises that individuals do not have inviolate rights and that need entitles some to the product of others' efforts.
It not only violates the specific criteria for an objective law, but contradicts the entire philosophical base required for genuinely objective laws aimed at human flourishing - rational self-interest, individual rights, private property, and rewarding productive effort.
Forced altruism is thus a fundamentally irrational, anti-reality construct that could find no place in a legal system guided by observational facts and logically validated ethical principles. It is antithetical to the objectivity defining a proper system of laws for a rational society.
You just have to learn how to love Big Brother. Easier. You have to realize that you love Big Brother. Such joy and contentment you have never known until you know how awesome Big Brother is.
I know a guy that teaches a class at UCLA on “How to be Happy”.
1. THROW AWAY your Television.
2. Disregard and take as Propaganda anything uttered by anyone in the Entertainment Industry.
3. Life is short, the only reason to ever bitch and complain is if you are a Hollywood Actor or trying to become one.
4. Two or three near Death Experiences will definitely change your attitude towards life.
reminds me of their Guv Gruesome Newsome
“for entertainnment purposes only”
I’ll be happier when leftist busybodies leave me alone.