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A wise american woman!

I am unsettled about the attention you have devoted to the matter of the "wise latina."

The "latina" is not a monolithic matter. There is endless diversity in its composition. So I feel the remark is a biased one which I regret is an indication of a limit in Sotomayor's foundations regardless of how well she may demonstrate a learnedness of the letters of the law. Her sense of bias about who she is and about the identities of herslef and others has some way to go.

I cannot understand how you chose this set up
for discussion? How people are set up to comment about something that is artificial in the same way that Asian or African is overly simplistic or Hindu or Christian or Arabic or Jewish in terms of personal-collective identities.

What about a wise American woman?

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JP if u had to watch french cinema u'd kill yourself also.
maybe, if your stats are true, it's because they are not bound by religion. maybe it's for job creation. don't know, don't care, they are free to do as they please.

Happiness studies are truly bunk, I'm sorry.

How do you define it? How do you quantify it?

And in terms of poor Asian countries claiming they have high happiness ratings - what is it based on? That the people are happy the local militia didn't arrest them that morning?

Kai,
I don't think you can draw a parallel between the suicide "culture" of countries like China and Japan, where it is a common trope in fairy tales and literature, and France. i wonder if the suicide rate in France might be linked to the high level of psychotropic meds they take - they had a very high rate in the early 90's, don't know how it compares now to the US, when it seems everyone and his dog is placebo-ically blissed out on prozac.

kai from NJ-NYC,

Nope, just being the devil’s advocate. I 100% agree that what defines happiness is defiantly a cultural thing along with many other factors. It would be easy for us in this country to say the grass is always greener on the other side. But at the end of the day what makes people happy in Denmark might not make people happy here or in China or Japan. So the reason I think this entire survey is bunk is not because socialism is better or worse but because happiness can mean many different things to many different people.

JP - France's suicide rates may be culturally based, like in Japan. You seem to be fishing for something. There are never perfect, precise explanations to all situations and topics because of many variables, just trends that can be generalized.

So JP, what is your answer? Maybe it has to do with the "socialist countries in Western Europe..."

Why was this piece even aired is the unasked question here - Answer: extending the welfare state and the taxes to pay for it to our society in slavish attempt to mimic, once again our tacit bettters, europeans. LOL.
No Thanks.

hjs from 11211 and kai from NJ-NYC,

France has a higher rate of suicide then Denmark and last time I checked, they are no more affected by long nights then we are in NYC. France also has one of the highest suicide rates for all socialist countries in Western Europe. How come? They have more guaranteed jobs then we do and a better health system then we do and better unemployment benefits then we do and they eat better then we do and they exercise more then we do etc, etc, etc….

Well, whatever those drunken Danes are up to now, at least they're not getting into their boats and pestering us anymore. ;-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Heathen_Army

all this talk about the material. what about religion? how religious are Danes?

i've heard there's a lot of agnosticism and atheism up in those regions. do they have less guilt and fear of the unknown? less rigidity of ideology?

Suicide rates, like depression, are almost always higher in the northern latitudes. Look at all of the Scandinavian countries, for instance, and then compare it to similar rates in Washington state and Oregon, where I once lived.

People begin to adjust to not seeing the sun and being in the cold after a while, but that does not mean that everyone can deal with it.

By the way, you should make it clear that that video of the cops hugging cyclists was a fake:

http://www.infrastructurist.com/2009/04/30/fake-viral-vid-of-cops-hugging-cyclists-fools-everyone/

By the way, you should make it clear that that video of the cops hugging cyclists was a fake:

http://www.infrastructurist.com/2009/04/30/fake-viral-vid-of-cops-hugging-cyclists-fools-everyone/

i think the drinking and the suicide has something to do with the long winter nights

I lived in Copenhagen for 9 years, during which time I taught English lit at the university. The many Danish friends I stayed friendly with are content enough to use Denmark as a base, but they're bored. Not enough going on. Not enough lively challenges.

Think of the remark by Orson Welles in The Third Man: What great art came from Switzerland, the country that produced cuckoo clocks. (Of course, Danish design is fabulous.)

The women who just called and claimed that the IQ of people in Denmark is lower then in the US is simply out of her mind.
Denmark has a highly educated population, with a superior school system.
They also speak several languages, while here in America many of us can barely speak English, let alone any other language.

Drunk all the time? That's why they're so happy!!! (wink)

If everyone is so happy then why does Denmark not only have a higher suicide rate then United States, but also higher then most of Western Europe?

I've spent quite a bit of time in Denmark, and besides being a beautiful country, the way they use bicycles there is absolutely amazing, and I really wish we could start taking the bicycle as seriously here in America as they do in Denmark.
The first time I was there, I saw what had to be a 70 year old lady doing heading home from grocery shopping.
Here in America, people get into their cars to drive less then a mile to get ice cream from 7-11.
Bicycles have practically been forgotten here. You never see commercials on TV about them. You rarely see people riding them on TV. Bicycling needs an image makeover so it becomes hip and desirable.
Our kids should be spending more time on bicycles then they do texting, playing video games and posting on Facebook.

I was going to comment on the expectations issue as well -- I just finished reading an article in The Atlantic that discusses how the Danes are happy not because of external factors like healthcare, but because of internal factors like their definition of "happiness." Go about 3/4 of the way down on this page and begin reading:

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200906/happiness/3

It should also be said that many Danes along with those living in the Netherlands (where 52% of your salary is taken by the government) enjoy HUGE government subsidies for child-rearing, education, and even recieve money for VACATIONS.

The Danish example is exactly what the dogmatic neoliberal, free-marketeers deplore: a capitalist society that willingly submits itself to higher taxes, nationalized healthcare/education, and attempts to close economic inequality with good results.

Certainly what works in Denmark would not necessarily work in the U.S. because of the huge differences between the countries on population, diversity, land mass, culture, etc.

What is clear is that there are some social capitalist hybrids that do exist and do function well, and that the U.S. can learn to be happier from other models and other societies. We aren't the only ones...

maybe they are happy cause they know they will live longer than americans

when I was visiting friends in Copenhagen the local joke in response to "Danish being the happiest in the world" was that it was because they have the lowest expecations of anyone in the world.

(it is a wonderful place though with very nice people)