It’s all relative. Happiness is how we feel in relation to others. [/quote]
There are some connections but not totally relative
[quote=briansd1]
It’s interesting that Arraya mentions psychological health as a determinant of social health and sustainability.
[/quote]
I think a healthy society is something to strive for, don’t you?
[quote=briansd1]
More generally, I believe that the 20th century (the American Century) is a rather unusual period in human history.
[/quote]
All time periods are unique – the 20th century was the tail end of the industrial revolution, when the west went from being a mostly agrarian society to urban. This is a major transition. In 1820 80% of the population was in food production. It’s like 2% in the west now.
[quote=briansd1]
The relative prosperity and social superiority have eroded so that’s why we have all that anxiety in “Middle America.” The Tea Party is a manifestation of White middle-class anxiety. [/quote]
Well, if you put an old white guy in office you would see anxiety in different areas. The unemployment in urban centers is as high as it’s ever been.
The shock to national pride and self-image is formidable, and it is sudden as well. The country is coping very badly with this shock. The population is seeking scapegoats and lashing out wildly, and not too intelligently, at the presumed guilty parties. With an all to willing ruling class ready to guide this anger. The last hope seems to be that someone is at fault, and therefore the remedy is to change the people in authority. This is futile – it’s just not the reality of how the system operates. The difference between the left and right is the right wants to bludgeon the working and poor classes with a blunt object over their head knocking them out quickly and the left wants to slowly poison them. I will say, a left wing government will be better for social stability and slow the decline. Kind of like a slow boil. I rather the masses get boiling water thrown on their backs.
The United States today is, I would say, one of the least stable modern political entities in the world-system. Driven by massive demographic shifts towards a lower standard of living, extreme high stress and the subsequent behavior and physical problems associated with this, misguided troubleshooting and mind numbing propaganda which exacerbates the madness.
But, your glee in this downfall is misplaced and hence inappropriate. You think if only people were smart and voted D that this outcome would have changed. This is just a modern liberal defense mechanism to throwing the poor and working class under the bus 40 years ago. You are, in a sense, blaming victims.
The decline of the United States is not the result of poor decisions by its president or politicians, but of structural realities in the capitalist world-system. And nobody will say that.
[quote=briansd1]
Unlike physical needs such as hunger, psychological stress can be eliminated by changing the way we think. Honestly, I believe that stress and anxiety are self-induced. It’s up to individuals to change how we absorbe the external stimuli [/quote]
No brian, like your thoughts on addiction, this is not about will power. See the link to addiction and the brain I posted up thread. Stresses are induced by environmental changes – these changes are brought about by shifting demographics and living standards exacerbated by mass communications. The changes the spawned these stresses will intensify.
The increasing underclass, destruction of the middle class and growing wealth disparity are not in peoples heads. The are a reality as well as a trajectory that does not end well. And it won’t be stopped until it snaps.
[quote=briansd1]
I still believe that temeculaguy is right. As long as the human condition improves where there’s more freedom, more choices, less poverty for a greater portion of the world’s population, we are better off. Bring it on! [/quote]
It’s not improving – besides for certain segments due to short-term factors that will end. But it’s always good to be super-wealthy;)
