World Happiness report 2013

[LogGrad98]

Never said it was the perfect country, in fact, my point was that it isn't. And they have plenty of gender issues/roles to work out. But even so, still outwardly happy. Yes, even women. And there is probably something to be learned from that.

And btw, Indian reported rapes would have to be 3000% higher just to match the US level. 4600% to match Sweden on a per 100,000 basis. Who knows , they might surpass those levels quite easily, but given that nobody even has a ballpark # for the reality, it's probably not fair to just assume based on outrage/media reports of bad incidents until that data point becomes more reliable. No harm in calling it a problem or working towards betterment in that area as it's always a problem if it happens at all though.

That is the magic phrase. How many go unreported. Over 600 rapes were reported in Delhi in 2012, with one conviction. How does that inspire women to report, when the retaliation for reporting could be far far worse? India is a human-rights, particularly a womens-rights, wasteland. I can't think of a single place in America where this would hold even remotely true, including college campuses where you hear the most reports of women feeling unsafe due to the risk of rape.

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/02/opinion/the-unspeakable-truth-about-rape-in-india.html

The government does not keep statistics on gang rape, but over all, rapes increased 25 percent from 2006 to 2011. More than 600 rapes were reported in New Delhi alone in 2012. So far, only one attack has resulted in a conviction.

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/31/world/asia/rape-incites-women-to-fight-culture-in-india.html

 

[CitizenofCapua]

Never said it was the perfect country, in fact, my point was that it isn't. And they have plenty of gender issues/roles to work out. But even so, still outwardly happy. Yes, even women. And there is probably something to be learned from that.

And btw, Indian reported rapes would have to be 3000% higher just to match the US level. 4600% to match Sweden on a per 100,000 basis. Who knows , they might surpass those levels quite easily, but given that nobody even has a ballpark # for the reality, it's probably not fair to just assume based on outrage/media reports of bad incidents until that data point becomes more reliable. No harm in calling it a problem or working towards betterment in that area as it's always a problem if it happens at all though.

Indians probably seems like happy cause most of them believe in reincarnation. They believe that they might be living a ****ty life right now and its impossible to reach prosperity in existing caste system. So you dont need to work, struggle etc. cause its inevitable and there is nothing you can do about it.. In your next life youll be a wealthy person anyway... So its a kind of mental mastorbation. Their happiness is only about afterdeath, earthly they have very few reasons to be happy. And think about the happiness of the secular Indians at that situation, there is no *consolation for them.

 

[Duck Rodgers]

That is the magic phrase. How many go unreported. Over 600 rapes were reported in Delhi in 2012, with one conviction. How does that inspire women to report, when the retaliation for reporting could be far far worse? India is a human-rights, particularly a womens-rights, wasteland. I can't think of a single place in America where this would hold even remotely true, including college campuses where you hear the most reports of women feeling unsafe due to the risk of rape.

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/02/opinion/the-unspeakable-truth-about-rape-in-india.html



https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/31/world/asia/rape-incites-women-to-fight-culture-in-india.html

Exactly. In a city of 17 million people. And 24,206 reported in a country of 1.2 Billion. So we're trying to fill in such a huge statistical gap....based on what? What if their rape rate is actually lower because a lot of women hide out? Is that not entirely possible? I'm just saying, there is no way to know what reality is given current reporting conditions are. Regardless, nobody is arguing that women in India have it really good.

The only thing I claim is that if I were to send any of you to Denmark(#1) on the list and India (#111) for one month each and then asked you after which people you thought were happier, none of you would say Denmark. The UN's criteria is obviously listed right under the chart. It basically boils down to happy governments. Governments that don't have to manage a ton of people, governments that don't have much opposition to high taxation, governments that are resource rich, and ultimately governments that dole out goods and services. That's what the top of the chart is. It's hardly got much to do with individual anything.

 

[ema]

Nice contrary arguments from Duck Rodgers here, I like it. Though Log has good points too.

 

[LogGrad98]

Exactly. In a city of 17 million people. And 24,206 reported in a country of 1.2 Billion. So we're trying to fill in such a huge statistical gap....based on what? What if their rape rate is actually lower because a lot of women hide out? Is that not entirely possible? I'm just saying, there is no way to know what reality is given current reporting conditions are. Regardless, nobody is arguing that women in India have it really good.

The only thing I claim is that if I were to send any of you to Denmark(#1) on the list and India (#111) for one month each and then asked you after which people you thought were happier, none of you would say Denmark. The UN's criteria is obviously listed right under the chart. It basically boils down to happy governments. Governments that don't have to manage a ton of people, governments that don't have much opposition to high taxation, governments that are resource rich, and ultimately governments that dole out goods and services. That's what the top of the chart is. It's hardly got much to do with individual anything.

That's accurate IMO.

But it is so very subjective as to which we might think are happier. I spent some time in Sweden, and the impression I got was that the general populace was very happy compared to America. Not as large a sense of entitlement, not such a large problem with lawsuits and the "gimme gimme gimme" and the world owes me everything attitude. Generally people seemed more at ease and friendly. But that is so subjective that it is not an accurate way to measure what is really going on in a society.

 

[CitizenofCapua]

Exactly. In a city of 17 million people. And 24,206 reported in a country of 1.2 Billion. So we're trying to fill in such a huge statistical gap....based on what? What if their rape rate is actually lower because a lot of women hide out? Is that not entirely possible? I'm just saying, there is no way to know what reality is given current reporting conditions are. Regardless, nobody is arguing that women in India have it really good.

The only thing I claim is that if I were to send any of you to Denmark(#1) on the list and India (#111) for one month each and then asked you after which people you thought were happier, none of you would say Denmark. The UN's criteria is obviously listed right under the chart. It basically boils down to happy governments. Governments that don't have to manage a ton of people, governments that don't have much opposition to high taxation, governments that are resource rich, and ultimately governments that dole out goods and services. That's what the top of the chart is. It's hardly got much to do with individual anything.

As you can see at the list, criterias for happiness are; GDP per capita, social supports, freedom to make life choices, generosity, perceptions of corruption, healthy life expectancy. Can you say India is an assertive country about all these topics?

EDIT; Also in the article i found this explanation about the notion of happiness;

The key to proper measurement must begin
with the meaning of the word “happiness.” The
problem, of course, is that happiness is used
in at least two ways — the first as an emotion
(“Were you happy yesterday?”) and the second
as an evaluation (“Are you happy with your life
as a whole?”). If individuals were to routinely mix
up their responses to these very different questions,
then measures of happiness might tell us very
little. Changes in reported happiness used to
track social progress would perhaps reflect little
more than transient changes in emotion. Or
impoverished persons who express happiness in
terms of emotion might inadvertently diminish
society’s will to fight poverty.

Last sentence probably explaining the Indians situation and others like them in the world.

 

[One Brow]

Appeal to authority, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing.

Authority <> experience