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Harrison Bergeron

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Posts posted by Harrison Bergeron

  1. 50 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

    You're not wrong.

    BUT.....our psychology is still that of a primate.  We can't help it.  It's the same reason you'll do stupid things to get laid, and can't help but check out the gorgeous woman walking by.  And that means we don't judge our situation relative to a past, or a place, we've never experienced.  Yes, we have it better than 1) our great grandparents in the Dust Bowl etc. had it, and 2) the average person in Bangladesh today has it.  But that doesn't matter.  Because we judge ourselves and our circumstances against our peers/fellow Americans.

    A hungry monkey is happy as hell to get the gift of a cucumber slice.  He is much better off than he was before the cucumber was available.  BUT, give his neighbor a tasty grape, and the monkey who got the shitty cucumber is not just disappointed, he's pissed:

     

    Inequality matters to human happiness.  You can try to argue against it rationally, but rational don't make a shit.  Reality is what it is.

    A recent study from the California Institute of Technology (lay explanation here) seems to bear that out: 

    Fear really is contagious, and scientists say having more people around you for support won’t help. So much for “strength in numbers.” Researchers from the California Institute of Technology used a haunted house experience with 17 rooms containing various spooky threats during their experiment. They found people were actually more scared when the group walking through the house was larger. The team also found that their fear built up and increased as people moved from room to room. Scientists say when faced with fear, people are more likely to have a heightened physical response when other people are around. This “phasic effect” involves rapid changes the body experiences as it responds to an event and is more likely to happen when other people are dealing with the same thing.

    I agree that most people lack the ability to historically or globally contextualize their situations - virtually everyone always thinks of the bigger home than theirs and not the mobile home down the street. However, I would offer we do ourselves no favors by going "Spinal Tap 11" on every issue. At least around politics and culture, every issue seems to be couched as a crisis and risks global thermonuclear war.

    I agree with you that inequality matters, but I am not sure how much. I did a quick Brave search, and there are some interesting articles:

    1. Europe and Americans - In Europe, inequality is a more significant driver of happiness, particularly among the poor and those on the left. In America, inequality's relation to happiness is more a function of being rich and less impactful among the poor.
    2. Global Study - Not really sure how to digest the country rankings ... Uzbekistan ranked #1 feels odd.
    3. Happiness is not a result of comparison

    I'm probably wrong, but I think happiness ultimately is a function of looking inward than outward. Suicide rates seem to bear this out, assuming suicide rates are a measure of ultimate unhappiness. There is not a correlation between inequality or economics and rates of suicide ... I'm too tired to Brave it, but I IIRC it actually is the opposite: suicide rates tend to be higher among the wealthy.

  2. 3 hours ago, tbone_ said:

    The pursuit of happiness is folly because it’s not something you attain. It’s simply a choice you make. It really is that simple.

    Doesn’t help though that we are constantly bombarded with messages about how unhappy, outraged, pissed, whatever we are supposed to me. Ignore that shit. Waste of energy.

    So true. In the historical and global context, 2022 America is not a bad place to be for 95% of the population, and for the 5% similar circumstances in most every other place in the world would be exponentially worse. I think there too is something that when there are not real things to worried about - in a historical / global context - we have the free time to contemplate reasons to be miserable, angry, unhappy, etc.

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  3. 3 hours ago, Porterhouse said:

    It wouldn’t to me but I don’t hear that term used to describe smart blacks. Conversely I hear articulate all the time whereas it is not applied to whites. It’s like the person that says that to compliment a black guy expects all of them to speak like the jive talkers from Airplane! or Allen Iverson. 

    Spoiler

    Yep. Our president famously said that about the president before last. #nocr

     

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  4. 35 minutes ago, Snacks said:

    I was referred to as "articulate" yesterday by someone who means well and is attempting to help me find a leadership role after being juked three times in the last five years.

    Serious question... Do white men refer to each other as articulate often?  I never hear it, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

    Gray Slacks

    Attempting to be serious ... I hear "executive presence" a lot, which I have always interpreted as "articulate."

  5. 11 minutes ago, washparkhorn said:

    The GSS data for this 2020 report was gathered between May 21-29, 2020. 

     Please correct me if I am mistaken. 
     

    That is how I read it. The press release was wonky as it said "first wave," but reading the footnotes it looks like all the exhibits were from that period.

  6. 1 hour ago, deadshank said:

    I'm a happy dude.  I don't watch any sort of "news" put forth by CNN, Fox, MSNBC  and the like.  I will watch if there is an actual event and then turn it off when the commentators and "experts" start weighing in with rushed "gotta-be-first" opinions.

    I look at IG for fun stuff, avoid Twitter and the twats that tweet.  Surly is always taken with a grain of salt even though most of you are magnificent bastards and many have world views that differ from mine; but, that is what makes it interesting.

    I have two great mutts, a wife that leaves me off the leash and a deer camp I can go to and get away from the world and enjoy relaxed down time.

    Never will I be a multi-millionaire and, while that's nice and what not, it would not make me happy and would only gain me access to things that are fleeting.

    Life is too short to get caught up in the BS.

    This is me 100%. At least from my lived experience, my most unhappy friends are those that watch cable news daily.

    CSB Warning:

    Spoiler

    Along the lines of your post, my wife and I have been have some rough times, but it has led to some more personal conversations that we have unfortunately avoided despite the tenure of our lives together. She shared that she constantly haunted by regret - some seemingly small and some very large. My position is like yours: sure there are things in my life I regret, but I cannot change it and do not want to waste the present worried about the past. Conversely, I probably do worry to much about the future.

     

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  7. 26 minutes ago, Doc Reeves said:

    They don’t, they are separate. Religious houses offer beacons for people with a common spirituality. By hi-jacking the houses, people looking for power have been able to hijack a lot of Americans spirituality. 

    Butchering the quotation, but I believe a man wiser than me said something like "The problem with the Church is it is run by Christians."

  8. Just now, Immaculate Vibes said:

    Agreed. Whether you believe or not, a large portion of the population having faith in something bigger after life here gives them more purpose. I guarantee it gives them more happiness.  

    And research has bourn this out: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/01/31/are-religious-people-happier-healthier-our-new-global-study-explores-this-question/

    I think it is fair to say (the prosperity preachers notwithstanding) is that virtually every religion has contentment and a focus on the eternal as key components, and those naturally should impact happiness.

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  9. 10 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

    As other have already pointed out, Social Media is the number #1 reason. 

    It's the downfall of society

    It could be a 1000-page conversation, but I wonder if social media is the cause or a symptom. I certainly do not have an answer just posing the question. I wonder if deeper factors catalyze the effects of social media, and it simply exposes and exacerbates the "root causes." An analogy might be the effect violent video games or music have on violence: is a violent video game going to turn a non-violent person violent or just stoke an already internally violent person to act violently. Again, don't have any answers just asking questions. Of course without question social media enables everyone to feed those particular addictions (anger, jealousy, lust, envy, etc.).

  10. University of Chicago annual report on American happiness:

    In the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, the public’s happiness is at a five-decade low despite most Americans being satisfied with their financial situation, according to a new survey from NORC at the University of Chicago.

    The study highlights how Americans’ outlook and emotional health compare to nearly 50 years of trends in public opinion data from the General Social Survey (GSS), an ongoing project which NORC has conducted since 1972. The historical context reveals unique impacts of the outbreak on public sentiment: An all-time low in people saying they are very happy (14%), combined with an all-time high in people saying they are satisfied with their family’s financial situation (80%).

    These contrasting findings suggest that people are comparing their happiness to their own psychological well-being before the pandemic while assessing their finances in relation to the millions of fellow Americans who have lost jobs, wages, or investments following the outbreak.

    The results also illustrate how Americans are reacting differently to the coronavirus pandemic compared to previous national tragedies. For example, fewer Americans report crying or feeling dazed than after either the John F. Kennedy assassination in 1963, or the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001—but more report having lost their temper or feeling bored during the pandemic.

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  11. 36 minutes ago, camel at sea said:

    It's probably too early to say how the portal stuff will play out bc there seems to be quite a bit of agreement that this is not working out as well for players as everyone thought it would.  There are a ton of guys who enter the portal and don't land anywhere.  I'd expect further rules changes at some point.  That said...

    Oklahoma State had a bunch of guys enter the portal after their bowl game.  The entire SEC is bleeding highly recruited back-ups to the portal.  Schools like Oklahoma State are going to lose 3rd year development projects here and there and they'll get back 1st year guys who were blue chippers that didn't want to wait 3 years as back-ups at Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, etc.

    If you go down a level, SMU is about to add a couple of former Top 100 recruits in this transfer cycle.  The Big 12 will be getting those type of transfers, too.  

    I think the argument can be made that high school recruiting is barely relevant these days. Why spend a bunch of time and energy on a 17/18-year-old, unproven kid when you can get a freshmen or sophomore with a couple years experience, in the weight room, maturity, etc. That's what's so funny about aggy acting like it won the NC and printing recruiting shirts ... odds are 50% of that class is gone before they hit the field.

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  12. On 1/13/2022 at 3:38 PM, ulukinatme said:

    He's a 30 something man-child that lives with his mother, has a braided beard, and practices karate in kid's classes.  He also won the Coyote Creek event.  

    Ok, he's comic relief.

    Cobra-Kai-Stingray-Paul-Walter-Hauser-Re

    I am in for the Stingray spinoff ... he opens Cobrai Kai Katy and shenanigans ensue. 

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  13. 1 hour ago, Texzilla58 said:

    Your recollection is different than mine, and I’m too lazy to go look for documentation. Bullock went to Tech for undergrad, Baylor for law. Ann Richards went to Baylor undergrad then UT law. If Ann wasn’t deep in the political part she at least was vocal about it. I also recall the PAC had almost zero interest in taking Texas.

    If you want to wasted 10 minutes, here is a good interview with some of the key players: https://www.si.com/college/2016/08/16/big-12-expansion-oral-history-big-8-swc-merger

    CSB warning:

    Spoiler

    I worked in at the Capitol in 1995 for a committee connected to Junell so heard a little oral history at (the actual) Cloak Room.

     

  14. 25 minutes ago, Sbbruin said:

    Not reading above to avoid spoilers, but through ep 4 of S4 and while I still like it, they are pushing the boundaries of credibility.  Better tighten it up, people.

    I mean if you can get past a reasonably good looking 18-year-old dude falling in love with a road hard, put up wet 60-year-old psychopath you can believe anything!

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  15. On 1/30/2022 at 6:27 PM, bullet said:

    You're confusing 1994 with 1990 (and I said 1989 when it was 1990).  And Ann Richards had nothing to do with it.  It was Bullock and other Tech/Baylor people in the legislature.  Dodds was AD by then and DKR had no influence on those decisions.

    To quote Bill Cunningham, president at the time, in his book ("The Texas Way"), "Dodds and I briefed the UT System regents at a board meeting in August 1990 in Odessa, and they gave me an informal nod to proceed with the Pac 10."  Texas, A&M and Arkansas were all planning moves.  Arkansas officially accepted the SEC invitation on 8/1/1990, so it was before Texas changed their mind, but after Texas was planning to leave as well.

    The UGA president did approach Cunningham about the SEC in the summer of 1989.  That was when Texas started looking at its other options and Cunningham said he really had no interest in the SEC, but they certainly talked about it.

     

    This is really interesting. I had never heard the Stanford story before. I do recall the stories around the early 90s about Texas to PAC and aggy to secsecsec, but I did not realize Stanford had vetoed.

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