Almost no one from North Korea emigrates to the US. Conclusion: North Koreans are very happy.

mothballed a day ago | parent | next [-]

I would genuinely be shocked if North Korean's aren't happy. They're basically told they live in the best place on earth, have no basis for comparison to believe otherwise, and the sphere of influence of any particular average N Korean is narrow enough that if they were sad it would basically be artificially constraining their sadness to ones about personal failures they probably would rather not believe they have.

It's not starving, not having healthcare etc that makes you sad so much I think as thinking others are getting it while you are not, or believing that someone is pulling something over you rather than the situation being in your hands. If you think you're doing the best you can and your own success or failure is up to you, it's hard to be particularly sad about the situation compared to someone in another position.

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wanderingstan a day ago | parent [-]

Citation is needed for this:

> It's not starving, not having healthcare etc that makes you sad so much I think as thinking others are getting it while you are not…

While social comparison is proven to be part of happiness, the science is quite strong that starving or being sick makes someone unhappy.

	▲	mothballed a day ago \| parent [-]
		I said that I thought not having eg. healthcare doesn't make you as sad as not having it while someone else does. Nothing I've used in that relative comparison breaks the science you quote. And I do not need a citation to think something rather than to state it is fact. It would be odd indeed to require a citation to think of something.

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pinkmuffinere a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I agree with your larger point, but to be fair if you have to compare the U.S. to North Korea, that’s probably a bad sign.

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brap a day ago | parent | prev [-]

No need for the snark, it’s very obviously a flawed heuristic which can obviously be improved with some adjustments. But this isn’t meant to be a research proposal. It was a simple example meant to illustrate a simple point.

Point being, some people like to whine even when they know damn well 99% of the world would happily trade places with them, and for very good reasons.

	▲	nielsbot a day ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> some people like to whine When I say our for-profit healthcare system is cruel, expensive and ineffective overall, am I whining? When I say it sucks that we spend $1T on "defense" while raising taxes on working class people, is that whining? Those things make people less happy. Is your diagnosis the people are whining and that's why the US isn't at the top of the rankings like Denmark is? Do Danes just whine less? I want to share one of my favorite quotes which is apt: “I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.” -- James Baldwin
	▲	BobbyJo a day ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		Wasn't intending snark. I figured it was a goofy way to point out the flaw in your implicit position that emigration data would be more meaningful than the survey. It still might be, it would just depend a lot more on laws and the marketing of economic opportunities than happiness IMO. > Point being, some people like to whine even when they know damn well 99% of the world would happily trade places with them, and for very good reasons. Well yeah, but this is an broad survey, not people whining.
	▲	nielsbot a day ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		> some people like to whine When I say our for-profit healthcare system is cruel, expensive and ineffective overall, am I whining? When I say it sucks that we spend $1T on "defense" while raising taxes on working class people, is that whining?