Conservatives Happier Than Liberals »
Posted By daducha 1 year, 6 months ago in Science & TechnologyRegardless of marital status, income or church attendance, right-wing individuals reported greater life satisfaction and well-being than left-wingers, the new study found. Conservatives also scored highest on measures of rationalization, which gauge a person's tendency to justify, or explain away, inequalities.
Read Full Story at news.yahoo.com »
204 Views Share Story 75 Comments Report
RSS Join the Discussion
+ Add CommentShowing 460 of 554 Comments (view all)
-
Neutral
DropkickaLib1 year, 6 months ago
-
Neutral
HannibalBarca1 year, 6 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
What a crock of sh it.
You have enough problems of your own so you couldn't help anyone.
People are people, no one kind is better than the other, there are loser Cons, loser Dems, Loser Canucks and loser Americans,
only you seem to think you are above it all.....ROTFLMAO...you are no better or worse than any lib, just very poorly informed
Reply -
Neutral
Dionys1 year, 6 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
"Conservatives also scored highest on measures of rationalization, which gauge a person's tendency to justify, or explain away, inequalities. "
Enough said.
Conservatives are happy because they can lie to themselves just as well as the conservatives in office have been lying to the American public.
Reply -
Neutral
tkyrchncs1 year, 6 months ago
-
Neutral
mesodude1 year, 6 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Of course wingjobs are happier. Because you derive some sort of sick sexual charge from seeing others in pain while you do nothing but point, laugh, and judge from the sidelines. That's your reason for living. You claim to be all about personal responsibility but we all know cons love them some handouts (and just because you don't call no-bid contracts in Iraq and welfare to Big Oil handouts doesnt' change reality). Cons are basically sleazy, mewling opportunistic tax wh0res. Period.
Reply -
-
Neutral
Leemck021 year, 6 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Drop that's like the Comcast commercial, I have a New Conservative way. By now you know I can make a very long list of screw ups on every level that are directly tied to conservativeness. Take personal responsibility, is W or his VP poster children for what you are disillusioned by? Can they say recession? Get real, a few Cons went to jail and so many more were involved who never took responsibility for K-Street, Enron, bailouts, shooting people in the heart, or stuff like that? I have friends that are Cons, sort of reverse Rev Wright. I try to shock them out of their mental condition but they are in too deep, so I understand. Helpless, and not knowing it, so deep in denial; that's bad. Cons feel they have already been saved, and the evidence all around us spells trouble. The liberals will save you again. Wanna know what I mean by that? I got some solid stuff. Save a Con, a Liberal agenda, Vote for Change.
Reply
-
-
-
Neutral
flyonthewallzz1 year, 6 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
I have been reading about inequity aversion.
It seems that it is almost instinctual among primates.
Economists and propagandists and advertisers are studying and arguing about the data big time.
Now if this study states that conservative are less likely to respond to it, would that mean that they are willing to work for less money?
Now I have no right to speak for anyone here, but I do believe that I have heard things like all folks should "pay the same rate in taxes" no mater what their income.
I will refrain from putting forth my argument against such at this time.
But would this not be characterized as inequity aversion.
I thought this was an interesting article on the subject:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/09...
Reply -
-
-
ekklesiawarriorComment removed: Hard Banned49 Replies
-
Neutral
jimdoze1 year, 6 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
I consider myself liberal, but only in the classic sense of the word, not in today's shape-shifted, leftward sense of it. I tend to believe that less government is, for the most part, better than more government. I believe, as did the original liberals who codified such things, that the role of the federal government is to "provide for the common defense and promote the general welfare"... not the other way around. On a personal basis, I am a "live and let live" sort of person.
Whether or not that outlook relates to happiness, I cannot say. However, I'd say that I'm a happy person... wanting only for the companionship of an attractive and compatible woman... and, perhaps, a small fortune to draw on at will.
Reply-
Neutral
djn3nunez31 year, 6 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Perhaps you are a Cato Liberal?
How to Label Cato
Today, those who subscribe to the principles of the American Revolution--individual liberty, limited government, the free market, and the rule of law--call themselves by a variety of terms, including conservative, libertarian, classical liberal, and liberal. We see problems with all of those terms. "Conservative" smacks of an unwillingness to change, of a desire to preserve the status quo. Only in America do people seem to refer to free-market capitalism--the most progressive, dynamic, and ever-changing system the world has ever known--as conservative. Additionally, many contemporary American conservatives favor state intervention in some areas, most notably in trade and into our private lives.
"Classical liberal" is a bit closer to the mark, but the word "classical" connotes a backward-looking philosophy.
-cont
Reply -
-
Neutral
Wolfie20071 year, 6 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
I once called myself a liberal, also, until I realized how corrupted the word had become from the original. These days the common usage of the word translates to socialism. Socialism, which includes things like universal health care and a living minimum wage, fails every time it's tried. Capitalism works every time it's tried even with all kinds of socialist baggage hanging on it like here in the United States. It sure wasn't socialism that made my country what it is today but socialism can destroy it.
Reply
-
-
Neutral
amazed1 year, 6 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
I think that it only follows that (true) conservatives are happier -- we tend to see the glass as half full and to work toward expanding the things, ideas and policies that are proven to work.
As a general philosophy (and, yes, there are many exceptions and I do know happy liberals and miserable conservatives), liberals tend to see the glass as half-empty and focus on the problems and the negatives. This can only bring you down. You can even see it on this thread, the liberals are attacking anyone who doesn't share their pessimistic view of our society as a mean,unfair and terrible thing.
.
Reply-
Neutral
amazed1 year, 6 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Also, the playing field will NEVER be level, the opportunities will NEVER be equal and, most importantly, the results will ALWAYS be widely disparate. If you accept that from the start, you don't take it quite as personally when life kicks you in the teeth, than if you are convinced that everything should be "fair". If you feel that it is YOUR responsibility to make do for yourself, then you tend to be willing to accept what you have. If you believe you deserve what everyone else has and constantly compare your lot to theirs, you will always come up short and you will end up resentful
Reply -
-
Neutral
mesodude1 year, 6 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
"we tend to see the glass as half full and to work toward expanding the things, ideas and policies that are proven to work."
--oh DO please cite examples of this from cons over last 8 years (both the practices and results of which you speak so highly). Thanks. Can't wait...
Reply
-
-
Neutral
Bkumm1 year, 6 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
So many Conservatives are going to miss the point of this article. It isn't that Conservatives are happier because they see the world as just and acceptable, it's because they are better than Liberals at turning a blind eye to the inequalities and injustices in the world. To quote the article as others have done:
"Conservatives also scored highest on measures of rationalization, which gauge a person's tendency to justify, or explain away, inequalities."
It's just another way to say ignorance is bliss.
Reply-
Neutral
amazed1 year, 6 months ago
-
-
Neutral
Poulenc1 year, 6 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Astounding!
A "study" such as this posits that some part of the world is happier than another whose political/life philosophies differ, as if such a determination were an actual reflection of the larger world in all its shades of gray!
And posters, responding to the red meat thrown at them by the article's "thesis," IMMEDIATELY respond defensively--and start arguing with each other about whose grass is greener!
Please! Can we be adults?
Thank you.
Reply-
Neutral
Bkumm1 year, 6 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Sure. We should be adult about it and recognize that the article is actually saying that relative happiness is based on being able to turn a blind eye to inequality.
If you can walk past a homeless guy and think to yourself that he should get a job and not think about the consequences that put him in that position you are probably happier than the person who walks past the homeless guy and wonders about the situation that put him there in the richest country on Earth.
Reply
-
-
Neutral
Poulenc1 year, 6 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Yes, B, it's all about the value people put on fairness.
I don't believe that conservs are typically completely callous in that regard, but I think other values--such as loyalty--trump fairness as a moral operative for them.
Crudely put, the idea of making the world a safer and safer place for those who hold all the cards seems like a reasonable proposition for many on the right, I believe.
Reply-
Neutral
Bkumm1 year, 6 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
I'm not sure if it's that or if it's a matter of perception.
To many Conservatives the world is a black and white place. You are a member of the have nots simply because you won't work hard enough. Full stop. It is not relevant that you are a single mother with a high school education and a sick child. That is simply not part of the equation.
To many Liberals, on the other hand, the issues that surround an issue are more important than the issue itself.
An example is necessary. Many Conservatives are against illegal immigration, ignoring the economic and political realities that make it possible. Many Liberals support immigrants regardless of their legal status because all they see are the poor conditions of many of these people, ignoring the economic, social and political consequences of that support.
It's a a problem with both sides. Conservatives are happier because they can rationalize better the inequalities they see, Liberals can not.
Reply -
Neutral
DropkickaLib1 year, 6 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Making the world a safer place for those who make the effort to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. No one has bailed me out. The property I own, the family for whom I care, are there as a result of my accpetance of personal responsiblity.
Reply -
Neutral
mesodude1 year, 6 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
"I don't believe that conservs are typically completely callous in that regard, but I think other values--such as loyalty--trump fairness as a moral operative for them."
--Loyalty doesn't always trump fairness. Look at...I don't know, Katherine Harris. Well, don't *look* at her (unless you want to be instantly turned to stone or struck blind by her unbelievably monstrous ugliness) but consider her sad, disgraceful plight...In 2000, she spread all four of her repulsive hooves for Bush and the GOP and what did she get for her time on her back? Exactly... Republicans threw some loose change on the bed, told her they'd screwed sheep who were a better lay than she was, turned on their heels and never looked back. There's a couple of stomach-churning lessons here. A. Katherine Harris is one hideously deformed skanky right wing shrew and B. That's the best most Republicans can do.
Reply
-
-
Neutral
Poulenc1 year, 6 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Yes, agree, B.
Still--or perhaps "and"--it seems to me we're dealing with the ancient issue of to whom justice, in the broadest and most inclusive sense of the principle, should go.
To the strong because they are and have "earned" it? Or too...well, we're talking about a more equitable distribution here.
Reply -
-
AtheismIsRealityComment removed: Retracted by user34 Replies
-
-
Neutral
wtagg1 year, 6 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
I think one problem that jimdoze somewhat touched upon is that the definitions of conservative and liberal today are not in sync with the classic definitions. There is nothing classically conservative about our current administration.
The definition of conservative is not "those that support the policies of the current administration. Conservatives conserve. They conserve in all things. Fiscal, ecological, resources, effort... I find that many that are branded as liberal are really conservative. They are branded because they are different, not because of their opinions are liberal.
Helping others is not outside the conservative mantra, but we need to find a more efficient and beneficial way to help those that need help and to eliminate the waste that our current system enjoys.
Conservatives should lead by example. Name calling and finger pointing isn't helpful and is inefficient.
Reply-
Neutral
wtagg1 year, 6 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Dropkick apparently did not like finding out that they are a closet liberal.
DK, if you have a different definition of conservatism, I'd love to hear it. Surprisingly, no one has ever responded to this question when I have asked before. I wonder why. Maybe it is because they do not have a definition.
Reply
-
-
Neutral
simonsez1 year, 6 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
There is something wrong ...
life is not fair ...
it's not their fault ...
They didn't earn what they have ...
They don't pay their fair share ... 35% is not enough.
They don't care about the planet ...
They don't care about their own Grand Children, let alone mine ...
They're greedy bastards ...
They like to kill things ...
So ... are these liberal or conservative positions?
Happy thoughts or unhappy hate thoughts?
Reply-
Neutral
Bkumm1 year, 6 months ago
-
-
-
Neutral
ichabod1 year, 6 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Most of the people I know who I consider Conservatives are the next thing to dead. No sense of imagination and no sense of humor and are mostly very critical. I think the first George Bush said a lot of the people out there are upset at the thought that there is someone who is having a good time.
Reply-
Neutral
simonsez1 year, 6 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
I find the opposite ...
I have both in my circle of friends and my experience is that those with conservative mindsets are active physically, have high hopes and expectations for themselves, their children are more popular,
Those I would consider liberal worry a lot about things they cannot control. Waste of time and energy.
Reply
-
-
Neutral
Poulenc1 year, 6 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
The factors that create or encourage homelessness represent a reciprocity between the social and individual.
One can't usually intervene in a single case and expect to help the larger group thereby. So action on the social level is required.
Most problems have a good and better solution. It's just common sense that, in the case of homelessness, the government (as well as private agencies) should do its best to fix a social evil.
Reply -
Neutral
Poulenc1 year, 6 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Simon: "Those I would consider liberal worry a lot about things they cannot control...."
But this is spurious. Who can control potentially solvable problems involving people if not people?
I, personally, can't eliminate world hunger, for example. But if I join others intent on doing so...well, the first, necessary step has been taken.
If, instead, however, I throw my hands up and say, "Well, nothing *I* can do about it..." then the car remains is the garage. As it were.
Reply -
-
-
-
-
-
-
Neutral
simonsez1 year, 6 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
But while you worry about inaction, there is action already.
We can't possibly do everything for everybody because we can't control everything. We send aid into Africa and very often, it doesn't reach the people who need it for various reasons.
You know that.
Reply
-
-
Neutral
markmawn21 year, 6 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
They are happy because it took a Liberal to give them a standard of living they enjoy today.
http://tvnewslies.org/html/day_in_the_life_of_j...
Reply -
-
-
Neutral
simonsez1 year, 6 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
The topic is "who's happier" and it's clear if you consider yourself a liberal, you are destined to be less happy. You've made your choice in life of how you want to feel because you can never sit back; it will never be enough.
Happiness is something you choose for yourself. You do have control over that.
Reply
-
More News
Download Squad
Back from the dead? Yahoo Upcoming gets some surprise feature love
iGoogle keeps on growing with some yummy new food themes
5 ways to save money with an iPhone
Hate the new Windows 'start menu'? Get the classic XP menu back with this little app!
Google's Chrome and Android operating systems will converge sooner rather than later
Engadget
Black Friday deals roundup: Walmart, Target and NewEgg
Amidio's Touch DJ app stuffs a turntable into your iPhone (video)
Pegatron's Ubuntu-equipped netbook spotted in the wild
Intel's Cedarview Atom chip rumored to go 32nm in 2011
The Engadget Show tapes today with HTC's Drew Bamford and Chris Grant of Joystiq (and giveaways!)
Add a Comment
Sign In With Your Propeller Account
Please keep your comments relevant to this story.
To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.