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The Downside of Inciting Envy
New York Times ^ | March 1, 2014 | Arthur C. Brooks

Posted on 03/02/2014 5:38:45 AM PST by reaganaut1

THE Irish singer Bono once described a difference between America and his native land. “In the United States,” he explained, “you look at the guy that lives in the mansion on the hill, and you think, you know, one day, if I work really hard, I could live in that mansion. In Ireland, people look up at the guy in the mansion on the hill and go, one day, I’m going to get that bastard.”

Alexis de Tocqueville phrased it a little differently, but his classic 19th-century text contains the same observation. Visiting from France, he marveled at Americans’ ability to keep envy at bay, and to see others’ successes as portents of good times for all.

For decades, survey data has supported the Bono-Tocqueville Hypothesis. The 2006 World Values Survey, for example, found that Americans are only a third as likely as British or French people to feel strongly that “hard work doesn’t generally bring success; it’s more a matter of luck and connections.” This faith that success flows from effort has built America’s reputation as a remarkably unenvious society.

Does it matter? It does indeed, when it comes to our pursuit of happiness. As the essayist Joseph Epstein puts it, “Of the seven deadly sins, only envy is no fun at all.”

Unsurprisingly, psychologists have found that envy pushes down life satisfaction and depresses well-being. Envy is positively correlated with depression and neuroticism, and the hostility it breeds may actually make us sick. Recent work suggests that envy can help explain our complicated relationship with social media: it often leads to destructive “social comparison,” which decreases happiness. To understand this, just picture yourself scrolling through your ex’s wedding photos.

My own data analysis confirms a strong link between economic envy and unhappiness.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: classwarfare; envy
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Published in a paper devoted to fomenting envy.
1 posted on 03/02/2014 5:38:45 AM PST by reaganaut1
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To: reaganaut1

Perhaps the liberal elites realize that they won’t be spared the gulags.


2 posted on 03/02/2014 5:47:05 AM PST by Tulane
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To: reaganaut1

True, but it’s a good article anyway. I have noticed a drop in US happiness in the last few years, just based on observation. Once, when I would come back into the country after traveling abroad, I could feel a sort of cheerfulness or optimism in the air. Now there’s a sense of sullenness and almost oppression.


3 posted on 03/02/2014 5:48:09 AM PST by livius
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To: reaganaut1
...fomenting bitterness over income differences may be powerful politics, but it injures our nation.

It is also the primary symptom of the "Half-Black Plague" we are suffering through.

4 posted on 03/02/2014 5:50:35 AM PST by Aevery_Freeman (Historians will call this administration the Half-Black Plague.)
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To: livius

Sullenness? - we HATE Obama and it is very depressing to have him in the WH. The pall here will lift once he is tarred and feathered and/or replaced.


5 posted on 03/02/2014 5:57:58 AM PST by bboop (does not suffer fools gladly)
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To: reaganaut1
envy pushes down life satisfaction and depresses well-being . . . positively correlated with depression and neuroticism, and the hostility it breeds may actually make us sick . . . decreases happiness . . .

This explains in one brief passage why leftists are so depressed, dissatisfied, unhappy, and hostile. As for his comments about the ex's wedding photos, I found the comparison surprising. I have never dated someone and then wished her ill. I'm always happy to see a nice person happily married.

6 posted on 03/02/2014 6:02:20 AM PST by Pollster1 ("Shall not be infringed" is unambiguous.)
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To: reaganaut1

America’s reputation as a remarkably unenvious society.

Perhaps because we were taught...”thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods” at an early age.


7 posted on 03/02/2014 6:07:24 AM PST by FES0844
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To: FES0844

^^^^ Amen ^^^^


8 posted on 03/02/2014 6:11:45 AM PST by Ancient Man
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To: reaganaut1
Envy is the irritated the left uses to build everything on
9 posted on 03/02/2014 6:14:52 AM PST by tophat9000 (Are we headed to a Cracker Slacker War?)
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To: reaganaut1

The entire Democrat political platform is built on envy.


10 posted on 03/02/2014 6:18:22 AM PST by Gritty (Inside every liberal is a totalitarian screaming to get out! - David Horowitz)
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To: reaganaut1

Of the two vices, Envy and Greed, only Envy is forbidden in the Ten Commandments.


11 posted on 03/02/2014 6:24:18 AM PST by sportutegrl
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To: reaganaut1

We need Cruz in ‘16. He is the only one who can destroy what this monster has done. Yes, lots of depression and anxiety today. People need jobs. People are resilient, and I’ve faith in this man to break the ties that are binding us and undo a lot of the destruction the Rats have caused during the Obama tenure. We need to take the Senate, keep the House and rid ourselves of the Rinos in cahoots with the Democrats and corporate sell outs. I don’t feel envy. I’m happy when people are blessed. What I feel is anger at those who would sell out this nation and it’s people .


12 posted on 03/02/2014 6:32:21 AM PST by stilloftyhenight (...staying home isn't an option.)
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To: reaganaut1
Published in a paper devoted to fomenting envy.

Exactly. Evidently, the ridiculously self-absorbed have a serious problem with self-awareness.
13 posted on 03/02/2014 6:32:55 AM PST by 98ZJ USMC
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To: reaganaut1
He talks about “economic envy” I have seen that up close.

My husbands father, with an 8th grade education and no connections, built a successful business. His wife's sister was an envious bi*ch. She taught this to her daughters who now have raise more envious bi*ches.

Recently one of this clan of hate filled women posted a nasty comment on Facebook about my husband. She ended the comment with HE INHERITED in bold print. My husband has never been anything but kind and generous to this bunch, paying for private school tuition and for the funeral of the original bi*ch.

This hateful attitude has now been passed down to 3 generations and it probably won't stop and YES they are ALL liberal democrats!

14 posted on 03/02/2014 6:37:58 AM PST by Ditter
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To: Ditter

You have the satisfaction, meager as it is, of knowing that they are leading miserable lives.


15 posted on 03/02/2014 6:47:20 AM PST by Balding_Eagle (Over production, one of the top 5 worries for the American Farmer every year.)
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To: Balding_Eagle

Yes but my main satisfaction is that they no longer live in my state and aren’t going to be showing up on my doorstep!


16 posted on 03/02/2014 6:51:44 AM PST by Ditter
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To: Pollster1
Envy, Pride, Glutttony, Laziness, Wrath, Greed, Lust can kill. This is old news- a thousand years of recorded Christian History.

The academic left is too proud to learn from history.

The only way to save america for the future is to declare it a Christian Nation.

17 posted on 03/02/2014 6:59:16 AM PST by x_plus_one (The harvest is great but the workers are few. Salman Rushdie is still in hiding.)
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To: bboop

I think Obama really is the source of our depression here. His policies are horrible, but his whole approach is a downer, a rhetoric based on envy, fear and revenge.

Someone pointed out that one of the reasons Putin isn’t concerned about Obama is that it is clear to him that Obama is too involved rooting out his domestic political enemies to give a darn about what happens in the rest of the world (especially if it doesn’t involve Muslims).


18 posted on 03/02/2014 7:01:16 AM PST by livius
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To: livius

You are exactly right. The greatest thing about Reagan was that he made you feel good to be an American again. Obama strives for just the opposite.


19 posted on 03/02/2014 7:06:01 AM PST by Lurkina.n.Learnin (This is not just stupid, we're talking Democrat stupid here.)
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To: reaganaut1

The left has intertwined envy and coveting other people property (a 10 Commandment for those who don’t know)....with the word greed. Greed is accredited with wanting more thru hard work, taking risk, but the left warped the word with the idea that those who have succeeded have gone to far, that its a static world, where if a person has done well, they’ve done well at the expense of another person.


20 posted on 03/02/2014 7:11:46 AM PST by sbark
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