Why Conservatives Are Happier Than Liberals

[Dogger]

Ohh look the ignorant claim that Republicans are mental midgets. Who would have thought THAT was coming.

Let's consult another source, then - lifelong Republican John Dean, who describes conservative minions as follows: "highly religious, moderate to little education, trust untrustworthy authorities, prejudiced (particularly against homosexuals, women, and followers of religions other than their own), mean-spirited, narrow-minded, intolerant, bullying, zealous, dogmatic, uncritical toward their chosen authority, hypocritical, inconsistent and contradictory, prone to panic easily, highly self-righteous, moralistic, strict disciplinarian, severely punitive, demands loyalty and returns it, little self-awareness, usually politically and economically conservative/Republican."

A self-aware individual who suffered from all of that would be miserable.

 

[Yurt]

what is a conservative minion?

it cracks me up to see the left wingers generalize/stereotype an entire group of people, when it is left wingers who cry the loudest over stereotypes. talk about hypocritical. what a complete waste of time it is to go around stereotyping conservatives. more often than not, stereotyping is simply not true and founded on irrational fears.

why is it liberals cannot accept the fact that there are others who do not share their viewpoints? why is it that liberals must demonize those who do not share their viewpoints?

 

[Larkinn]

what is a conservative minion?

it cracks me up to see the left wingers generalize/stereotype an entire group of people, when it is left wingers who cry the loudest over stereotypes.

Umm, seriously?

You laugh at others generalizing an entire group, while doing the exact same thing yourself?

talk about hypocritical.

Yup.

what a complete waste of time it is to go around stereotyping conservatives. more often than not, stereotyping is simply not true and founded on irrational fears.

But somehow you find it ok to stereotype liberals, eh?

why is it liberals cannot accept the fact that there are others who do not share their viewpoints? why is it that liberals must demonize those who do not share their viewpoints?

 

[Yurt]

Umm, seriously?

You laugh at others generalizing an entire group, while doing the exact same thing yourself?



Yup.



But somehow you find it ok to stereotype liberals, eh?

i did that on purpose to see who the first person would be that bashed on my stereotyping. congrats, you get a star. so is it only because i criticized lib stereotyping or is it that i stereotyped? either way, you proved my point, thank you.

 

[Larkinn]

Umm, alright then

I don't point out whenever anyone stereotypes on this board. I used too, but pretty much everyone does it and it gets boring. But when I see the naked hypocrisy that you just exhibited, I tend to point it out.

You will rarely see me make stereotypes, and when I do I couch it in vague terms and make it clear they are generalities. Except as a response to idiocy, you will never see me say something like "Republicans always x" or "Conservatives always y".

Thats not to say stereotypes can't have some truth in them. It IS true that Republicans tend to be white. It IS true that they tend to be more religious. But treating either of those as absolutely true is moronic,

 

[TopGunna]

Interesting. Dread includes this quote, "Conservatives rationalize social and economic inequalities."

In plain English, conservatives respond to problems by burying their heads in the sand. As jillian put it, "ignorance [is] bliss".

I'm not sure why Dread objected to her accurate simplification of something that he himself quoted.

Well....isn't that a rationalization of the study's conclusion? A rationalization to fit the study's result to your own ideology? "Conservatives may be happier, but it's because they just aren't aware/don't care about the world's problems."

I dunno, the study kinda makes sense to me. Given that the people in the study probably have wide-ranging levels of happiness, I'd probably guess that the conservative pool has larger incidences of "very happy" and liberal pool has larger incidences of "very unhappy" - with most folks falling somewhere in between.

I would probably describe myself as generally happy, but that isn't constant. I have sad days, angry days, exciting days, joyful days - and occasionally, my mood even changes during the same day! But overall, I'd have to say I'm pretty happy and lucky. I'm glad that I can contribute to society with my own talents, and not have to worry about harvesting enough food every year to prevent from starving in the winter (like most of the people who have walked the Earth). Zippy chance someone like me would survive 200 years ago.

Now I'm just droning on... better stop before someone gets unhappy with me

 

[dread]

Well....isn't that a rationalization of the study's conclusion? A rationalization to fit the study's result to your own ideology? "Conservatives may be happier, but it's because they just aren't aware/don't care about the world's problems."

I dunno, the study kinda makes sense to me. Given that the people in the study probably have wide-ranging levels of happiness, I'd probably guess that the conservative pool has larger incidences of "very happy" and liberal pool has larger incidences of "very unhappy" - with most folks falling somewhere in between.

I would probably describe myself as generally happy, but that isn't constant. I have sad days, angry days, exciting days, joyful days - and occasionally, my mood even changes during the same day! But overall, I'd have to say I'm pretty happy and lucky. I'm glad that I can contribute to society with my own talents, and not have to worry about harvesting enough food every year to prevent from starving in the winter (like most of the people who have walked the Earth). Zippy chance someone like me would survive 200 years ago.

Now I'm just droning on... better stop before someone gets unhappy with me

I think it is funny that the libs feel the need to rationalize the study ( which by the way was silly IMO) which further defends and promotes the study in itself. The fact that they got all butt hurt about it speaks volumes.


Especially when everyone should know that next week there will be a new study that says something equally horrible or sad ( whichever way one wants to look at it) about conservatives.

 

[Dogger]

I think it is funny that the libs feel the need to rationalize the study ( which by the way was silly IMO) which further defends and promotes the study in itself. The fact that they got all butt hurt about it speaks volumes.

Especially when everyone should know that next week there will be a new study that says something equally horrible or sad ( whichever way one wants to look at it) about conservatives.

It's weird that you would start this thread trumpeting a study which you believed proved the nutwings were better off, when in fact it only shows that they were oblivious and lacking in self-awareness. None of us got hurt, except for splitting our sides laughing at the irony of you lacking the self-awareness to understand that.

Of course the next study will prove you are horrible or sad people. You are horrible and sad people. But in your defense, your last statement shows you are getting better with that self-awareness deficit.

 

[TopGunna]

It's weird that you would start this thread trumpeting a study which you believed proved the nutwings were better off, when in fact it only shows that they were oblivious and lacking in self-awareness.... Of course the next study will prove you are horrible or sad people. You are horrible and sad people.

"Nutwings?" "Horrible and sad people?" Come on dogger...

You know, it might also be the case that people who are happier tend to gravitate towards conservative ideology, and those who are less happy gravitate towards liberal ideology. It makes sense to me that people who are succeeding in society would generally prefer the circumstances that have allowed them to succeed, while those who struggle would clamor for change.

 

[jillian]

"Nutwings?" "Horrible and sad people?" Come on dogger...

You know, it might also be the case that people who are happier tend to gravitate towards conservative ideology, and those who are less happy gravitate towards liberal ideology. It makes sense to me that people who are succeeding in society would generally prefer the circumstances that have allowed them to succeed, while those who struggle would clamor for change.

I'd doubt that. I think as a general rule, people who look to authority figures and struggle less with choices have less anxiety. Less anxiety equals greater "happiness" or "contentment". So, as was noted earlier, people who are religious probably fall more in line with conservative ideology. And given that religion gives fewer choices to make and more of a sense of well-being" (regardless of whether it is realistic or not) well you get the point.

There is also more of a sense that "G-d wills it", so why stress?

 

[dread]

It's weird that you would start this thread trumpeting a study which you believed proved the nutwings were better off, when in fact it only shows that they were oblivious and lacking in self-awareness. None of us got hurt, except for splitting our sides laughing at the irony of you lacking the self-awareness to understand that.

Of course the next study will prove you are horrible or sad people. You are horrible and sad people. But in your defense, your last statement shows you are getting better with that self-awareness deficit.

Which part of "the study" which I thought was silly ( see in parenthesis) DIDNT you get?

The fact is the libs on this board (not all of them) couldnt WAIT to jump all over this thread because YOU WERE hurt. Deny it all you want but you wouldnt be saying all that smack if it DIDNT hurt you. Cover it up with laughter all you want but we all know that clowns are the sadest bunch of people.

 

[TopGunna]

I'd doubt that. I think as a general rule, people who look to authority figures and struggle less with choices have less anxiety. Less anxiety equals greater "happiness" or "contentment". So, as was noted earlier, people who are religious probably fall more in line with conservative ideology. And given that religion gives fewer choices to make and more of a sense of well-being" (regardless of whether it is realistic or not).

There is also more of a sense that "G-d wills it", so why stress?

Jill... not sure I'm following you. I believe the study controled for religion - meaning that religious conservatives were happier than religious liberals, and non-religious conservatives were happier than non-religious liberals.

I guess what I didn't understand in your post was the point that fewer choices lead to less anxiety. Can you elaborate on what choices you're talking about? I tend to think that having choices in my life is a good thing, good enough that it outweighs the anxiety of having to make those choices.

Of course, maybe I just swung and missed while trying to read your post

 

[jillian]

Jill... not sure I'm following you. I believe the study controled for religion - meaning that religious conservatives were happier than religious liberals, and non-religious conservatives were happier than non-religious liberals.

I guess what I didn't understand in your post was the point that fewer choices lead to less anxiety. Can you elaborate on what choices you're talking about? I tend to think that having choices in my life is a good thing, good enough that it outweighs the anxiety of having to make those choices.

Of course, maybe I just swung and missed while trying to read your post

Fair enough. I might have missed controlling for religion as part of the study. Will go back and look at it.

What I mean by choices is that conservatives seem to see the world more in terms of black and white...good and evil. There are fewer choices about behavior or what positions to support. Additionally, if one relies more on authority figures, generally (and I think it's safe to say that liberals have a far greater distrust for authority figures) and trusts those authority figures to "do the right thing" again, less anxiety.

If you see the world in shades of grey, and question authority, certainty is much more difficult to come by. Thus greater anxiety, less happiness. IMO, of course, since this is all just surmise on my part and I claim no particular expertise.

 

[Dogger]

The fact is the libs on this board (not all of them) couldnt WAIT to jump all over this thread because YOU WERE hurt. Deny it all you want but you wouldnt be saying all that smack if it DIDNT hurt you. Cover it up with laughter all you want but we all know that clowns are the sadest bunch of people.

We weren't hurt. And we weren't laughing with you, we were laughing at you. Like this -

 

[jillian]

We weren't hurt. And we weren't laughing with you, we were laughing at you. Like this -

I gotta go with that one!

psssst...now watch her come back and tell us we weren't thinking that at all...because of course, well, she knows what we were thinking

 

[dread]

I gotta go with that one!

psssst...now watch her come back and tell us we weren't thinking that at all...because of course, well, she knows what we were thinking

You mean kind of like when you presume what Allie is going to do?

 

[Shattered]

Oh... I think they have just as much sex. They just feel guiltier about it.

So guilty that they rely on the ability to get rid of the evidence by having an abortion, then howl "My body, my choice"? Pfft.

 

[AllieBaba]

Ok, so the lib stance is that...if you're happy, you must be stupid?

What a load of crap.

And Larkinn is right...religion does help with happiness because it teaches ways to deal with stress, gives a person ideals to work towards, and provides a support system (members of like faith...churches, synagogues, mosques, etc.)

There's also contentment in feeling you have some control over your life and your environment, and taking responsibility for your behavior, your attitude, your life, and your choices. If you feel that no matter what you do, the world is a horrible place and everybody is just as miserable as you are, well of course you aren't going to be very happy.

BTW, regarding the sex thing....people who are married have sex more often than their unmarried counterparts (which is actually a good thing), and since conservatives are typically married and liberals often aren't (maybe because liberals are often younger, eschew the institution of marriage, etc), well of course Conservatives are getting more overall. Which makes them happier and live longer.....

It's great to be conservative.

 

[Dogger]

Ok, so the lib stance is that...if you're happy, you must be stupid?

Don't be stupid.

Stupidity is not a requirement, but as the study explains, it can be a significant contributing factor.

 

[CharlestonChad]

Individuals with conservative ideologies are happier than liberal-leaners, and new research pinpoints the reason: Conservatives rationalize social and economic inequalities.

Regardless 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.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,354424,00.html

Was it JS. Mills who said "It's better to be a dissatisfied socrates than a satisfied pig"?


Since this is from fox news, I'll assume it isn't meant to be that serious, because it seems like they wanted to bash liberals, but ended up bashing conservatives instead. lol