Why conservatives are happier than liberals NEW YAWK TIMES

[woodsmoke]

I post this w/o comment, but considering that the New Yawk Times would even think of publishing it ....let alone PUBLISH it..is..

well....noteworthy in and of itself.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/op...-all.html?_r=1

woodsmoke

[vw72]

I'll comment. There are numerous studies that show that married couples and families are happier, live longer, etc. The whole premis of the article conclusion is that more conservatives are married than liberals. As anyone who has studies logic and philosophy knows causation and correlation are not the same thing.

In otherwords, married couples are more likely to say they are happier, regardless of whether they are conservative or liberal. I know that newspapers are written for a 6th grade education, but evidently the Times is hiring 6th graders as editors.

[oshunluvr]

Ignorance is bliss might be the cause...

[vw72]

Ignorance is bliss might be the cause...

That might explain why Gnome users are happier than KDE users, since they don't know what they are missing.

[Qqmike]

What a ridiculous topic. Typical of conservative thinking. The issue begs itself. And did anyone notice WHERE this is published? In the opinion section, by a noted, blazing conservative. Jeezus. What crap.

[bsniadajewski]

I'll comment. There are numerous studies that show that married couples and families are happier, live longer, etc. The whole premis of the article conclusion is that more conservatives are married than liberals. As anyone who has studies logic and philosophy knows causation and correlation are not the same thing.

In otherwords, married couples are more likely to say they are happier, regardless of whether they are conservative or liberal. I know that newspapers are written for a 6th grade education, but evidently the Times is hiring 6th graders as editors.

Agreed. Whether conversatives, liberals, centrists, or socialists (yeah I'm sure there are a few out there) are happy is only dependent on who wins the next election.

[dtr]

What does this topic have to do with Kubuntu? If I wanted to read this sort of opinionated "news" I'll head over to reddit.

Have a good day all.

[67GTA]

What does this topic have to do with Kubuntu? If I wanted to read this sort of opinionated "news" I'll head over to reddit.

Have a good day all.

This is posted in the "Social/Casual" section which doesn't have to pertain to Kubuntu. Opinions go here.

[wh0rd]

Let me guess, ignorance is bliss?

[GreyGeek]

Lies, damn lies and statistics.

[charles052]

Let me guess, ignorance is bliss?

If that were true, both hardcore liberals AND conservatives would be dancing in the street!

Whether this article was posted in the opinion section actually means little. The author is simply giving his narrative on what scientific studies have shown. And truth be told, I'm not surprised. I've met some pretty hardcore liberals and they seem to be pretty unhappy, especially compared to me, a moderate conservative.

[Qqmike]

charles052: "Whether this article was posted in the opinion section actually means little."

There ya go boys and girls--That's a difference right there between conservatives and thinking liberals.
:-)

And, you say ... "The author is simply giving his narrative on what scientific studies have shown."

Everyone catch that? Having been a researcher, and knowing how that game is played, what really counts is who is doing the research, and why, who is reporting it, and WHERE it is published. But, I'm sure most of you are catching these catches, right?

:-)

[vw72]

If that were true, both hardcore liberals AND conservatives would be dancing in the street!

Whether this article was posted in the opinion section actually means little. The author is simply giving his narrative on what scientific studies have shown. And truth be told, I'm not surprised. I've met some pretty hardcore liberals and they seem to be pretty unhappy, especially compared to me, a moderate conservative.

However, who you have met and how happy they are, or even yourself, is just anecdotal information and not statistically valid. Again, the basis of the article is that it picks up on the research that shows married people with families are generally happier than those not married. There are studies that support that. Then it goes on to say that since more conservatives are married than liberals, conservatives are happier than liberals.

There is a difference between causation and correlation. For instance, since McDonalds introduced the Big Mac, violent crime has decreased while at the same time sales of the Big Mac have increased. There is a correlation, actually quite strong, between the two data sets. However, there is no evidence that sales of Big Macs caused the decline in violent crime. Likewise, there may be a correlation between conservatives and their marital state and how it relates to happiness, but that does not mean being conservative is the cause of that happiness.

[woodsmoke]

**

[woodsmoke]

vw72
ummmm I would demur with your assessment of the causation between BigMac sales and violent crime drop.

If the bad guy is sitting at home plopped on the couch eating a BigMac he will be too sleepy later to go out to hassle decent law-abiding, celerey eating citizens! lol

And as to the marriage-> conservative -> happieness, not being connected, there is an old mathematical function, and a philosophical one if that a = b and b = c then a = b and if you run into a tall thin guy and a short chubby guy in a train station and he asks for two tens for a five I'd probably head for the nearest McDonalds and spend the money before you lose it! lol


woodsmoke