Americans are overwhelmingly happy, but are worried about the country. So things aren't really that bad?

Question

Bad news is hyped everyday, and people are worried about the nation. But despite this, 77% of Americans are happy with their lives.....if things were as bad as the media makes it sound, wouldn't more people actually be reflecting that??

http://news.yahoo.com/page/election-2008-political-pulse-voters-mood

Ignorance is bliss....well, I disagree it is ignorance in this case. Average Joe might not know about the finances of the economy, but I'm sure he is aquainted with his own finances! Most likely, if he is happy with life, then he doesn't have the impending doom of excessive debt over his head. If the majority of citizens' little economies are doing well, then collectively the country's economy is doing well? right?

Answer 1

A lot of people have just given up on caring what the media says.

Honestly, most of what they report is for ratings. They make more money off of stories that are gruesome and scary, since they can do highly-rated follow-up stories about it!

Maybe we're just too jaded to care any more. Maybe we're to apathetic to care.

Doesn't matter, I'm happy anyway!

Answer 2

Just to be clear here... "happy with life", and "scared about the direction of the economy", are two very different things. No poll is going to reflect the state of mind of the entire populace.

Ever heard the term... no news is good news ? What that really equates to for most news stations is...good news is not news...but bad news is.

The "media" or news, is a PRODUCT, intended to lure viewers, so that companies will pay to advertise. The news is not news, so much as it is a short story with language that is intended to get an emotional reaction out of the veiwer.....whether it be depression, anger, a warm fuzzy feeling, pride, fear....etc. It all depends on the agenda of the media outlet. For example...Fox news vewiers overwhelmingly do not want to see footage of Iraqi violence....but CNN veiwers do. Hence it would appear that both media outlets are simply catering to their audiences desire to be edutained or comfortable. So when someone says...."why does CNN only show the bad stuff ?" that is what their viewers want to see. "How come fox didn't report on the soldiers deaths in Iraq today ?", because their viewers don't want to hear about death during the dinner hour.

Money is the first objective.
Reporting on what is actually important and factual, is secondary.

Answer 3

It's just meaningless gripeing. We'd gripe if we were hung with new rope. Under the worst of conditions the US is still over all better than any place else.

95% of the people who want a job here have one.
Go in any super market and you will see more food than whole towns in Darfur have seen all year.
Next year we will elect a new President. We will restock the House and 1/3 rd of the Senate. And while I'm sure somewhere there will be sporadic cries of fraud, no one will be blown up for going to the polls.

There are many more things we have to be thankful for we don't even realise. Hey it's thanksgiving. Give thanks.

Answer 4

Americans are uninformed about economics and the world in general. Much of the blame falls on the news media for hyping stories about Anna Nichol Smith and OJ Simpson, and not reporting on the famine in Darfur, etc. The "news" media never reports that the National Debt is over nine trillion dollars.

Ignorance is bliss.

Answer 5

In 9/11, people did not understand why that happened -- shouting, "We are doing nothing wrong." I think Americans are Ignorant Population. Of course, nobody deserves to die. But They must know America's Never-Ending "Crimes of the Past" 1)the Vietnam War 58,000 US soldiers lost their lives in the Vietnam War, but Vietnam suffered approximately three million victims.Moreover, about two million of those were the common citizens of cities and rural communities; most were the victims of massacres carried out by the American military. Exactly what crime did Vietnam commit that it would have to be subjected to such vicious treatment at the hands of the United States? Did they carry out the Holocaust? Did they attack Pearl Harbor? No. Vietnam committed the crime of trying to decide their own destiny, so the United States punished it with three million human casualties and astronomical material damages. And what sort of attitude does the United States exhibit regarding these crimes of the past? The fact is that during the 1995 negotiations to renew diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the US, the Vietnamese naturally asked for an apology, but the US never gave one. The United States won't even formally acknowledge the fact that they committed war. Moreover, in response to the fact that there are people in Vietnam suffering from the after effects of chemical weapons, it completely denies any responsibility on the grounds that "There is no scientific proof that those problems were caused by chemical weapons." 2)Before the Second Sino-Japanese War started, western countries had many colonies in the world, and westerners had operated an obscurant policy in the colonies. The Japanese only had been had equal treatment from westerners. Therefore, Japan proposed The Racial Equality in Paris Peace Conference in 1919. However, the U.S and British took strong opposition in the conference, so the proposal did not get the approval. 3)At the trials held by the Allied Powers after WWII, close to one thousand Japanese people were sentenced to death for "war crimes." Incidentally, while these trials were going on, France invaded Indochina. Likewise, the Netherlands invaded Indonesia and massacred 800,000 people. But the United States backed the invasions of these two countries. And People in Southeast Asia are taught that Japan Liberated Asia from Euro-American Colonizers. 4)President Truman knew that Japanese were considering surrender with the Soviet's intervention, but he decided to use the atomic bomb. Why were men rounded up on the battlefield and bombs dropped on towns where only women, children and old people were remaining? 5)In this day, the main countries that export weapons are America, U.K., France, China, and Russia. The British and Americans alone consists 60% of the share. The deaths and casualties caused by the weapons they made have exceeded those of WWII. 6)The United States did independently attack Iraq while the UN declined. But 85% of these young adult Americans -- this is post-high school -- could not locate either Israel or Iraq on the map. Iraq holds an important position among the Arab nations because of the size of its oil reserves （presently second in the world and expected to become first in the world in the next century) America wants to get control of this oil. That's why they are trying to break down Iraq's social foundations and destroy the Iraqi economy. children have been dying one after another because of colds, diarrhea and malnutrition caused by the lack of food and medical supplies, and each and every contagious diseases has spread due to the poor sanitary conditions. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization （FAO） has reported that "the situation in Iraq now is worse than the famines in Africa." America was the first to appeal to the world for aid during the famine in North Korea, so why do they continue to neglect the famine in Iraq? And what sort of attitude does the United States exhibit regarding these crimes? The fact is that during the 1995 negotiations to renew diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the US, the Vietnamese naturally asked for an apology, but the US never gave one. The United States won't even formally acknowledge the fact that they committed war crimes. Moreover, in response to the fact that there are people in Vietnam suffering from the after effects of chemical weapons, it completely denies any responsibility on the grounds that "There is no scientific proof that those problems were caused by chemical weapons."

Answer 6

I am very happy with my life...I don't count on the govt. for happiness.. I count on them to do what is in the best interests of our country...I don't worry about myself....I worry about less fortunate people that are being ignored while Iraqis are receiving billions in aid. Here's a clue...there are more people in the world than just me...I thank God for the blessings I have in my life. I am dedicated to making sure others have the same opportunities.

Answer 7

The freedom of the Press has become a burden because the Press is owned by people to manipulate us.

Answer 8

Bad news it what gets ratings unfortunately, and ratings mean money. Americans know the world isn't as bad as it seems....or they are blissfully ignorant either or would explain your results

Answer 9

I think we've gone Media Numb ... or hopefully we do soon.

Most Americans are happy with their personal lives... but once you add our government INTO their lives... they are as pleased.

Therefore... let's decrease the size of our Ugly Ugly government, and worry about ourselves, our families, and our communities some more

Answer 10

Libs would tell you the sky is falling in order to make a buck