Why is it ironic that modern Americans experience anxiety?
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Why is it ironic that modern Americans experience anxiety?
Started by Murphy, Sep 10 2005 12:28 PM
3 replies to this topic
#2
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Posted 14 February 2007 - 06:16 PM
Murphy, on Sep 10 2005, 12:28 PM, said:
Why is it ironic that modern Americans experience anxiety?
My answer for the cause of the anxiety in the first place would be 24 hour news, too many people with little to do and who didn't learn enough about history and economics in order to be more critical thinkers and who aren't really ready to correct that state of affairs. (Unlike those who take the HSC from Mises - better late than never!)
The ironic part about anxiety is because people today live far better in every quantitative (higher incomes, more goods that are affordable that enhance life, friendly credit markets, abundant inventories to meet demand in a shorter time span) and qualitative (more leisure time, cultural and other activities that were formerly the purview of the very wealthy are now available to the middle class) way than those in the past, this is not fully appreciated.
For some reason, in spite of all of the evidence of well-being, Americans worry more and seem to feel less secure.
An explanation for this would most likely be framed in terms of the psychological phenomena of "locus of control." Those who cede control of certain aspects of their lives to third parties are regarded as having an external locus of control. When people realize that they do not have direct control over parts of their lives, they then tend to be more anxious, more focused on the more negative turns of the rumble and tumble of life in general.
During the Great Depression when FDR began the New Deal, society at large began to cede control of things that were previously considered part of one's own range of personal responsibility and self-reliance. With this legislation, control of things like unemployment, illness, old age and retirement, disability, poverty, careless investing or borrowing, child rearing and educating, to name a few, became the control of the government. So, given that individuals have only one vote, that their elected representatives will make decisions that correspond to how best to garner votes for re-election, that these representatives serve very large populations and numerous interests, the voice and concerns of the individual become less consequential.
#3
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Posted 03 March 2007 - 06:40 PM
Joanne, on Feb 14 2007, 05:16 PM, said:
My answer for the cause of the anxiety in the first place would be 24 hour news, too many people with little to do and who didn't learn enough about history and economics in order to be more critical thinkers and who aren't really ready to correct that state of affairs. (Unlike those who take the HSC from Mises - better late than never!)
The ironic part about anxiety is because people today live far better in every quantitative (higher incomes, more goods that are affordable that enhance life, friendly credit markets, abundant inventories to meet demand in a shorter time span) and qualitative (more leisure time, cultural and other activities that were formerly the purview of the very wealthy are now available to the middle class) way than those in the past, this is not fully appreciated.
For some reason, in spite of all of the evidence of well-being, Americans worry more and seem to feel less secure.
An explanation for this would most likely be framed in terms of the psychological phenomena of "locus of control." Those who cede control of certain aspects of their lives to third parties are regarded as having an external locus of control. When people realize that they do not have direct control over parts of their lives, they then tend to be more anxious, more focused on the more negative turns of the rumble and tumble of life in general.
During the Great Depression when FDR began the New Deal, society at large began to cede control of things that were previously considered part of one's own range of personal responsibility and self-reliance. With this legislation, control of things like unemployment, illness, old age and retirement, disability, poverty, careless investing or borrowing, child rearing and educating, to name a few, became the control of the government. So, given that individuals have only one vote, that their elected representatives will make decisions that correspond to how best to garner votes for re-election, that these representatives serve very large populations and numerous interests, the voice and concerns of the individual become less consequential.
The ironic part about anxiety is because people today live far better in every quantitative (higher incomes, more goods that are affordable that enhance life, friendly credit markets, abundant inventories to meet demand in a shorter time span) and qualitative (more leisure time, cultural and other activities that were formerly the purview of the very wealthy are now available to the middle class) way than those in the past, this is not fully appreciated.
For some reason, in spite of all of the evidence of well-being, Americans worry more and seem to feel less secure.
An explanation for this would most likely be framed in terms of the psychological phenomena of "locus of control." Those who cede control of certain aspects of their lives to third parties are regarded as having an external locus of control. When people realize that they do not have direct control over parts of their lives, they then tend to be more anxious, more focused on the more negative turns of the rumble and tumble of life in general.
During the Great Depression when FDR began the New Deal, society at large began to cede control of things that were previously considered part of one's own range of personal responsibility and self-reliance. With this legislation, control of things like unemployment, illness, old age and retirement, disability, poverty, careless investing or borrowing, child rearing and educating, to name a few, became the control of the government. So, given that individuals have only one vote, that their elected representatives will make decisions that correspond to how best to garner votes for re-election, that these representatives serve very large populations and numerous interests, the voice and concerns of the individual become less consequential.
Exactly right. For another example, I think Americans are far more worried about military invasion than other people are, even though it is inconceivable right now that the US would be invaded by another military, and the opposite is in fact true.
That's interesting about the external locus of control. I've heard of that stuff but never connected it to political economy before!
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Posted 27 September 2008 - 02:25 PM
Without getting too philosophical, man's anxiety seems to go up when success is the best. It may be that mankind in tying his success to external manna has built way too many barns to store up the wrong wealth "that rusts" and not enough to an eternal wealth may "never rusts." But I also think as Higgs states and you ask in question #9, too much security and no freedom reminds me of what I tell my Civics students.
There was a Chemistry professor in a large college that had some exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab the Prof noticed one young man (exchange student) who kept rubbing his back and stretching as if his back hurt. The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country’s government and install a new communist government. In the midst of his story he looked at the professor and asked a strange question.
He asked, ‘ Do you know how to catch wild pigs?’ The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said this was no joke. ‘You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come everyday to eat the free corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side. The pigs, who are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat, you slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd. Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how To forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity.
The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening to America. The government keeps pushing us toward Communism/Socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare, medicine, drugs, etc. while we continually lose our freedoms- just a little at a time.
One should always remember ‘There is no such thing as a free Lunch! Also, a politician will never provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself.
I just don’t know how some people don’t get this..
Don't even know where I got this, but I use it all the time in class!
There was a Chemistry professor in a large college that had some exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab the Prof noticed one young man (exchange student) who kept rubbing his back and stretching as if his back hurt. The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country’s government and install a new communist government. In the midst of his story he looked at the professor and asked a strange question.
He asked, ‘ Do you know how to catch wild pigs?’ The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said this was no joke. ‘You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come everyday to eat the free corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side. The pigs, who are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat, you slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd. Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how To forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity.
The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening to America. The government keeps pushing us toward Communism/Socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare, medicine, drugs, etc. while we continually lose our freedoms- just a little at a time.
One should always remember ‘There is no such thing as a free Lunch! Also, a politician will never provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself.
I just don’t know how some people don’t get this..
Don't even know where I got this, but I use it all the time in class!
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