WE SAW HAPPY PEOPLE WHERE THE HAPPY PLANET INDEX SAID THEY WERE THE UNHAPPIEST PEOPLE ON EARTH!!
Yes, you read that right! The unhappiest people on the planet have been located by the British think-tank New Economics Foundation. Hold your breath now: The two lowest rated countries were recently visited by me, my family, and a fellow Fulbrighter from sunny San Diego, California. The index combines life satisfaction, life expectancy and environmental considerations they describe as the land required to sustain the population and to absorb its energy consumption. Poor Zimbabwe slammed in dead-last at 178th on their list.
The folks in Swaziland were a few points above the Zim people, rating a 177th place at the rear door of the planet. Not surprisingly, two other African countries were next at the bottom: Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Ukraine, where we wanted to spend our honeymoon, slid in slightly ahead of the not-so "Democratic" Congo. Why are the least democratic, most unrepublican countries always given those designations?
Anyway, there they were...Zimbabwe and Swaziland. Point is, we just returned from visiting these two countries and my impression was that most of the people we encountered were not walking around "singing the blues." In other words, they seemed "happy" to me.
I wonder about such so-called "think" tanks. How in hell do they think up an "index" that reflects peoples' unhappiness/happiness? If you think about it, Zimbabwe and Swaziland are very, very poor nations. The economy of the former is one of the worst in the world--by far. At least the latter, Swaziland, has a royal gambling casino or two.
Both of them have autocratic, authoritarian "leaders"; one a king, the other a king wannabe. Swaziland is led by a fellow who barely graduated from high school, a British private school at that. I'm not sure about Mugabe. He probably has a dozen or so honorary degrees from various local colleges. I know for a fact that Michigan State University bestowed a doctor of arts degree on him back in the 1980's, during his better days of governance. Those days are long gone.
Well, I'm going to try to post some photographs from our recent travels through these two lands. The photographs will speak for themselves in describing some of the people of the nations with the unhappiest people on earth. You can be the judge. They will be forthcoming...
Oh. You probably want to know what country has the happiest people on the planet, right? The small South Pacific Ocean archipelago of Vanuatu was rated number one by the British think tank. Look, if you were British you'd probably want to be there too. And why not? With only about 138,000 citizens, most of whom probably wear next to nothing for clothing, the folks there gotta be fairly carefree.
After joint administrative control by the British and French (man, what a way to mess up a people), since 1906, the native population was set free in 1980. That's strange because 1980 was also the same date that Zimbabwe was set free from British control. Hmmmmmm. One ends up being happiest on earth--the other is the unhappiest! What the hell happened?
My theory lies with the lack of clothing and perhaps something in the cocoanut juice on the islands of Vanuatu. And I would be willing to bet all my millions of Zimbabwean dollars that the girls of Vanuatu are much better looking than the ones in Mugabe's prison nation. I'd also put my money on the fact that the former New Hebrides Islands has leadership that wears flowered shirts or maybe even skirts. Mugabe, you must know, prefers dark suits that give him that "Tony Blair" or "George Bush" look.
It's a sure bet that the people of Vanuatu don't have a care or concern about racial identity either. There are no land "reform" movement by government there. Who wants to fight over sand, empty beaches, and Pacific breezes?
I just wish there was some way I could fly out to Vanuatu...and get to the bottom of this survey, index stuff. After spending time in the two lowest of the low, it would only be fair to be able to dangle my toes in the waters off the coast of the best of the best. I wonder if the Vanuatu people have a chamber of commerce? Maybe they would be willing to sponsor someone like me for a few days vacation. Then I could post photographs from Vanuatu and give comparisons between the happiest and unhappiest people on the planet. Sure, John. Dream on...
The folks in Swaziland were a few points above the Zim people, rating a 177th place at the rear door of the planet. Not surprisingly, two other African countries were next at the bottom: Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Ukraine, where we wanted to spend our honeymoon, slid in slightly ahead of the not-so "Democratic" Congo. Why are the least democratic, most unrepublican countries always given those designations?
Anyway, there they were...Zimbabwe and Swaziland. Point is, we just returned from visiting these two countries and my impression was that most of the people we encountered were not walking around "singing the blues." In other words, they seemed "happy" to me.
I wonder about such so-called "think" tanks. How in hell do they think up an "index" that reflects peoples' unhappiness/happiness? If you think about it, Zimbabwe and Swaziland are very, very poor nations. The economy of the former is one of the worst in the world--by far. At least the latter, Swaziland, has a royal gambling casino or two.
Both of them have autocratic, authoritarian "leaders"; one a king, the other a king wannabe. Swaziland is led by a fellow who barely graduated from high school, a British private school at that. I'm not sure about Mugabe. He probably has a dozen or so honorary degrees from various local colleges. I know for a fact that Michigan State University bestowed a doctor of arts degree on him back in the 1980's, during his better days of governance. Those days are long gone.
Well, I'm going to try to post some photographs from our recent travels through these two lands. The photographs will speak for themselves in describing some of the people of the nations with the unhappiest people on earth. You can be the judge. They will be forthcoming...
Oh. You probably want to know what country has the happiest people on the planet, right? The small South Pacific Ocean archipelago of Vanuatu was rated number one by the British think tank. Look, if you were British you'd probably want to be there too. And why not? With only about 138,000 citizens, most of whom probably wear next to nothing for clothing, the folks there gotta be fairly carefree.
After joint administrative control by the British and French (man, what a way to mess up a people), since 1906, the native population was set free in 1980. That's strange because 1980 was also the same date that Zimbabwe was set free from British control. Hmmmmmm. One ends up being happiest on earth--the other is the unhappiest! What the hell happened?
My theory lies with the lack of clothing and perhaps something in the cocoanut juice on the islands of Vanuatu. And I would be willing to bet all my millions of Zimbabwean dollars that the girls of Vanuatu are much better looking than the ones in Mugabe's prison nation. I'd also put my money on the fact that the former New Hebrides Islands has leadership that wears flowered shirts or maybe even skirts. Mugabe, you must know, prefers dark suits that give him that "Tony Blair" or "George Bush" look.
It's a sure bet that the people of Vanuatu don't have a care or concern about racial identity either. There are no land "reform" movement by government there. Who wants to fight over sand, empty beaches, and Pacific breezes?
I just wish there was some way I could fly out to Vanuatu...and get to the bottom of this survey, index stuff. After spending time in the two lowest of the low, it would only be fair to be able to dangle my toes in the waters off the coast of the best of the best. I wonder if the Vanuatu people have a chamber of commerce? Maybe they would be willing to sponsor someone like me for a few days vacation. Then I could post photographs from Vanuatu and give comparisons between the happiest and unhappiest people on the planet. Sure, John. Dream on...
posted by JOBURG JOURNAL at 1:04 PM
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