What makes Bhutan so happy? According to the World Happiness Report (WHR) 2019, Bhutan built its economy around principles of happiness and well-being, not economical factors, such as it was done by virtually every other country in the world.
By doing so, Bhutan developed in completely different fashion, not looking great economically speaking, but still ranking high in terms of what really matters for people, which is their sense of happiness.
Why would they do that? It's a tiny country in the Himalayas nestled between China and India, with whom they have a military defense agreement. They have few economically attractive resources that might tempt a predator like China, who are unlikely to want to risk confrontation with India over such small pickings. It's more instructive to follow China's incursions into much of Africa and other developing nations, buying up their infrastructure, mineral deposits etc. and offering financial incentives/bribes too tempting to refuse for those poor states. America seems oblivious.
This is actually a very big topic. It is actually all about what is going on today, socially and politically speaking. In this sense we are at a threshold of deciding whether we want to live in a compulsory collective society or in a voluntary cooperative one. The founders of our country engineered a cooperative system that endorses individualized liberty and sovereignty.
I don't know what law of nature you're talking about. I know - as just one instance - that the leader of a herd of deer kept as his favorite all his life a female who had had a broken back and was weaker than the others. She was always protected. The nature I have seen has so many variations.
We do not get to choose our culture for a good reason. We do not get to choose our parents for the same good reason; we are born to them, born into culture. The 'we' who would be choosing them are not formed yet, and they (parents and culture) are part of who and what form us. Now, the effect that any of us have on the culture, that is indeed within our scope to change. But not till we grow up in it.
For a child, whose primary socialization (living among the same people until the age of five or so) is among criminals, the lifestyle and its ethics are "normal." Where does it start and where does it end?
When the child decides to study law? I would have rather grown up on a farm, and wish my Dad had been a farmer, but who knows what that life would have been like and what it would have brought me. I will take the life I was given, culture and all. The choices we would make ideally are a movie script perhaps but not real.
The long process of civilized behavior run amok. Won't take long in relationship to the process, the bullies always meet their maker.
i read .... give an animal love they become almost human ... deny a human love and they become almost an animal dear good god deliver us all from evil
Is Bhutan a good example of a culture/society to emulate for the best interests of its people?
https://optimalhappiness.com/bhutan-happiest-country-in-the-world/
What makes Bhutan so happy? According to the World Happiness Report (WHR) 2019, Bhutan built its economy around principles of happiness and well-being, not economical factors, such as it was done by virtually every other country in the world.
By doing so, Bhutan developed in completely different fashion, not looking great economically speaking, but still ranking high in terms of what really matters for people, which is their sense of happiness.
So what's keeping other countries from over-running them, stealing their resources, and enslaving their people?
Geography? A strong military? Geo-political clout?
Why would they do that? It's a tiny country in the Himalayas nestled between China and India, with whom they have a military defense agreement. They have few economically attractive resources that might tempt a predator like China, who are unlikely to want to risk confrontation with India over such small pickings. It's more instructive to follow China's incursions into much of Africa and other developing nations, buying up their infrastructure, mineral deposits etc. and offering financial incentives/bribes too tempting to refuse for those poor states. America seems oblivious.
That just puts them further down the list of priorities.
The Belt and Road Initiative. China let’s these countries borrow money. When they get hung up on the debt, China takes over their country.
This is actually a very big topic. It is actually all about what is going on today, socially and politically speaking. In this sense we are at a threshold of deciding whether we want to live in a compulsory collective society or in a voluntary cooperative one. The founders of our country engineered a cooperative system that endorses individualized liberty and sovereignty.
Of course, it is for everyone to think about for themselves, which is part of my objectives: entertain, inform, and inspire. :)
I just wish the Articles of Confederations were not missed for the Constitution...
I don't know what law of nature you're talking about. I know - as just one instance - that the leader of a herd of deer kept as his favorite all his life a female who had had a broken back and was weaker than the others. She was always protected. The nature I have seen has so many variations.
Tribal culture?
We do not get to choose our culture for a good reason. We do not get to choose our parents for the same good reason; we are born to them, born into culture. The 'we' who would be choosing them are not formed yet, and they (parents and culture) are part of who and what form us. Now, the effect that any of us have on the culture, that is indeed within our scope to change. But not till we grow up in it.
For a child, whose primary socialization (living among the same people until the age of five or so) is among criminals, the lifestyle and its ethics are "normal." Where does it start and where does it end?
When the child decides to study law? I would have rather grown up on a farm, and wish my Dad had been a farmer, but who knows what that life would have been like and what it would have brought me. I will take the life I was given, culture and all. The choices we would make ideally are a movie script perhaps but not real.
Most of the time, the only thing one can change is the way of looking around. :)