My Perception of the World

12 posts / 0 new

Topic locked

Thu, 2007-03-15 09:39

Sorry, I posted this in the wrong forum earlier doh...

I've started completing 'You Gov' brand index surveys (since TC recommended the site in an earlier thread) and being quite shallow and brand conscious I actually enjoy doing so.

One question they always ask is whether you feel positive about the way things are going in
The World
The Country
Your Neighbourhood

And this always makes me stop and think about how I really do feel. I actually quite like my neighbourhood, the people are poor but the majority are pleasant enough. The Elephant and Castle is being redeveloped with a 1.5 billion regeneration budget and Our estate plus the Heygate is being demolished and we'll have brand new social housing apartments.

However, I realise I do not feel positive about the country and the world but this is mostly due to media reporting NOT my own experience. The only issue that I have been directly affected by and get angry over are the state of and high prices of public transport. Yet since I get a freedom pass and don't pay for travel in London, I'm not too fussed about the underground.

When I was ill, I got first class NHS health care at the national hospital for neurology plus a cash payout from my company health insurance. The disability living allowance I now receive more than pays for my own top level health insurance should I have any future health problems.

All the other issues I moan about haven't affected me. So if I didn't read the papers or watch TV, they wouldn't depress me and I could get on with enjoying my life and counting my blessings.

Would this be a selfish 'I'm alright Jack' attitude?

Thu, 2007-03-15 10:18

archergirl

No, I don't think so, Jude. The news only tells part of the story: the part that gets them increased readership/viewership. If you *did* watch the news all the time you'd get the idea that the world is nothing but strife and bloodshed and misery. This isn't true. I prefer to think about all the people in the world who are working very hard, even in the smallest of ways, to make the world a better place for everyone, whether through charity work or healthcare or simply recycling their old newspapers. There is an old spiritual chestnut: Like attracts like. If you are feeling miserable about the world and not enjoying yourself, in some larger way you are adding to the 'global' misery. Imagine if all 6 billion of us were chronically depressed and didn't give a shit about anything? On the other hand, if you are happy and enjoying your life, that enjoyment *does* rub off on other people, even if it's only the people with whom you regularly interact. The impact of this should not be underestimated. That's my view. I don't watch the news now. I just try to be happy and content and treat others with kindness.

Thu, 2007-03-15 10:30

mississippi

Jude honey, I'm not sure that the purpose of disability living allowance is to pay for private health insurance.

Thu, 2007-03-15 10:38

tcook

I've been doing these surveys for a few years now and those questions always make me stop and think. I don't feel positive about the world, the country or my neighbourhood but that is almost entirely down to my conviction about the environmental crisis that I think we are all going to face. I've been absolutely solid on this issue for more than 25 years - and it makes one pessimistic about the future. As for my life, apart from money worries, there's really not a lot wrong with it - so I always answer that I feel positive about my fmaily, relationships etc. which are the other parts of the question. I think that's all pretty logical.

Thu, 2007-03-15 11:31

poetjude

I'm not sure that the purpose of disability living allowance is to pay for private health insurance. No, but it isn't means tested, so you can claim it even if you were a millionaire or like me still able to work and earn a good salary (although it isn't as good as it was before). I only get the lower level so it isn't a huge amount. Technically it is supposed to cover the additional costs incurred by having a disability. However I don't really incur any extra costs because I compensate for my disability when carrying out most tasks. Things are more difficult and take longer but don't cost any more.

Thu, 2007-03-15 13:14

bobblehat2023

"So if I didn't read the papers or watch TV, they wouldn't depress me and I could get on with enjoying my life and counting my blessings. Would this be a selfish 'I'm alright Jack' attitude?" No, it wouldn't. I'm strongly in favour of people who's life is quite good being open about it. The problem with the original questions about the state of the world, the country and your neighbourhood is that it doesn't give the person answering the question anything to judge it against. For example, you might be positive about the state of the world compared to the state of the world in 1939, positive about the country compared to North Korea or France etc.

Thu, 2007-03-15 15:30

Jack Cade

'How do you feel' is a strange question anyway. Feelings come and go. There's that, and also that you can feel happy with your own situation while being unhappy that other injustices exist. Even in a crisis, where terrible things are happening, you can experience a feeling of gratitude for remaining out of danger. I'd answer the question negatively, because no matter how I feel about my current situation and the people around me, I am not confident that the country or the world is in good hands. Even if it was, the nature of many of the problems we face means that I'd remain doubtful that the world can ever be 'heading' in the right direction.

Thu, 2007-03-15 15:58

poetjude

"There's that, and also that you can feel happy with your own situation while being unhappy that other injustices exist." I think that's where the tension is for me. I feel so grateful that I should be and am happy but there is a twinge of 'guilt' because of other injustices. And I don't need to look to the developing world to witness awful things. I see friends relapse, loose their homes, go bankrupt and have their kids taken away. I look at other friends struggling with desperately vast mortgages and childcare costs. And by no effort of my own I have no financial or personal worries and am, for want of a better word, 'jammy' ! jude

Thu, 2007-03-15 16:26

justyn_thyme

I don't feel quilty about the problems of other people, provided I haven't caused those difficulties! "You don't need the light of the Lord to read the handwriting on the wall." Copies of Warsaw Tales available through www.new-ink.org

Thu, 2007-03-15 17:09

#10

Jack Cade

Not guilty, but troubled.

Fri, 2007-03-16 13:16

#11

Yan2

I'm very sensitive, and carry the weight of the world on my shoulders most times. Put me in a room with masked people, all of whom are happy except 1, and I'll be able to tell you who's sad just by standing near them. If we participate in a world which promotes inequality and pain, then we're all responsible for upturning the tables, and changing it. Gawd, I feel so lucky, but in light of another's sorrow. There's nothing more mind-teasing than the incomprehensible eagerly avowed - Dennett

~It's a maze for rats to try, it's a race for rats to die.~

Fri, 2007-03-16 13:52

#12

maddan

If I was in a room of masked people and Yan2 was standing near me, I'd be unhappy about it.

Topic locked