

Happiness - rkalla
http://www.thebuzzmedia.com/happiness-is-not-a-disease/

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rorymarinich
Yet another example, I think, of why people who have no experience with drugs
or drug users should write like they understand what drives people to drug
use. Hell, this sounds like it's written by a guy who's never used _weed_ ,
let alone anything that has a serious effect on the brain.

While it's true that people get addicted to placebos that stimulate artificial
happiness, that's an issue that goes way deeper than fast food. We have to
start asking us what counts as a placebo for happiness. Does listening to
shitty pop music count as a bad way to achieve happiness? Even if it's just
the worst godawful music and it doesn't encourage anything other than
listening to it on repeat and buying albums? What if we're listening to more
sophisticated music? Or listening only to Beethoven concerts? What about
watching films? Reading books? Attending lectures? Having friends? Where does
happiness start being earnest and stop being a disease?

Like, I'm uncertain if he's saying "you shouldn't let eating make you happy if
it will also make you unhealthy" or if he's saying "don't rely on _anything_
to make you happy unless it's somehow a completely authentic reaction". The
fact that he takes the swipe at "drugs" as a blanket category suggests he's
less worried about drugs' side effects than he's worried about the possibility
that people will rely on drugs for happiness, simply because they're an
artificially induced stimulus. But everything's artificially induced in that
case, really, or at least the line isn't clearly drawn.

I feel it's worth saying: some of my favorite people use drugs to force their
mind to think in ways it doesn't usually think, and then use their experiences
to gain a deeper knowledge of themselves, which brings them what I'd call
legitimate peace and happiness. I resent the suggestion that they're somehow
cheating. I also resent the idea that this article had to talk about drugs _at
all_ , seeing as it's not exactly the most informed source of information.

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cullenking
Great point all around. The author also didn't take into account that poverty
drives obesity arguably more than his happiness theory. Unhealthy food is much
cheaper than healthier food - look at the menu of McDonalds vs the price of
fresh vegetables, breads etc. You can mitigate this to a point with bulk
foods, however that requires an initial investment which is often not possible
for a poor family.

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dools
I'm interested to know where you live that this is true! The only reasons I
can imagine poverty would lead to poor food choice is lack of education or
lack of facilities to prepare meals (ie. those living in transient
conditions).

I come from Australia and can whole heartedly say that if you know the basics
of food preparation and have access to a kitchen eating healthily is like a
fifth of the cost of eating McDonalds!

~~~
jonathanwallace
Urban areas are noted for their lack of quality grocery stores:
[http://www.google.com/search?aq=0&oq=lack+of+grocery+sto...](http://www.google.com/search?aq=0&oq=lack+of+grocery+stores&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=lack+of+grocery+stores+in+urban+areas)

When you factor in travel costs and time, the price inequality between cheap
fast food and good quality food is exacerbated.

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swombat
As outlined in other comments, a pretty dreadful article.

 _This literally just dawned on me while watching TV 5 mins ago and I felt
compelled to step in here and write it up…_

It shows.

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kilian
As said in the other comments, this is a really, really bad article by someone
with apparently zero domain knowledge.

"I don't believe that [obesity is a disease]". Can we get over this already?
Obesity is _very much_ a disease like diabetes. In fact, it's closely related
to it, in that in both cases, the insulin system is not functioning correctly.
It's too much to explain in a comment, but I urge the OP to read "Good
calories, bad calories" by Gary Taubes.

On drugs, want to know what really happens when drugs become legal, in real
life? Wikipedia can help:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_policy_of_Portugal#decrimi...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_policy_of_Portugal#decriminalization)

Signed, a thoroughly skinny guy ;)

~~~
rkalla
kilian, the article was about addiction and abuse in search of happiness. I am
sorry you missed that.

~~~
kilian
Nevertheless, throughout the article assumptions are made that are certifiably
untrue. I hope you agree with me that that's not a good thing.

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wtracy
"If harder drugs find their way onto the legal market that means greater
accessibility."

[Citation needed]

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a5seo
Bad analogy: everyone has to eat something, not everyone has to get high.

