the pursuit of happiness

The Declaration of Independence states that "all men are created equal... [and their rights include] Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Changing property to happiness does leave the document more open for interpretation, but what is the pursuit of happiness in real life, for real people who are created equal. In the movie The Pursuit of Happiness, based on a true starring Will Smith, Smith is homeless and trying to support for him and his son. He states at the end of the movie, after receiving a long desired job, that that part of his life was happiness. So is it money that means happiness? Alan Krueger, an economist from Princeton University states that "Income... matters very little for moment-to-moment experiences." Other studies have proven, and I am paraphrasing, but if a person has enough money for basic necessities such as food, clothing, and housing, from that point money on has no effect on a person's happiness. So maybe Will Smith was only trying to support for him and his son to attain basic necessities, but knowing this, why are so many people so interested in making money? It seems almost pointless to have many luxuries if we know it will not make us happier. And yet, money and income is a very common interest between people.

The declaration also states that all men are created equal, but in what sense? At first, women and blacks were not even allowed to vote, so if they were born white males, they would have been born of a higher status, able to vote. How is the word equal actually defined, and how does it effect a person's pursuit of happiness? Maybe it means that all people should have a fair shot at life without discrimination or judgement. This makes sense, and yet, it appears as if it is nowhere near the truth. People born into almost any minority are said to be equal, but why then is there so much trouble later in life trying to find happiness; it should be the same for all people as stated by the declaration. We are born the same people that we are when we are older, so if we are created equal shouldn't we always be equal? The answer is yes, and yet, so many people are subjugated by others and still find happiness. Maybe it is because they are idealistic and want to see the good in everyone, or maybe they are pragmatic and know that they have to ignore others and find happiness on their own, but either way, happiness is found with or without being in the majority or having more money. The pursuit of happiness is very different to each person, and it should not matter what luxeries someone has or how other people view them, because happiness can and is found despite everythings else.

Gitmo Soldiers

After recently doing some research on Guantanamo Bay, i came across an article that surprised and disgusted me. It portrays the women soldiers at Gitmo to be inappropriate with the detainee, giving them lap dances, seductive talks and watching them undress. It made me wonder about how they could think that terrorists who are willing to kill thousands of people at a time would give into this: "Does anyone in the military believe that a coldblooded terrorist who has withstood months of physical and psychological abuse will crack because a woman runs her fingers through his hair." The fact that it is happening is bad enough on the reputation of US soldiers, but what about women in general?

For years women were subjugated from men, and it took the strength and idealism of these women to receive the right to vote, for example. After years of comodification from men, these women make are doing it to themselves. Acting the way they do with these random men, it gives a message to the whole country that this is an ok thing for women to do with men to get something from them. Although the article states that it has not accomplished anything, why does the commodification go on, and in some cases self-inflicted?

Depression or Regression

While discussing depression and regression in class, I found an article about the differences of the two. Lately it seems that too many people are falsely thinking that our country is in a depression. According to USA Today, 33% of 1,011 adults surveyed said that our economy already is in a depression.

A regression is defined as a decline in GDP for two or more consecutive quarters, and a depression is said to be "any economic downturn where real GDP declines by more than 10 percent [for a longer period of time than for a regression]." Starting in 1929, during the Great Depression, there was almost a 33% decline in the country's GDP. And while that was clearly a very perilous time for the country, the word recession was made to show the differences from the Great Depression to now, for example.

With the definitions of these words so clear cut, how can a person still believe that we are in a depression. Yes it's true that our economy is in a time of perril, and maybe even in a regression, but we do not fit into the catagory of a depression. When comparing our country's current economic situation to the Great Depression, it is easy to see similarities, but more importantly it is easy to see obvious differences. In the Great Depression, from 1929-1942, as shown on the chart to the right, the unemployment rate went from about 4% to nearly 25% in a matter of a couple of years. The most current unemployment rate, in september 2008, was about 6.1%, and as the graph (small, right) shows, has been increasing for a number of years now. Comparitivelty, it is obvious which time period has the most dramatic results, although the ideas are similar.

In order to decide whether or not we are currently in a depression, we must ask ourselves a couple questions. Although there are similarities between us and the Great Depression, is it to the same extent? And do we better fit into a regression because of the time frame and percentages? As a country, we must admit we are in a perilous economic time, but is it really a depression?