Happy, Shiny People
Despite everything going on in this part of the world, Israel has made the top ten of the World’s Happiest Countries list, based on the following methodology.
Quantifying happiness isn’t an easy task. Researchers at the Gallup World Poll went about it by surveying thousands of respondents in 155 countries, between 2005 and 2009, in order to measure two types of well-being.
First they asked subjects to reflect on their overall satisfaction with their lives, and ranked their answers using a “life evaluation” score between 1 and 10. Then they asked questions about how each subject had felt the previous day. Those answers allowed researchers to score their “daily experiences”–things like whether they felt well-rested, respected, free of pain and intellectually engaged.
Subjects that reported high scores were considered “thriving.” The percentage of thriving individuals in each country determined our rankings.
See the full list here.
Note:
- Israel is in equal 8th place with Canada and my birthplace, Australia.
- The only Arab country in the top 20 is the UAE, which just snuck in (I guess this guy wasn’t surveyed).
- The palestinian territories are in 96th place, which puts it above 50+ countries including Turkey (103), Iraq (110), Egypt (115), and Syria (115).
About the Author
An Australian immigrant to Israel, Aussie Dave has been blogging since early 2003.Filed Under: General
And the U.S. isn't doing to bad, considering the horrible economic condition there right now.
max blumenthal doesnt like that birthright refuses to turn its participants into israel haters, so he decides to libel the entire program
http://maxblumenthal.com/2010/07/birthright-israe…
"Besides learning fanciful and discredited notions about the usefulness of fortress Israel in a dark, Jew-hating world, Birthright tourists are taught to worship the power of the IDF and are told that the army is in fact defending “the Jewish people” from an assortment of swarthy threats. Meanwhile they learn nothing about the culture of Palestinians and are expressly forbidden from meeting them. Instead of meeting Israeli peace activists like Eric Yellin, they receive a lecture from an Orientalist huckster (check out one of Birthright’s favorite speakers here) about Palestinian “incitement” and the threat of radical Islam. In their free time, Birthright tourists are urged to enjoy a Goldstar-sodden, Porky’s-style bachannal in the hope that they will someday contribute to a spike in the Jewish birthrate. Sleeping with a soldier, whether male or female, is especially encouraged."
max is not a journalist. he is a blogger who is known for his misleading and highly edited videos.
it is time for israel to ban this self hating bastiche from the country
I agree with you, Walt, that for whatever reason, Max Blumenthal has it in for Israel. His attacks on Israel seem to come from a personal place within him. I like Max on domestic issues, but think his coverage of Israel is over the top and unfair. But I don't think Israel needs to ban him from the country. Israelis have survived a lot of things. They will survive Max Blumenthal, too.
i used to like max on domestic issues…until i started watching his vids on israel and saw his deceptive use of editing and his making sure to only interview the least educated in a crowd
i now dont care what his views of domestic politics are…nor do i trust his investigations.
every country has the right to allow into their borders who they want
america has thousands on do not fly lists and do not allow entry lists…many of those are political dissidents
max doesnt have the right to enter israel….nor should he be granted that right
watch his vids as he gives aide and comfort to israel's enemies
they banned finkelstein….they banned mearshimer…they almost (and should) ban chomsky….max should be next
im sorry…but this latest blog piece is pure trash
birthright as pimps?
i forwarded the article to birthright…i hope they take his behind to court
Yes, I think this is an important point. If you know someone if lying about X, how can you believe him about Y, as much as you would like to? I've run into this myself, with "the Secret War against the Jewish People". There was nothing wrong with the authors, but when I looked at the footnotes and saw that Seymour Hersh figured prominently, I had to ocnsider that it likely was unintentional fiction.
*sigh* is all I can say.
So Australia is in Asia now?