A number of recent events in the United Kingdom, as well as the United States of America, seem to suggest that a generally high level of material prosperity does not necessarily go hand in hand with human happiness, but, more disturbingly, that at least sometimes it seems to produce conditions that actually undermine happiness among people.
The events in question include those reported (in last week’s Sunday Times and in the latest Time magazine) on the alarming recent developments in Britain concerning a growing culture of violence among the country’s youth — developments that point to widespread disaffection and social as well as generational alienation among the young. And I mean “young”; sometimes horrifically violent attacks on people have been carried out by individuals in their early teens.
The fatal shootings of fellow students and staff at Virginia Tech in the US, by who appeared to be a “troubled” student recently — and some time ago by two teenagers at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, of a number of their peers and a teacher, as well as a shooting spree by a disgruntled broker in Atlanta after he had killed his wife and children — also suggest that something is amiss in these relatively prosperous societies. One may well ask what these events have to do with the broad question of human happiness.
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Tags: , Alientation, Colorado, Columbine High School, Disaffection, Littleton, Money, Prosperity, United Kingdom, United States of America, Violence, Virginia Tech