Today I Learned

An understanding of the world at large is overwhelming versus remaining in a bubble.

most relevant example of "ignorance is bliss"

I would say some of this depends on the reaction of the family and peers. If you are a child in a liberal family and said you need help with depression the chances of you getting help and it getting reported is much greater than if your are in a consecutive family.

Ignorance is bliss

Other studies have shown that conservatives are also much more ignorant than liberals. By the transitive properties, this is just confirmation that "ignorance is bliss."

It's easier to he happy when you don't know how fucked up the world is.

Yeah, well when you're so delusional you think climate change doesn't exist, 10 year old rape victims should be forced to give birth and LGBTQ people who are oppressed deserve it, you're less unhappy about the state of the country.

I mean, conservatives go out of their way to know as little as possible, feel as little as possible, and help others as little as possible. It doesn't surprise me that the group of people who think intelligence is weakness, also don't have strong moral compasses or compassion for anyone else.

So... hysterical and stubborn, unempathetic ignorance is bliss. Until it isn't. Which is to say - until whatever toxic regressive bullshit they have entrenched themselves upon affects them directly.

Hey maybe it’s because it’s really fucking depressing to watch a bunch of reactionary theocratic nationalist racist imbeciles rig our voting systems so it’s impossible for them to not win and then constantly read stories about how those same imbeciles are doing catastrophic amounts of damage to so many things in so many ways that it would be difficult to name them all?

scores increased for all adolescents after 2010, but increases were most pronounced for female liberal adolescents

Gee I wonder what could possibly be depressing the female liberal teens.

What a stupid study.

Maybe because they’re not delusional about the state of the world we live in that these right wing nut jobs seem to be hell-bent on making worse until we’re all living in a post-apocalyptic Gillead. I’m fucking depressed too.

The tiny differential (look at the actual numbers) between liberal/conservatives isn't much of a story, but it makes for good clickbait and will help the researchers establish themselves in their discipline.

I think maybe the biggest takeaway from this article is that it points out that all seniors in high school have reported steadily increasing depression over the last thirteen years. I'm willing to bet this trend started earlier in the 2000s. And it's right in line with more and more and more and more and more of all the available money ending up in the hands of fewer and fewer people. Everyone is more depressed.

🎶🎶🎶

It's the terror of knowing what this world is about

Watching some good friends screaming, 'Let me out'

I think it probably comes down to how you're raised. Conservatives will tell their kids black and white things. Something is either good or bad whereas liberals will try to insert the very real nuance into things.

Kids need things to be black and white when they're very young because they don't have the mental capacity to handle a lot of nuance, so trying to teach it early will give them a negative outlook on the world even if it's a realistic idea about things. Where conservative parents faulter is they never teach the nuance, so their kids spend a good chunk of their adult years thinking black and white which is obviously wrong even if they're happier.

A good tactic is give a positive, black and white outlook on the world when kids are young and add complexity as they go.

Ex: tell a young kid that cops are good people to call when there's an emergency. As they get older, and the very real atrocious things they do appear on the news, you keep adding to the truth, so when they're grown, and if they're a POC like my son, they learn to be wary of cops, but still can 911 in an emergency. That you don't automatically assume ACAB, but you don't have to trust them, know your rights, etc

I hope all that makes sense

Yeah, having empathy will do that to a person.

Information in general makes people more depressed.

The state of the world will do that.

Yes, because when you are raised conservative, that comes with a lot of lies and indoctrination that some mysterious entity out there actually loves you and that you too can be rich like Bill gates or Elon musk.

Then you grow up and realize you weren't raised or loved at all, just lied to.

I'm liberal, but I stay sane by not giving a fuck any more.

I wonder which is the cause and which is the effect, or if neither is the cause.