Will money buy YOU happiness?

[JLGatsby]

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber
I'm not saying people in north korea are happy, I am saying YOU have no authority to decide on what happiness is.

I'm not blurring what happiness is, you are confusing material comfort and happiness. They aren't the same, they never will be the same.

YOU are wrong, I know that for 100% fact. There are different levels of happiness.

A person happy just to "get by" or be given a "necessity" by the government to feed their family, is NOT the same as someone has has developed a deep, emotional, happiness where they can stand on a hill, raise their arms in the sky, and know they are intellectually fullfilled, a truly "learned" person, who has ego, self esteem, and purpose, and they have enough money to live like a king, and live their life by their own morality (except for extremes, money cannot buy the right to murder, etc).

Happiness can be shallow, like a dog getting a bone. Or it can be deep and fullfilling, like feeling your life was one-in-a-billion and you're one of the luckiest human beings to ever walk the planet. You fail to grasp that.

 

[Syringer]

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: krunchykrome
It will buy you a piece of mind, which can reduce stress, which naturally will make you a happier person.

:Q

I think you mean peace. :Q

You can buy a piece of a mind as well

 

[Dr. Detroit]

Absofuckinlutely!

As long as you don't become a pompous prick who forgets their family and friends, money will sure as hell buy a whole lot of happiness.

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber

Originally posted by: JLGatsby

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber
What I think you fail to understand (apologies for sounding harsh) is that freedom and wealth as the pinnacle of life are socially constructed within our society. We are taught to believe that freedom is essential, that individuality matters. The reality is, however, we could have been taught the opposite and could leave happy, productive, lives in a different society.

I win on all four points. Part of it, you invent this "money is a burden" myth, but give no solid examples. Other parts you don't even explain yourself, just invent out of nowhere statements (""you could argue it makes it harder.") with no basis.

And in the quote part, you're just blurring what "happiness" is. Yeah I guess some people in North Korea are happy to, but the truth is they don't know what true happiness is.

My arguments are far stronger than yours.

Again, sadly, you are wrong. A good example is the communist system. Recently, many people have been turning out to mourn Stalin and the collapse of the USSR. They are genuinely sad he is gone. Watching a PBS special on this, I thought to myself "oh, this is because they forget how horrible it was under his regime." Well, that certainly played a part but what was more intriguing was that they said they were happier when they were under a communist system because it gave them a purpose and a sense of fulfillment. You find the same thing in East Germany, where many East Germans do not miss the oppressiveness of their government, but do miss how the state provided them with a sense purpose, a mission, a goal. Sure, we can just call them ignorant, but that is selling them and their experiences short.

I'm not saying people in north korea are happy, I am saying YOU have no authority to decide on what happiness is.

I'm not blurring what happiness is, you are confusing material comfort and happiness. They aren't the same, they never will be the same.

How can you first say that someone has no authority to determine what is happiness for someone else, and then in the next sentence say material comfort isn't happiness? Hmm.

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: JLGatsby

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber
I'm not saying people in north korea are happy, I am saying YOU have no authority to decide on what happiness is.

I'm not blurring what happiness is, you are confusing material comfort and happiness. They aren't the same, they never will be the same.

YOU are wrong, I know that for 100% fact. There are different levels of happiness.

A person happy just to "get by" or be given a "necessity" by the government to feed their family, is NOT the same as someone has has developed a deep, emotional, happiness where they can stand on a hill, raise their arms in the sky, and know they are intellectually fullfilled, a truly "learned" person, who has ego, self esteem, and purpose, and they have enough money to live like a king, and live their life by their own morality (except for extremes, money cannot buy the right to murder, etc).

Happiness can be shallow, like a dog getting a bone. Or it can be deep and fullfilling, like feeling your life was one-in-a-billion and you're one of the luckiest human beings to ever walk the planet. You fail to grasp that.

Haha arguing with you is like getting heckled during a debate. Anyway, there are different levels of happiness, and defining "true" happiness is difficult. But you are making a subjective, culturally molded judgment about happiness which I still think is a bit beyond your grasp. You identify different levels of happiness, but fail to understand that what it takes to achieve those levels is personally and culturally defined.

So there.

 

[shadow9d9]

Money would amount to happiness for me. Wife wouldn't need to work, spend more time with the kids, don't have to worry about health insurance(health issues), could take more vacations. Nothing else would change.

 

[SSSnail]

I've seen some very valid arguments in this thread regarding the virtue of whether money can buy a person happiness. I think it's up to the individual to define their meaning of happiness, and if money would allow them to increase that level or happiness.

Having a ton of money would give me choices, choices that I may have never had before. Of course I will chose to do what's best for me, regardless of situations, and that will bring happiness. If I don't have to worry about consequences (legal contraints withstanding), then I don't think there are any problems that money can't fix. In the course of persuing happiness with this mountain of money, and you run into someone that can't be bought, why bother? Go buy someone else. Again, money would give you this power to chose.

Regarding personal issues, I can also chose to deal with them or not, just like how you would when you DON'T have the mountain of money. But sometimes, having that mountain of money would give you the confidence in making better decisions. In short, having a mountain of money would definitely makes me a bit happier. The problems that can't be fixed, won't be fixed with any amount of money. So regardless if you have this mountain of money or not, those problems remain; but having this mountain of money would certainly increase your happiness in other aspects of your life. Tangible problems with having lots of money is negligible, and I rather be miserable sitting on a mountain of money, than miserable sitting on a sidewalk.

 

[DaShen]

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: ManSnake
Only poor people would say "Money won't buy you happiness" just to make themselves feel better.

Quite the opposite. Only poor people can possibly think that being rich will solve all their problems.

QFT They have a documentary where they gave a homeless person 100G, and he is homeless again.

******************

Originally posted by: Slew Foot

Originally posted by: JLGatsby


Money buys freedom. Freedom is the ultimate happiness.

Freedom from a job. Freedom to pursue your hobbies. Freedom to travel and discover new things/places/people.

Exactly, the major source of stress in people's lives is working. While money by itself wont make you happy, the freedom of knowing you're not going to be tossed into the street if you lose your job leaves you open to explore the world and everything in it.

Freedom is a mentallity. Unless you live in a restricted society or 3rd world country, most of all of you have choices and freedom.

Also, working is part of life. A person who is extremely rich, but does nothing with his/her life will realize his life has no fulfillment or accomplishment, and be unhappy as well. I would argue that a person who find fulfillment in their profession is more happy than a very wealthy person who hates what they do, but does it for the money. The wealthy person could very much use his money to figure out what fulfills him, but because he equates money with happiness, more than likely he remains in the profession because of the money.

******************

A wealthy business man goes to an island on vacation, he sees a fisherman on the side of the beach and begins a conversation with him.

The businessman asks, "So what do you do with your day fisherman?"

The fisherman replies, "I wake up in the morning, take my boat out and catch fish for a few hours, then I come back and sell the fish in the market, take a siesta in my small house, make love to my wife, play with my kids, eat some food, and spend the rest of the day playing the guitar and dancing with my friends and family."

The businessman says, "Are you crazy? This is a great fishing area. Why don't you go out and fish all day, make some money, buy some more fishing boats, and hire a crew, and make some good money. Expand your business not only to fishing, but fishmongering, selling to the grocers in the area. Then you can expand internationally and sell to big named grocers and move to New York and start a large scale business. After you build up the company, invest in smaller companies and eventually when you retire you can sell your share of the company. You will be set for life."

The fisherman asks, "So what do I do when I retire?"

The businessman say, "You can move to a beachhouse, go out fishing in the morning, take a siesta, make love to your wife, play with your kids, eat some food, and spend the rest of the day playing the guitar and dancing with your family and friends."

Again, it is a mentallity. Do what fulfills you as a person, make the most of your life, and you will be happy. Money, past providing for your family, yourself, and your friends, really won't give you anything you really will need.

 

[Praxis1452]

yes. But money is not happiness in itself. Money can buy you freedom which can make you happy etc.

If I were rich. I'd still want a job. You gotta have Something that challenges you a bit atleast.

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber

Originally posted by: JLGatsby

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber
What I think you fail to understand (apologies for sounding harsh) is that freedom and wealth as the pinnacle of life are socially constructed within our society. We are taught to believe that freedom is essential, that individuality matters. The reality is, however, we could have been taught the opposite and could leave happy, productive, lives in a different society.

I win on all four points. Part of it, you invent this "money is a burden" myth, but give no solid examples. Other parts you don't even explain yourself, just invent out of nowhere statements (""you could argue it makes it harder.") with no basis.

And in the quote part, you're just blurring what "happiness" is. Yeah I guess some people in North Korea are happy to, but the truth is they don't know what true happiness is.

My arguments are far stronger than yours.

Again, sadly, you are wrong. A good example is the communist system. Recently, many people have been turning out to mourn Stalin and the collapse of the USSR. They are genuinely sad he is gone. Watching a PBS special on this, I thought to myself "oh, this is because they forget how horrible it was under his regime." Well, that certainly played a part but what was more intriguing was that they said they were happier when they were under a communist system because it gave them a purpose and a sense of fulfillment. You find the same thing in East Germany, where many East Germans do not miss the oppressiveness of their government, but do miss how the state provided them with a sense purpose, a mission, a goal. Sure, we can just call them ignorant, but that is selling them and their experiences short.

I'm not saying people in north korea are happy, I am saying YOU have no authority to decide on what happiness is.

I'm not blurring what happiness is, you are confusing material comfort and happiness. They aren't the same, they never will be the same.

How can you first say that someone has no authority to determine what is happiness for someone else, and then in the next sentence say material comfort isn't happiness? Hmm.

Fair enough. I think I got tangled up a bit. What I meant to say is happiness is culturally and personally defined and that material comfort (wealth) isn't the ONLY indicator of happiness.

My mistake, apologies for the lack of clarity.

 

[JLGatsby]

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber
Haha arguing with you is like getting heckled during a debate. Anyway, there are different levels of happiness, and defining "true" happiness is difficult. But you are making a subjective, culturally molded judgment about happiness which I still think is a bit beyond your grasp. You identify different levels of happiness, but fail to understand that what it takes to achieve those levels is personally and culturally defined.

There you go, like some left winger, judging all cultures equally, saying there are no "blacks and whites, only grays."

 

[Kev]

Originally posted by: JLGatsby

Originally posted by: LolaWiz
I honestly think pure love can make someone happier than money can in certain situations.

But think of all the people a non-rich person has never met who COULD have made them far more happier than the person they're currently with.

Many people in this world end up "settling" with whoever they happen to find along the way because they're so busy trying to make ends meet. Also a lack of money makes it difficult to make yourself more physically presentable (nice clothes, etc). Try to get a date in a ripped t-shirt and frizzy hair.

People don't like to hear it, but money can buy love to. Not directly, but indirectly yes. Money cures all problems.

If you're shallow.

 

[imported_Goo]

I don't need countless amount of $, give me $1k a week and I am good to go.

 

[bcterps]

At first thought, you would think that money buys you happiness, however when I really look at it, I doubt that money would buy me happiness. For all intensive purposes, I feel that me and my wife are quite well off financially, no CC debt, no car loan, we have solid jobs that pay a fair market wage, we own a 1 year old 4BR 2.5BA house with a mortgage payment that can be sustained on my income alone, with enough leftover to pay for all of our monthly expenses and still manage to save a significant amount of money. We have enough savings so that a child would not be an undue financial burden. From a monetary perspective, I don't know what more I could want? Many people much older than us (we are 29/30) work for much longer to attain the "success" that we have. A large sum of money would buy things like new cars, electronics, more travel, I suppose, but those items would be fleeting, except travel perhaps, and we're already well off enough to travel. I'm not incredibly rich, in fact, I make less money than many of my friends, but we live a relatively simple life.

Regarding my current happiness level, I'm not very happy, I have some messed relationships with my family, I have things from my past that I have not come to terms with and need therapy for. I'm uncertain of my future career aspirations. I've joked with my wife that I'd love to win the lottery so that I could spend time on things like philanthropy, buy myself some nice toys, retire, and just chill out for the rest of my life, but if I really look at it, I know that any happiness I would get would be fleeting, even if I only look at the positive aspects of getting that kind of money. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't refuse money if it came knocking on my door, but I don't think it would change my happiness level all that much.

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: JLGatsby

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber
Haha arguing with you is like getting heckled during a debate. Anyway, there are different levels of happiness, and defining "true" happiness is difficult. But you are making a subjective, culturally molded judgment about happiness which I still think is a bit beyond your grasp. You identify different levels of happiness, but fail to understand that what it takes to achieve those levels is personally and culturally defined.

There you go, like some left winger, judging all cultures equally, saying there are no "blacks and whites, only grays."

Judging? And you throw around the term "left-winger?" You just getting sillier and sillier by the minute. I don't know where I said anything about grays, in fact, I think I was espousing the differences between cultures and societies whereas you were lumping them all together in a capitalist-America-centric way.

Seriously, I know you are capable of rational thought, but do did you even think before you wrote that?

 

[sdifox]

I am pretty sure I'll be happier if I had money. Ah, just imagine coming in to work and be sarcastic to every single request people make. Wait, I already do that...

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber

Originally posted by: JLGatsby

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber
What I think you fail to understand (apologies for sounding harsh) is that freedom and wealth as the pinnacle of life are socially constructed within our society. We are taught to believe that freedom is essential, that individuality matters. The reality is, however, we could have been taught the opposite and could leave happy, productive, lives in a different society.

I win on all four points. Part of it, you invent this "money is a burden" myth, but give no solid examples. Other parts you don't even explain yourself, just invent out of nowhere statements (""you could argue it makes it harder.") with no basis.

And in the quote part, you're just blurring what "happiness" is. Yeah I guess some people in North Korea are happy to, but the truth is they don't know what true happiness is.

My arguments are far stronger than yours.

Again, sadly, you are wrong. A good example is the communist system. Recently, many people have been turning out to mourn Stalin and the collapse of the USSR. They are genuinely sad he is gone. Watching a PBS special on this, I thought to myself "oh, this is because they forget how horrible it was under his regime." Well, that certainly played a part but what was more intriguing was that they said they were happier when they were under a communist system because it gave them a purpose and a sense of fulfillment. You find the same thing in East Germany, where many East Germans do not miss the oppressiveness of their government, but do miss how the state provided them with a sense purpose, a mission, a goal. Sure, we can just call them ignorant, but that is selling them and their experiences short.

I'm not saying people in north korea are happy, I am saying YOU have no authority to decide on what happiness is.

I'm not blurring what happiness is, you are confusing material comfort and happiness. They aren't the same, they never will be the same.

How can you first say that someone has no authority to determine what is happiness for someone else, and then in the next sentence say material comfort isn't happiness? Hmm.

Fair enough. I think I got tangled up a bit. What I meant to say is happiness is culturally and personally defined and that material comfort (wealth) isn't the ONLY indicator of happiness.

My mistake, apologies for the lack of clarity.

:thumbsup: I think most reasonable people would agree with that.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Originally posted by: JLGatsby

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber
I'm not saying people in north korea are happy, I am saying YOU have no authority to decide on what happiness is.

I'm not blurring what happiness is, you are confusing material comfort and happiness. They aren't the same, they never will be the same.

YOU are wrong, I know that for 100% fact. There are different levels of happiness.

A person happy just to "get by" or be given a "necessity" by the government to feed their family, is NOT the same as someone has has developed a deep, emotional, happiness where they can stand on a hill, raise their arms in the sky, and know they are intellectually fullfilled, a truly "learned" person, who has ego, self esteem, and purpose, and they have enough money to live like a king, and live their life by their own morality (except for extremes, money cannot buy the right to murder, etc).

Happiness can be shallow, like a dog getting a bone. Or it can be deep and fullfilling, like feeling your life was one-in-a-billion and you're one of the luckiest human beings to ever walk the planet. You fail to grasp that.

You have different levels of hapiness. The dog is truly happy getting the bone because he lives in the present. The person "who has ego, self esteem, and purpose...and live(s) their life by their own morality" can be happy or unhappy.

Money provides the power to fulfill yourself and others. Are there other things that provide that same power? Yes.

However, I would never be so egotistical as to define what happiness is for someone else...unless I had the money of course.

BTW, we could respect your arguments a lot better if you didn't have Ayn Rand in your sig.

 

[Gdepp519]

I think it can.. but I def. would have to keep following my dream of
owning a 3D film company.. cause i love it.. and i'd prolly end up
putting my $$ into that... so yea.. that would make me happy...
and in a sense buy my happiness

 

[JLGatsby]

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber
Judging? And you throw around the term "left-winger?" You just getting sillier and sillier by the minute. I don't know where I said anything about grays, in fact, I think I was espousing the differences between cultures and societies whereas you were lumping them all together in a capitalist-America-centric way.

What you're basically doing is humbling my viewpoint on what happiness, although my viewpoint is the correct viewpoint.

My opinion is not a "American" or "capitalist" viewpoint. It's a "freedom" viewpoint. And freedom is the universal happiness.

Intellectual freedom. Freedom to buy anything you want. Freedom to go anywhere. Freedom to help large amounts of people. But you BLUR all of those "universal happinesses" and force primitive happiness from other cultures to be equal with it. That is called "graying" things. Getting ride obvious absolutes out of blind pity for other cultures, and forcing to be viewed equally. Left wingers do that. Like they're say, "oh gangster rap music is not bad, we just don't understand their culture." Riiight.

 

[desy]

They have studied this BTW and what they have found is simply what I said earlier it buys choice not freedom choice.
If I can buy whatever I want I still have to upkeep all of it, hire gardeners, cooks or whatever. If I have a family I have to worry about kidnappings, keeping my kids grounded in reality, means hiring security and sorting out a whole set of 'different' values.
Having a lot of money means you don't have to worry about money.
If I have terminal cancer I have terminal cancer! it can't buy you health, treatment options to be sure but thats choice again

The core finding of studies of happiness is that once food, clothing, and shelter are met happiness is a state of mind that money is only one of a miriad variables.

 

[glutenberg]

Originally posted by: DaShen

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: glutenberg

Originally posted by: Vic
I'm not going to argue this point with high school kids who've never seen the real world, or don't know what having money is like.
In the meantime, I'll take the real life experiences of real people who have been through it. Ask Cobain what money was like. Ask Staley what he thought about having more money than he could spend. Ask countless others of the unhappy rich.
If you're not happy with your life now, how are you going to be happy when all your dreams have come true and you have nothing left to dream for anymore?

On the flip side. Ask Bill Gates if he's happy. Ask Warren Buffet if he's happy. Ask Ted Turner if he's happy. Ask Oprah if she's happy. Ask JK Rowling if she's happy. Ask Steve Jobs if he's happy. Ask Lloyd Blankfein if he's happy. You can't nitpick people, in particular, artists, and claim that they're an example of the rest of the rich people in this world. For every rich artist that has committed suicide or overdosed on drugs, I'm sure you can find many more poor people (who didn't receive publicity and are just another hash on the statistic chart) who have also been miserable from being poor.

How long have those people you just mentioned worked to accumulate their wealth?

The other thing is, you assume that they are relatively happier than your average Joe, and by studies and statistics, they are not.

Also, look at Warren Buffet's life. He did not change his lifestyle and he is giving away all his money when he passes because he realizes there are more important things to a fulfilling life than money.

Another thing J.K. Rowling was homeless before she wrote those books, and she has even stated that the increased publicity and the demand on her for the books in wearing her down.

Look at either extreme, extreme poverty or extreme wealth and you find different problems that cause relative happiness and sadness. Happiness is a mentallity. You have people who work the same monotonous jobs, but are relatively happy with their lives. Money isn't the issue.

On the other hand, being well off enough to do whatever you want is very nice, but what is stopping the majority of you from doing that anyways. You realize that if you own a computer (you do because you are posting), that you are in the top 10-15% richest people in the world. The fact that most of you are going to college, have gone to college, or have stable jobs, also says that you are in the top 10%, at least. You have opportunities that many people in the world will never have, yet somehow, being richer and having more money somehow will make you happier. A misnomer. The trick to happiness is being content with your life, finding meaning and fulfillment in it, and enjoying and helping the people that are put around you. You can do that with almost any amount of average money.

Those statistics vary from study to study unfortunately, but yes, I agree. Money doesn't necessarily guarantee happiness but as you said, happiness is relative.

Regarding Warren Buffett. The guy can be a philanthropist only because he is rich. If he was making just enough to survive or even enough to live comfortably, do you think he would be a philanthropist. He sees there is more to life because he has the means to make it that way. Also, he's donating 85% of his assets to Bill Gate's foundation because he sees an opportunity to use his mass fortune to affect the world's condition. He receives happiness in the fact that he can make a difference in this world. Him not changing his lifestyle doesn't mean much other than the fact that he came from humbler beginnings and understands the value of not being flamboyant with one's wealth.

Regarding JK Rowling, did they also ask her if being homeless was wearing her down? She doesn't have an obligation to finish the books but it's her own ambition that drives her. Do you actually think she'd rather still be homeless and struggling to support her and her daughter? Sure, she was inspired by her condition to strive but that doesn't mean that she can't strive now that she's become rich. She merely has to strive for even greater feats.

If you look at the two extremes of being in abject poverty and wealthy, you will find that wealthier people are happier. When you have to skip meals because you can't afford to spend money on food, when you have to skip taking your sick child to the doctor because you can't afford it, when you don't know if you'll be sleeping on the streets one night or a bed the other, your worries are much greater in scale than, "do my friends like me only for my money?"

How do you become content with your life if you're restricted by monetary means? You ask why we don't just do whatever we want and yet that's the easiest question to answer. It generally stems back to money. We can't do whatever we want because people have to weigh the risks of differing levels of happiness. Most will have to settle for doing something they may not particularly enjoy because you can't live on your dreams as much as Hollywood has told us that we can. Dreams don't feed, clothe, or shelter you. At most they feed the soul.

Regarding your last point. You can definitely help people around you with an average income but with pure financial security, you can not only focus more on helping but you also have more means to affect a larger amount of people. That may not be what makes you happy in life but it leaves open that option.

 

[Engineer]

Originally posted by: Thraxen

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber
Sadly, I think I misread the title of this thread and got caught up a meaningless debate in which neither side will concede.

Will my money buy ME happiness? fvck no.

So if I sent you $10K you wouldn't be a little happy?

I would! PM me for my address!

 

[her209]

Originally posted by: glutenberg
If you look at the two extremes of being in abject poverty and wealthy, you will find that wealthier people are happier. When you have to skip meals because you can't afford to spend money on food, when you have to skip taking your sick child to the doctor because you can't afford it, when you don't know if you'll be sleeping on the streets one night or a bed the other, your worries are much greater in scale than, "do my friends like me only for my money?"

How do you become content with your life if you're restricted by monetary means? You ask why we don't just do whatever we want and yet that's the easiest question to answer. It generally stems back to money. We can't do whatever we want because people have to weigh the risks of differing levels of happiness. Most will have to settle for doing something they may not particularly enjoy because you can't live on your dreams as much as Hollywood has told us that we can. Dreams don't feed, clothe, or shelter you. At most they feed the soul.

Regarding your last point. You can definitely help people around you with an average income but with pure financial security, you can not only focus more on helping but you also have more means to affect a larger amount of people. That may not be what makes you happy in life but it leaves open that option.

You assume that you can help other people because they are in need of money.

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: JLGatsby

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber
Judging? And you throw around the term "left-winger?" You just getting sillier and sillier by the minute. I don't know where I said anything about grays, in fact, I think I was espousing the differences between cultures and societies whereas you were lumping them all together in a capitalist-America-centric way.

What you're basically doing is humbling my viewpoint on what happiness, although my viewpoint is the correct viewpoint.

My opinion is not a "American" or "capitalist" viewpoint. It's a "freedom" viewpoint. And freedom is the universal happiness.

Intellectual freedom. Freedom to buy anything you want. Freedom to go anywhere. Freedom to help large amounts of people. But you BLUR all of those "universal happinesses" and force primitive happiness from other cultures to be equal with it. That is called "graying" things. Getting ride obvious absolutes out of blind pity for other cultures, and forcing to be viewed equally. Left wingers do that. Like they're say, "oh gangster rap music is not bad, we just don't understand their culture." Riiight.

I hate to be a jerk but just glance at what cultural bias is. If you'd like another great example, read the opening chapter of Guns, Germs, and Steel. There are plenty of articles that address cultural bias, maybe educating yourself would be a worthwhile endeavor.

Name calling is pretty much a last resort in an argument and a pretty petty defensive move. It really saddens me that you can't engage in a conversation in which someone's ideas are different than yours with resorting to calling me names.

To make my point again. No. Your viewpoint is biased to the culture you grew up in, not upon absolute truths.

And, just to stir the pot - why shouldn't cultures be viewed equally? Why is ours so much better than everyone else's?

Finally, this is a discussion about happiness, not rap music. Save it for some other time.