According to a new study, Russians dwell on gloomy thoughts more than Americans, but are less likely to let it all get to them. We read:
Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy portrayed Russians as a brooding, complicated people, and ethnographers have confirmed that Russians tend to focus on dark feelings and memories more than Westerners do. But a new University of Michigan study finds that even though Russians tend to brood, they are less likely than Americans to feel as depressed as a result.
Not mentioned, it seems, is the obvious explanation: Russians, as far as I can tell, expect the world to be a cruel and pitiless place, and life to be a cold, weary, grueling and ultimately futile struggle — and they don’t have to listen all day long to pop-psych bubbleheads and workplace-fulfillment-counselors telling them how happy they are supposed to be.
I’d be cheerier too.
One Comment
Headlining in Cyrillic? You’ve a Russian readership?
I know the President wants to improve relations with the Russians (without all the fuss and muss with spy networks). So… what better way to relieve the anxieties and glumness than to offer hope for both? Too, it’d keep any excess pop-psych bubbleheads and workplace-fulfillment-counselors out of the unemployment lines. God knows we need fresh blood in the defense industry.
By the looks of things, a little more of the right stuff over at NASA. And, since it looks like all those Muslim contributors to Science are otherwise occupied, why don’t I offer a little open-source temp opportunity – just to get a little experience under the belt before moving over to help out with the balloon program.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/07/darpa-crowdsourcer-in-chief-bolts-for-microsoft/#more-27679
While I don’t actually have a clue to how much a glum Russian would ask salary-wise, I’m betting this’d help with our deficit problem too.