Lou sent me this link. The methodology of this study must be completely fucked.
1. Laredo, TX: A+
2. El Paso, TX: A+
3. Jersey City, NJ: A+
4. Corpus Christi, TX: A+
5. Baton Rouge, LA: A
Baton Rouge? Number five? Absolute fucking bullshit.
Let’s rethink this. Antidepressant sales sticks out like a sore thumb. Look at some of the other cities on the list. All of them are poverty stricken. Who wants to bet that the antidepressant sales is rated against the population of the city? (Two of them are border towns!) How many of these people have health insurance? Did they look into who can actually afford antidepressants?
Lou’s also the one who figured out what was glaringly wrong with this study.
hey yeah, Nils found that too last night. the list was probably made by happy little grannies that spin barbecue before the football game
Corpus Christi, where I work but happily do not live, was also listed as the dumbest town in America, second only to Fort Wayne, Indiana. So what colloquialized saying does this remind you of?
Hey. I live in El paso and I have to say. It is really a pretty damned happy place. It’s the people.
i live in Baton Rouge, and it’s not that bad, but judging happiness by antidepressant sales is insane.
I used to live in B.R .and was prescribed antidepressents, though I was too depressed to actually take them…Suicide or ‘acting happy’, It’s always been a toss up for me…No matter where I was living.
Laredo the happiest City?…..Wow! I can tell you why. Laredo doesn’t have much and people who live there have their families and their religion. Family keeps them together and happy. What more do you want? Why have everything the big city has when all you need is family and your church. As people get over their teens and their 20′s, friends go away and family doesn’t. I was born and raised in Laredo and I don’t live in Laredo anymore, but I sure love to go back and you can smell Laredo when you get off the highway………Carne Asada everywhere!!!! Where families are getting together…….That’s what makes people happy. No wonder Laredo is THE happiest city to live in. Way to go Laredo………where people are happy with going to the movies and going out to dinner……with family.
Your optimism is admirable, and that certainly sounds like some sincere happiness going on, but i’m sticking with the theory that happiness being gauged by antidepressant sales is a fraud.
People in Laredo or Baton Rouge may be happy, but i doubt whether it’s greater than usual. It still reeks of a poverty linked study.
Ironically, the only time I actually NEEDED antidepressants was when I lived in B.R.
I miss it already.
very few people truly need antidepressants. that stuff is poison.
you’d be better off getting some sunlight and eating fistfuls of living things from the ground… ants, grass, flowers, vines, beetles, mushrooms. You’d have a better idea of what you’re ingesting, and your body might be smart enough to have you vomit it up.
antidepressants are powdered demons, leeching away the soul. Damn them.
Poverty? Yes, there may be plenty of it in Laredo, BUT people mistake poverty as either living on the streets or in shacks. Poverty only means that people live day by day in most cases. Poverty makes you only want what you need so family is what keeps people happy. Ever heard of the saying “the more money one has, the unhappier they are?” Money isn’t everything, material things isn’t everything. Therefore, people in Laredo are happy people because they take what’s more important in life…..each other…..family…..friends. Antidespressants have nothing to do with people being happy.
good. then we can agree that the study ranking the happiest cities is nonsense. It’s based on antidepressant sales.
Living in El Paso, I can give you an unbiased point of view about this city being #2 on the list. Yes, I can see where anti-depressant sales can be a crock of shit, and yes, most of the cities that are listed as happiest are lower income cities, whereas the sadder cities are bigger and may reflect higher incomes. This place is definately happy, though. No big money means no big problems and there are definately no big problems here. We live day to day most of the time because wages are low, yet we don’t seem to mind. Anger surfaces on the roadways when it’s hot, and at Wal-Mart because the lines are so fuckin long and there’s only five lanes open. Other than that, I’m very happy in this rapidly growing city of 750,000
Gino, if you read this, email me at tommynolan at cox.net.
Hey yall, I lived in El Paso, well still technically do, but am here at UT Austin. I agree that the lack of large paying wages is an influential factor agreeing with some of the previous theories, but living there and living here (austin) I can say ‘say’ El Paso is a happier place. That being said, I feel as if I am not giving a general opinion due to the fact that when I return home for vacation I’m merely happy because I’m seeing friends and family I know and a city im familiar with, who doesn’t love going back to where they grew up? On the other hand, dealing strictly with the experience of meeting new people, I must say quite the opposite of several theories presented…in my personal experience the people with less money appear to be a lot more stressed, this being from experiences at Wal Mart and friends apartment neighbors. Not to say they are mean people, but in contrast to the upper and middle class, there is a large difference in my opinion. Basically this all conflict and contrasts and confuses with the same amount of intensity as Madonna thinking she could publish a childrens book. Conclusion…overall El Paso is a happier city than most places I’ve visited, but there is no way to rank it scientifically as a #2 soley based upon purchases of anti-depressants, that’s assuming everyone in every city in the USA has the same income. Although it appears I have a strong issue with this debate I’m actually avoiding studying for a History exam tomorrow and felt like distracting myself for a little.
Who can be happy living a big city where everything is so secular,cold,
materialistic and overpriced. It took twenty years of living in New york
and Toronoto to realize it. Thereis nothing there. If you have to work
there and are paid well you are paid to afford distraction in other wise
unhuman conditions. Laredo or El Paso look very refreshing. The commuting and high housing costs put a damper on people. Even if you have the time and money most others don’t. Big cities can be dull and boring…it wasn’t always like that. Everything is happening in much smaller
places
I’am going to Laredo….a life with no friends and all work work work
up in the snow belt is getting to me. I have a weakness for Spanish woman
too. Lots of eye candy down there
Laredo fricking sucks ass. I am really depressed down here. There is nothing to do; and are no interesting things to see. The women here aren’t even attractive because most of them are overweight. Eye candy my ass. If you want some mexican eye candy, go to San Antonio. The only thing people do down here is eat and make babies. That it!
Even most of the high schoolers down here say that they want to get out as soon as possible
There is another glaring problem with this data. A good researcher in science (which I am) would see this right away.
The issue of insurance/money to afford anti-depressants is a potential confound. Another related confound is that the education level in the top cities tends to be very low – this means that many people in these cities may have world views which include barriers to seeking professional help for symptoms of depression.
There is also just the issue of using anti-depressant consumption as a measure of happiness. I can tell you that many of my clients are happier ON medication than off of it – depression affects 85% of the population at some point – this is a poor measure of “happiness” – it might be a good measure of help seeking behavior in depressed persons – but even as a measure of something that discrete it is not a reliable variable because of the other unmeasurable confounds included in the process of seeking, taking and having access to psychotropic medications – everything from religions, education, employment, insurance coverage, attitudes toward mental illness, cultural factors & c.
This list is not valid as the basis for the conclusion is inherently flawed for all of the above reasons and many more -
does anyone know how to get CDs of Baton Rouge’s US Times (Gino Luti). i lived in btr when they ruled.
The Chimes Street project is coming and all your dreams will come true!
Music, pics, stories…
Lions and tigers and bears…
more details when you can give them, Gino! I know more people who never post on these threads who will be interested.
Anti-Depressants don’t sell well in laredo due to the religion
tell me of Catholics that commit suicides, in laredo
hahahah laredo the happiest city??? hahahahaha waht the fuck i live here and is so fucking boring and the city itself suck its ugly, it doesnt have anything and the weather is the worst, i dont know how can this list can put laredo in fir place this a sad, ugly and boring place to vi so fuck off!! im leaving this shit of place.
All the best, my friend!
El paso sucks and its ugly I’ve been there is fuckin boring l.a is better you guys don’t have a Disney land or Hollywood haha losers