Being White, Being Happy

11:45 am EST August 21st, 2007 | News | 9 Comments

Sigh.

From their relationships to their jobs to their money — even from they time they first roll out of bed — young white Americans are happier with life than their minority counterparts.

According to an extensive survey of 1,280 people ages 13-24 by The Associated Press and MTV, 72 percent of whites say they are happy with life in general, compared with 51 percent of Hispanics and 56 percent of blacks.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” said Martin Carpenter, 21, a black New Jersey resident. “There’s a lot of issues out there for African-American young adults. You can still go to certain places and feel uncomfortable, like you don’t belong there.”

Doesn’t surprise me either.

Topic:

Related Posts

«
»

9 Responses to “Being White, Being Happy”

  1. frameone says:
    August 21, 2007 at 3:52 pm

    i’m white and unhappy. Does that help?

  2. mambochicken23 says:
    August 21, 2007 at 6:13 pm

    Framone,

    Ditto.

  3. liberalrob says:
    August 21, 2007 at 6:25 pm

    Feh. I’m white and unhappy, and I’m better off than probably 90% of minority men. Being white and unhappy doesn’t change the cold facts that whites in general are better off in this country. Equality of opportunity does not mean there will equality of quality of opportunity. Of course whites are happier with the US than minorities; things are still tilted our way, we still control a disproportionate amount of the nation’s wealth. We still have a long way to go.

  4. frameone says:
    August 21, 2007 at 6:32 pm

    “…and I’m better off than probably 90% of minority men.”

    I was just joking but this point is well taken. I’m just washing around in the wake of a bad break up, I don’t have to deal with systemic inequality and bigotry on a daily basis.

    Perspective, perspective …

  5. Eric the Political Hack says:
    August 21, 2007 at 7:00 pm

    Without the data being broken down into categories like income and even location, the statistic is meaningless.

  6. Diamond LeGrande says:
    August 21, 2007 at 8:14 pm

    Chris Rock: “There isn’t a white man in this room who would trade places with me. … and I’m rich.”

  7. Bruce/Crablaw says:
    August 21, 2007 at 10:07 pm

    I would be curious whether white people are affected by “Friends syndrome” – a perceived duty to say that they are happy when they aren’t, because they want to be normal and “normal” [sic] to many white Americans means be happy, you are in the U.S.A.

    It may be the same thing that gets white voters to tell pollsters that they will vote for a black candidate when they won’t.

  8. Rounds77 says:
    August 22, 2007 at 4:30 pm

    Our unhappiness is not 100% the fault of external factors. Life choices play a role, too.

  9. Quaker in a Basement says:
    August 22, 2007 at 5:34 pm

    Tell you what. Next time you’re bummed out, give me a holler. I’ll mope for you while you go have fun.