[southernplaces7]

Hundreds of millions of people around the world somehow manage to live perfectly decent lives dedicating themselves to the personal purposes of their choice and to giving their loved ones a bright future. Much of this is what you might deride as "consumerism". It's generally a good thing to aspire to, and without having to have some collectivized state-level notion of "purpose" crammed into one's life.

No thank you. For those who want such wider purpose, by all means, aspire away while leaving others alone to live their peaceful private ends, but it's absurd to think that a country "needs" it, or some crisis to be a good place to live. A country only needs stable, law-abiding, transparent government for decency. Considering how many places lack even that, it should be purpose enough in a basic sense, with a firm onus on the bureaucrats to provide it.

If anything, bullshit about purpose and so-called national projects has been used to justify centuries of horrific repression and destructiveness while a select few leaders impose thier specific idea of what's needed on those they can dictate to.

[macNchz]

The article being discussed describes the collective sense of purpose in Bulgaria as being at its peak post-communism, when the populace was excited to be free from repression and able to try new things, start businesses etc. You’re basically agreeing with the author.

It does seem, however, that there are many concerning trends in social measures in western countries these days, particularly among things that have traditionally given people a sense of purpose on an individual level. So it may behoove us to discuss and think about why that may be, and what we can do collectively to inspire the kind of societal outlook that is likely to promote a different trend in those measures.

[lmm]

> Hundreds of millions of people around the world somehow manage to live perfectly decent lives dedicating themselves to the personal purposes of their choice and to giving their loved ones a bright future. Much of this is what you might deride as "consumerism". It's generally a good thing to aspire to, and without having to have some collectivized state-level notion of "purpose" crammed into one's life.

Citation? Haven't we seen a rise in despair and loneliness (and ultimately in people dying of these things), even as people's material condition got better?

[southernplaces7]

>Citation? Haven't we seen a rise in despair and loneliness (and ultimately in people dying of these things), even as people's material condition got better?

Have we really? or are you citing poorly quantified media narratives of this? I'd love to see a solid analysis of human happiness today, overall, across several specific metrics, vs. the same metrics say 100 years ago. Without both, anyone who says people are generally less happy now (because random social media or formal media dramatic clickbait garbage source said so) might just as well be full of shit.

In other words, you're claiming a sort of counterfactual I argue and I'd like to see your citation for it.