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Kuwait not that happy

According to the first World Happiness Report launched at the United Nations, Kuwait came 31st in the world but behind UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. They used a number of measurements to come up with this figure and I downloaded the full report to find out more details but honestly it’s 158 pages long and it wasn’t written by Stephen King so I skipped it.

Now the reason I’m posting this is I found it a bit surprising that Saudi Arabia scored better than both Kuwait and Qatar. I would have imagined UAE first followed by Qatar, Kuwait and then Saudi but that isn’t the case. You can read the Arabian Business article on this [Here] or you can download the full report from [Here]

Picture taken by Patrick

44 replies on “Kuwait not that happy”

maybe because they see us travel often and they take it as if we don’t like our country , or because we have a lot of politics issues compare to our neighbors .
any way we do like in here and we are happy 🙂

Buzz thank Mark for removing ur idiotic comment or else within no time your ass would had been with secret services ( if u in Kuwait)

HAY I WANTED TO READ THIS WHY U REMOVE THIS MARK? R U RACIST? WHY BRO WHY OH NO ITS HAPPENING AGAIN IM TURNING INTO A MEOW HELP ME Meow
mew mew

Mark remove buzz’s comment clearly he is just dumb. Well buzz lets see who will land in paradise in the hereafter .

Yes I’m sure Kuwaitis who get free healthcare and housing are less happy than a starving somali whose wife was raped by roving bandits because there is no government

I haven’t read the comment of Buzz, because it was already deleted. So let me be clear in advance that this comment is not referring to what he wrote, cause I simply wasn’t able to read it.

But what I don’t understand is why often commenters are instantly asking for deleting a comment because it’s supposedly ‘offending’.
…even freedom of speech has limits…

Who decides when these limits are reached? Is it when a comment doesn’t fit into the existing morals?
If so, then please stop pretending that the Freedom of Speach and Expression is an integral part of the common awareness. There’re so many people on earth with different social and cultural backgrounds, that it’s easy to feel offended at one way or another. We just don’t all share the same values and habits. Accept – and deal with it.
Respect to disagree on issues. Is that really so hard?

Censoring the message is the easiest way to avoid a discussion. Being open for different point of views and criticize these with arguments (Freedom of Speech) seems to be much more difficult if not impossible. That’s a pity and a brake on development.

The term ‘Freedom of Speech and Expression’ in an evironment, where it’s being reduced to a meaningless phrase of political correctness, is just plain wrong.

First off people need to remember we live in Kuwait, there are limits of freedom of speech, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what he can or can’t say.

I’ve seen people post some ridiculous, idiotic comments on this blog not to encourage debate, but just to act like trolls or just to sound purely ignorant.

If someone were to post something insulting as a comment on this blog, Mark could also get in trouble. So why risk it over some ignorant and dumb remarks?

Better safe than sorry.

It’s in no way my intention to get your brother in problems. Mark is a good and decent guy, who doesn’t deserve that.

I reject using the term ‘Freedom of Speech and Expression’, while the reality is that a person with a different opinion could be prosecuted under the current law.
This has nothing to do with 248AM, but the common acceptance among the people for censorship.

Of course I agree with you on the point of stupid and brainless comments. But that can’t be an excuse to avoid all sensitive subjects.

Someone asked what kind of methodology was been used for this research on ‘happiness’.
Well, read the full report and you’ll understand exactly why this interpretation of Freedom of Speech is one of the main reasons for the low ranking.

Btw. Very nice picture.

If the campers were forced to clean up after themselves afte the camping season ended last week, then this country would be at the bottom of the HAPPY LIST! It looks like complete crap out here in Southern Kuwait with all the trash, tires, old furniture and what not as far as the eye can see!

Can not agree more, where is the pride for their own country? don’t blame the expats for this, they can not afford camps!!!

This is mainly because of the attitude of people here in general. Racism is pretty much predominant here.

I didn’t read the full report, but I think the biggest factor would be, is it measuring how happy KUWAITIS are, or how happy EVERYONE IN KUWAIT is?

I didn’t think what Buzz wrote was offensive. But after losing my case against Benihana I’m really not going to put my neck out on the line to protect freedom of expression.

I should have deleted my Benihana post when I was threatened with a lawsuit instead of standing for what I believe in. And in this scenario even though I don’t believe Buzz was offensive I would rather delete his post instead of standing up for his right for free speech which would most likely get my ass thrown in jail and then deported.

Sorry to hear/read that, Mark. Though I agree some freedoms of expression can lead to more harm than good (i.e. Westboro Baptist Church in America), in Kuwait some comments are taken way to seriously like your review of Benihana. The comment by Buzz was a bit offensive and could’ve been said in a more peaceful manner.

Mark,

I appreciate your stance and I understand your action. I don’t think what I wrote was offensive, but, at the end of the day, it’s all in the eye of the beholder. It will probably take 500 years for “some people” to have an open mind.

mark you dont think its offensive yeah because your not a muslim and the suject doesnt matter for you . well we as muslims find it offensive !!!

Happiness is a nebulous concept. Gallup polls can skew data as per convenience. Depending on who was interviewed your answers can be varied and sometimes paradoxical. Imagine people living inside Saudi Aramco compound were asked the exact same question as people from LIG groups living in Kheitan, Jahra or Hassawi. Further, most of these places which have reported higher indices of happiness than Kuwait i.e. the UAE, Saudi and Qatar have tighter media censorship and less of freedom to say things as they please. There is a greater likelihood of people reporting to be happy under the Big Brother effect which is far more pronounced in Saudi or even the UAE than in Kuwait.
Last of all, what may make people happy in the Western hemisphere: a drink in hand after a hard day’s slog and a Western music concert over the weekend to attend with a gf you have picked up in the mall may not exactly be the idea of fun and happiness for your average Kuwaiti or Saudi joe.
Perceptions can vary with geography.
We need to re-calibrate the concept of happiness to suit local tastes, preferences and demographics. Am sure there are a lot of unhappy disenfranchised citizens out there in the Emirates, Saudi or Qatar for that matter. Happiness index could well be a ploy from the UAE spin machine to attract more visitor numbers to the Emirates.

TO ALL;

It is VERY apparent to me that Kuwaitis seem a whole lot happier in the UAE than here. I even had a Kuwaiti woman politely ask to use a chair at my table in the food court at the Dubai Mall, UI was so shocked that she was polite to me I was speechless. If I were in Kuwait, she would have scouled at me and grabbed the chair without asking.

Ignorance is bliss . Before satellite TV and the internet we didn’t see and hear all the bad stuff that was going on in a minute by minute fashion . Bad news travels faster now than ever before. I prefer the old Kuwait when we knew less and were much happier . Social media sucks , blogs suck , the internet sucks . I want Analog everything like the good old days. stuff was just plane simpler before .

FYI , I’m Kuwaiti just in case anyone is wondering .

I am suppose to move to kuwait in the begining of 2015 and based on everything good I have ever heard or read I also wish I was moving there in a different time before technology killed the arab culture and spread gloabalization to kuwait.I agree with everything you said we could keep marks blog as a page in the newspaper and go back in time. I came across a sad cartoon one day of a kuwaiti woman sitting down on the computer and checking her facebook, stuffing her face with cupcakes getging fatter while her kids were crging and being attend to by the maid who was also cleaning and cooking at tbe same time..Sad just Sad.

N19 ,

Some ignorance is very good . But i’m sure you realized that there was a certain amount of tongue in cheek mixed in with my comment .

I have no idea what Buzz wrote. It does always amaze me to see that people think the world is built around their beliefs. You are offended? So what? That is not a logical, thought out argument for or against anything. I have become increasingly offended by many beliefs in this country..you should therefore stop it to spare my delicate sensibilities.

Oh and before anybody tells me that if I don’t like it GTFO I am delighted to say that is exactly what I will be doing very shortly. Thanking you.

You have also to understand that Kuwaitis are among the most widely traveled of people there are so that their resulting expectations are higher than most others. When they see stuff they cannot do or have in their own backyard that leaves them feeling unhappy and/or frustrated.
There you are – we cracked the happiness disparity between people living in Kuwait and KSA.

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