Concrete changes in how you travel during the crisis (page 3 of 9)

Yeah, I didn’t know this singer... lovely talent. I prefer the younger generations to ours (well, in general, anyway).

They were religious.

Happiness through religion? Are you serious, or is this a joke?

No.

In every era, people had such miserable lives that they took refuge in religion. This is still the case in many parts of the world.

Humans weren’t necessarily happier before, and happiness is a recent concept.

We don’t all find happiness in the same things.

For me, it’s in travel.

And I prefer to talk about fulfillment rather than happiness.

Roissy CDG has replaced Notre-Dame de Paris, and the Bible is the ancestor of the EasyJet catalog.

Good evening,

Roissy CDG replaced N.D de Paris, the Bible is the ancestor of the EasyJet catalog.

Mocking Miranda is a pretty common sport on VF, but it’s also a bit of a pointless one. The question of happiness isn’t new—it’s as old as philosophy itself. Paradoxically, the global village, instant communication, and the performative individualism we display to the world haven’t made people freer or happier. Back in the 1920s, at least in Europe, people had more freedom, more possibilities, more reasons to give their lives meaning, and more opportunities to start over if things went wrong. They also had more anonymity and adventure. It’s not impossible they were ultimately happier, even if they were deeply tied to religion and nation.

Michel

Do you really believe what you're writing about life in the 1920s? Do you know the history of those years, coming out of World War I with all the grief, disease, immigration, and the crisis? Religion was used to lead people by the nose—today, at least science is here to explain.

Mocking Miranda is a pretty common sport on VF, but it’s also kind of a pointless one

Uh, I don’t see how joking *with* Miranda is mockery (I did say "with"—if I’d wanted to mock, I would’ve used different words).

In every era, people had such miserable lives that they took refuge in religion. That’s still the case in many parts of the world.

Humans weren’t necessarily happier before, and happiness is a relatively recent concept.

We don’t all find happiness in the same things.

Okay! We’re totally off-topic now, but since we’ve started, might as well keep going! 🙂

I don’t feel like people today are happier than before—in fact, I think it’s quite the opposite!

Happiness isn’t a recent concept at all; ancient Greek philosophers were already talking about it!

As for saying we don’t all find happiness in the same things, I completely agree with you! For me, I definitely don’t find it in religion!

In the 1920s, at least in Europe, people were freer, had more possibilities, more reasons to give meaning to their lives, more opportunities to start over if things went wrong, more anonymity and adventure. It’s not impossible they were ultimately happier, even though they were deeply attached to both religion and nation.

There are a few messages, though—I was making fun of you when you said people used to be much freer and happier than today. Oh, in the 1920s? Between 1921 and 1923 in certain neighborhoods of big cities? ...if you reduce the history of humanity to that...

Good evening,

Do you really believe what you're writing about life in the 1920s?

Yes, I really do.

Are you familiar with the history of those years, coming out of World War I with all the grief, disease, immigration, and the crisis?

In the 1920s, at least in cities, women had a freedom they wouldn’t have again until the 1960s. The '20s were vibrant, free, open, and dazzling years.

Religion was used to control people back then—at least today, science is here to explain things.

I don’t think it’s that simple; in fact, we can see now that science explains and helps less and less.

Michel

There are a few messages, though—I was making fun of you when you said that people used to be much freer and happier than today. Oh, in the 1920s? Between 1921 and 1923 in certain neighborhoods of big cities? ...if you reduce the history of humanity to that...

Sure, you can prefer the official narrative you’re fed about the superiority of your current world, but freedom has clearly been in decline, in Europe and pretty much everywhere, since the 1990s.

Michel

Oh, you might prefer the official narrative that’s fed to you about the superiority of your current world, but freedom has clearly been in decline—across Europe and pretty much everywhere—since the 1990s.

Tatra, roundabout philosopher.

Tatra, philosophe de rond-point.

"It’s easier to split an atom than a prejudice." A. Einstein

Michel

Ah, you may prefer the official narrative about the superiority of our current world, but freedom has clearly been in decline, in Europe and almost everywhere else, since the 1990s. Michel

I’m far from thinking our current world is superior—superior to what, anyway?—but still... Could you give examples of situations where we’d be significantly less free today than 30 years ago? What freedoms are in decline for us Westerners, individually or collectively? As far as I know, I can go where I want, I can criticize (I’m not talking about insulting or defaming) politicians, judges, religious figures, merchants of all kinds... I can associate with whoever I want, vote for whoever I want, believe or not believe in a god, choose my doctor... As for the 1920s, they saw a lot of precarity and exploitation of workers and employees in post-war France. Peasants weren’t very “free” or happy either. I base this on what I’ve often read and heard. Thanks for shedding some light on this!

Don’t you know that what revolutionized women’s lives and gave them freedom appeared in the 1960s? I’m talking about birth control, the arrival of the washing machine, and then May '68. But probably too basic for you, no doubt.

Roissy CDG replaced N.D de Paris, the Bible is the ancestor of the EasyJet catalog.

I prefer Beauvais—it’s more convenient for me!

At all times, people had such miserable lives that they took refuge in religion. This is still the case in many parts of the world today.

Humans weren’t necessarily happier before, and happiness is a relatively recent concept.

We don’t all find happiness in the same things.

Okay, we’re drifting off the original topic here, but since we’ve started, might as well keep going! 🙂

I don’t get the impression that people today are happier than before—in fact, I think it’s quite the opposite!

Happiness isn’t a recent concept at all; ancient Greek philosophers were already talking about it!

As for the idea that we don’t all find happiness in the same things, I completely agree with you! Personally, I certainly don’t find it in religion!

Me neither!

I meant that people found a certain comfort in it. Suffering in this world and being rewarded in the next. That must have prevented a lot of suicides.

As for happiness, let’s just say there was less room for the pursuit of individual happiness, and above all, fewer choices!

People didn’t choose their jobs or whether to have kids, they didn’t divorce (though they could take mistresses—finding lovers was harder!), they just carried their cross.

So I don’t know if they were happier, but maybe less individualistic—it was survival of the fittest back then.

I don’t envy my ancestors, and I also feel sorry for future generations.

But since I only believe in this earthly life, I try to enjoy it in my own way.

If I can’t be useful, at least I try not to harm anyone! My guilty pleasure is traveling by plane. It makes up for my daily life where car trips are rare.

Roissy CDG replaced Notre-Dame de Paris, the Bible is the ancestor of the EasyJet catalog.

I prefer Beauvais—it’s more convenient for me!

Okay, so it was from Saint-Pierre Cathedral that we used to take off back in the day 😉.

Tatra must be talking about the freedom that Erdogan gives to Turks, no doubt.

Regarding women: Beyond the right to abortion, birth control (1967), in 1975 women gained the right to open a bank account without their husband’s approval, to rent an apartment the same way—these rights opened the door to our freedom as women. So the few exceptions in the 1920s (there were some) were peanuts, but the great Tatra knows the history of the women’s movement well, doesn’t he? 🤪.

Hello,

Tatra must be talking about the freedom Erdogan gives Turks, no doubt. Regarding women: Beyond the right to abortion, birth control (1967), in 1975 women gained the right to open a bank account without their husband’s consent, to rent an apartment likewise—these rights opened the door to our freedom as women. So those few exceptions in the 1920s (there were some) were peanuts, but great Tatra knows the history of the women’s movement well, doesn’t he? 🤪.

Women had more freedoms in the 1920s than they did afterward in post-war France, but since you’re trapped in a linear conception of progress—that dogma halfway between religion and science that marked the period of the French Revolution—you can’t see it. History, you know, isn’t an objective ribbon of the past we unroll; it’s the story we endlessly rewrite from where we stand and the culture we have. In the 1920s, you built your life freely by breaking away from the weight of village life if it felt oppressive. You changed worlds, places, lives, jobs, families—everything was there to be built, and the horizon of possibilities was far broader than it is today, for women and men alike: artistic or literary creation, political or societal engagement, the ability to reject norms, start a business, innovate... And the chance to start over—new job, new place, new life, adventure. Nowadays, you’re mostly free to be afraid like everyone else, to say the right thing, to make sure you don’t fail to comply with the ocean of rules, norms, and obligations that constrain you for your own good, and to take the free medical tests your health insurance insistently sends you to ensure you die too old and bored.

Michel

So there was a breath of freedom after the slaughter in the trenches and the Spanish flu. What do you really know about what people lived through outside of a few privileged circles (how do you know)? And apparently that’s enough for you to say humanity was happy and free before the horror it supposedly plunged into since the 90s? To challenge our clichés and naivety, your arguments still seem pretty childish to me.