There was a programme on television last night called 'Status Anxiety' presented by Alain De Botton. It was on Channel 4. I'd planned to record it, but forgot. Does anyone know if the Channel 4 documentaries are repeated at all on any of the cable or satellite channels? I'm very annoyed I forgot about it!

I don't suppose anyone managed to record it?!

 

E4 would be the most likely place, but a quick check on DigiGuide hasn't shown up any future listings for this programme (I think this may have been a repeat from early March anyway).

Chris

 

I watched it but didn't record it - it was very thought provoking.

The essence of it was that in the days of aristocracy everyone knew their place in the scheme of things, and whilst their lot might have been pretty miserable, they had to accept it because there was nothing they could do to change things.

On the other hand, in a meritocracy as in current western culture, anyone can supposedly achieve what they deserve..... So you can deserve to win. But on the other hand you can also deserve to 'fail' - thus promoting feelings of low self-esteem and bitterness in those who do not 'succeed'.

The formula for measuring happiness is:-

happiness = 'achievement' divided by 'aspirations'

So, you can achieve greater happiness by either achieving more, or aspiring to achieve less.......



Pete The Biker

 

It sounds interesting Pete - I'm disappointed I missed it. There are 2 more programmes so I'll have to remember to catch those.

I have just bought the book, so I'll read about it instead.

How people's minds and thoughts work is very interesting to me.

Cheers

 

I liked the editing between the US and UK preachers:

US preacher: God wants you to be rich - it is a reward, he wears lots of jewellery and pic of him next to his brand new Lexus sports car.
UK preacher: Don't need to be wealthy to be loved by god - pic of his F reg Golf. "It gets me from A to B"

To be fair the point was a little more complex than that, but it was "good telly"