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Comment by invalidname | Hacker News Reader

Nope, you have a misconception of the country. Source: am Israeli atheist.

Majority is secular. Of the religious people the majority are relatively tame. There are some extremist religious people e.g. Hasidim but they are a cult of their own (think Amish). They probably wouldn't even take part in a survey.

The reason for happiness is multi-fold:

* It's a 3 year average. Notice that Israel is actually slipping due to last year.

* Economy was generally good until last October

* Army service tends to unify the community

* It's a small country which tends to bring people together through collective fate

I'm not saying that the religious people aren't happier than the median. But I am saying that based on statistics Israel is relatively secular. More so than most western countries.

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You’ll be able to enjoy the YouTube lecture by prof. Yuval Harari (as originally recorded) where he addresses the issues of happiness, measuring happiness, and how and why Israeli society ranks so high.

Not a big fan of his. I think he over simplifies some ideas for mass consumption.

Regardless, this is a self reporting study which is the only way to report happiness. Over the past 3 years prior to October Israel had years of peace which are far more appreciated in a country that has known quite a lot of conflict. I think westerners don't appreciate this as much as we do.

You don't have to be his fan to hear his explanations about the studies and their methodology, it could be very helpful if one wants to understand what makes people report that they are happy.

As the people return from the army feeling they have done something significant to protect their country, and with the public discourse drifting away from the regular "Bibi vs. not Bibi" agenda, I fully expect Israel to report even higher levels of happiness next year.

The opposite is happening. There was a decline as it was #3 in last years survey. The army is a unifying force that contributes to happiness after it's over. Not during and not during war. Lots of people died and pretty much everyone knows people who died. I expect the decline to last a few years.

80% are pretty much interested in Bibi taking a hike by now. The only people who still want him have a deep agenda and never liked him to begin with. He's outlived his usefulness even for them.

Seeing you expecting it to decline and me expecting it to rise, I guess we could return to this conversation in one year :)

Do you have a link to his lecture?

You can start from here https://youtu.be/0Oy3sEatMxw?list=PL084D9BAA7417477C&t=3420

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