Happiness vs. TV
If you think it’s hard being a voter in America, just be thankful you’re not King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck of Bhutan.
We have our troubles, but he’s trying to take his backward nation into the modern world while still ensuring the “happiness” of his people.
To do this, he famously proposed a Gross National Happiness Index, which he thought should trump discussion of Gross National Product. That’s one statistic I wouldn’t want to take seriously. Yes, happiness is important. But when it comes to government, a more hands-off approach works better than direct action. There’s a reason Thomas Jefferson wrote about the Pursuit of Happiness, not the ensuring of it.
The poor subjects of King Jigme are learning how to cope with television, first allowed in Bhutan in 1999. There are lots of complaints. Like there are here.
A 55-year-old woman laments that “My husband scolds me, he says at this age I should be spending my time saying my prayers. He says that after I die, instead of doing the funeral rituals, he will just put my body next to a television.”
Bhutan’s media director insists that there’s a role for regulation of TV programming. He states, “The government has to take some responsibility.”
The Bhutanese, I wager, would be better off if they figured out how to regulate their own viewing. Without government nannying. And if that means putting TVs next to shrouds, so be it.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
