First they came for the working class

[Fred]

Been seeing a lot of stories about the unexpected decline increase in mortality rates among working class Americans due mostly to "external" causes, i.e., suicide and alcohol related deaths. As I understand it, it is a completely Caucasian phenomenon as it has not been observed in any other racial group.

So does this signal the beginning of the end of "white privilege" in America?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opin ... story.html

[MediumTex]

Been seeing a lot of stories about the unexpected decline in mortality rates among working class Americans due mostly to "external" causes, i.e., suicide and alcohol related deaths. As I understand it, it is a completely Caucasian phenomenon as it has not been observed in any other racial group.

So does this signal the beginning of the end of "white privilege" in America?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opin ... story.html

I actually think it's a sign of prosperity.

Rising suicide rates tend to be correlated to rising standards of living.

I do, however, think that common proletariat distractions like the Kardashians tend to inspire feelings of hopelessness over time, so that might be a factor.

Look at what that show has done to its own cast.  Since the show has been on the air, every married adult member of the cast has gotten a divorce, one of the men on the show turned into a woman and another one is recovering from a coma because of a drug overdose triggered by chronic celebrity fatigue.  If that's what the show is doing to its cast, think of what it is doing to the millions of people who watch it.

[Fred]

I actually think it's a sign of prosperity.

Rising suicide rates tend to be correlated to rising standards of living.

Standards of living increased more for educated, upper-class white Americans during the same time period under study but they didn't show the same increase in mortality rates so I'm not completely convinced.

But if your social status relegates you to watching the Kardashians on TV, it's hard to argue against that.

[Fred]

Been seeing a lot of stories about the unexpected decline in mortality rates among working class Americans due mostly to "external" causes, i.e., suicide and alcohol related deaths. As I understand it, it is a completely Caucasian phenomenon as it has not been observed in any other racial group.

So does this signal the beginning of the end of "white privilege" in America?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opin ... story.html

I think you meant to say unexpected spike in mortality rates.

Yes, I did - absolutely and I just corrected it.

Damn, I'm starting to hate myself for these kind of mistakes at age 66. Symptoms of Alzheimers to be sure.

[Lowe]

I think lower class white people are killing themselves because no authorities stand up for them, or for their interests.  There is virtually nobody at the top looking out for the white poor, and everything they take pride in is mocked openly by the elites: their patriotism, their religion, and their love of hunting and race cars.  They are a running joke to the people on top.  The lack of noblesse oblige has got to be the biggest problem in our society.

[ochotona]

I think lower class white people are killing themselves because no authorities stand up for them, or for their interests.  There is virtually nobody at the top looking out for the white poor, and everything they take pride in is mocked openly by the elites: their patriotism, their religion, and their love of hunting and race cars.  They are a running joke to the people on top.  The lack of noblesse oblige has got to be the biggest problem in our society.

I think the Lord-Serf relationship came over from England semi-intact and settled in the American South. Poor white folk killed themselves economically by competing against free slave labor, then they killed themselves by volunteering to defend slavery. But the relationship was never reciprocal. The Southern elites did, and still do, incite the masses with symbols, and slogans, bedsheets, torches... all to get poor whites to carry their water.

[WiseOne]

Wow, this is a big deal.  I found the original article in PNAS (authors Case & Deaton, in PNAS Early Edition).  The news articles as usual missed some of the important details.  See abstract below.

This paper documents a marked increase in the all-cause mortality of
middle-aged white non-Hispanic men and women in the United States
between 1999 and 2013. This change reversed decades of progress in
mortality and was unique to the United States; no other rich country
saw a similar turnaround. The midlife mortality reversal was confined
to white non-Hispanics; black non-Hispanics and Hispanics at midlife,
and those aged 65 and above in every racial and ethnic group, continued
to see mortality rates fall. This increase for whites was largely
accounted for by increasing death rates from drug and alcohol poisonings,
suicide, and chronic liver diseases and cirrhosis. Although all
education groups saw increases in mortality from suicide and poisonings,
and an overall increase in external cause mortality, those with less
education saw the most marked increases. Rising midlife mortality
rates of white non-Hispanics were paralleled by increases in midlife
morbidity. Self-reported declines in health, mental health, and ability
to conduct activities of daily living, and increases in chronic pain and
inability to work, as well as clinically measured deteriorations in liver
function, all point to growing distress in this population. We comment
on potential economic causes and consequences of this deterioration.

The article also says that the increase is confined to middle aged whites with less than a college education.  The main factors were a big increase in poisonings, followed by suicide and liver disease.  In the discussion, they zero in on a vicious cycle that starts with musculoskeletal pain, and involves treatment with opioids that only worsens the problem, supplanted by self-treatment with alcohol primarily.  There is an overlay of financial distress caused by stagnant incomes and falling perceived financial security in retirement, although the authors point out that this by itself can't explain the findings since it's true in other countries who don't show these same mortality effects.

I'm guessing that obesity and reduced levels of exercise has a lot to do with this, since sedentary obese people are the ones who develop disabling neck and back pain.  The medical community unfortunately doesn't handle this well.  Most doctors just hand out piles of medications that only worsen the root problems.  To be fair, one of the reasons they do that is that patients will shop around until they find a doctor willing to provide the happy juice.

Anyway the good news here is that members of this forum are highly unlikely to end up contributing to these statistics.

[Tyler]

Basically, middle-class whites are dying at an increased rate from drug and alcohol abuse.  Typically that's an indicator of depression.

I'm sure there are a myriad of causes.  Unemployment and debt undoubtedly play a role.  The paper may downplay that based on similar unemployment in other countries, but it may not account for the insane level of consumerism in the US where Wifi is a human right and not having the latest smartphone is cause for self loathing.  I'll also throw in a declining belief in God as a potential contributor, which may be starting to catch up to the uneducated white middle-class faster than other demographics. 

[MediumTex]

I'll also throw in a declining belief in God as a potential contributor, which may be starting to catch up to the uneducated white middle-class faster than other demographics.

They don't call it the opiate of the masses for nothing.

Maybe one of the presidential candidates could propose a series of spiritual methadone clinics to help provide secular state-sponsored assistance with the withdrawal process, though I suspect the clinics would actually focus on replacing the collapsed belief in a deity with a belief in the power of the state to do almost as much for them.

Jung said a lot when he said that a "religious outlook" was needed to maintain mental health in a "crazy time."  The following piece was printed in the New York Times in 1993, and I still remember reading it back then because it left such an impression on me (I actually cut it out and have referred back to it many times over the last 20+ years):

From Jung: A Loss Of Faith Brings A Loss Of Meaning
by C.G. Jung, From the New York Times
Posted: December 08, 1993

The following is a previously unpublished letter, dated Nov. 12, 1959, from the psychologist C.G. Jung to Ruth Topping, a prominent Chicago social worker.

She had asked him to explain a comment of his in a Chicago newspaper:

"Among all my patients in the second half of life . . . every one of them fell ill because he had lost what the living religions of every age have given their followers, and none of them has been really healed who did not regain his religious outlook."

In her letter, Miss Topping wondered how Jung would define the phrase ''religious outlook."

ZURICH - When you study the mental history of the world, you see that people since times immemorial had a general teaching or doctrine about the wholeness of the world.

Originally and down to our days, they were considered to be holy traditions taught to the young people as a preparation for their future life.

This has been the case in primitive tribes as well as in highly differentiated civilizations. The teaching had always a "philosophical" and ''ethical" aspect.

In our civilization this spiritual background has gone astray. Our Christian doctrine has lost its grip to an appalling extent, chiefly because people don't understand it any more.

Thus one of the most important instinctual activities of our mind has lost its object.

As these views deal with the world as a whole, they create also a wholeness of the individual, so much so, that for instance a primitive tribe loses its vitality, when it is deprived of its specific religious outlook.

People are no more rooted in their world and lose their orientation. They just drift. That is very much our condition, too.

The need for a meaning of their lives remains unanswered, because the rational, biological goals are unable to express the irrational wholeness of human life.

Thus life loses its meaning. That is the problem of the "religious outlook" in a nutshell.

The problem itself cannot be settled by a few slogans.

It demands concentrated attention, much mental work and, above all, patience, the rarest thing in our restless and crazy time.

[Tyler]

Maybe one of the presidential candidates could propose a series of spiritual methadone clinics to help provide secular state-sponsored assistance with the withdrawal process, though I suspect the clinics would actually focus on replacing the collapsed belief in a deity with a belief in the power of the state to do almost as much for them.

It sounds like Bernie is your man.    You're certainly right about the secular downside.

[WiseOne]

Thus life loses its meaning. That is the problem of the "religious outlook" in a nutshell.

The problem itself cannot be settled by a few slogans.

It demands concentrated attention, much mental work and, above all, patience, the rarest thing in our restless and crazy time.

Thanks for posting this MT!

I'm not sure that a religious outlook is the only way to meet this need.  The above is a pretty darned good description of my state of mind when I'm writing a paper or grant, or analyzing data.  Restless and crazy is when I start getting caught up in dept politics or administrative annoyances.

Also, many people who follow a religion, Christian or not, may not find the meaning they seek.  My parents' church, for example, seems to have a lot more in common with, say, a local bridge club than a spiritual journey.  I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised that my mother's longtime parish friends disappeared during the three years that my father was so severely ill.

I've always thought that you could find that sort of meaning in just about any activity, as long as you approach it the right way.  Most people just kind of slop their way through a job with the goal of getting through to quitting time, rather than doing their job well and with pride.  Not caring about work and focusing on being entertained all the time sounds like a pretty hollow life to me.

[MediumTex]

Thus life loses its meaning. That is the problem of the "religious outlook" in a nutshell.

The problem itself cannot be settled by a few slogans.

It demands concentrated attention, much mental work and, above all, patience, the rarest thing in our restless and crazy time.

Thanks for posting this MT!

I'm not sure that a religious outlook is the only way to meet this need. 

It's clearly not the only way, but it can be wrapped up very tightly with cultural norms, to the point that losing the religion causes the entire culture to lose it coherence.

Look at the tribes where the entire social structure falls apart soon after the missionaries arrive.

[Libertarian666]

Wow, this is a big deal.  I found the original article in PNAS (authors Case & Deaton, in PNAS Early Edition).  The news articles as usual missed some of the important details.  See abstract below.

This paper documents a marked increase in the all-cause mortality of
middle-aged white non-Hispanic men and women in the United States
between 1999 and 2013. This change reversed decades of progress in
mortality and was unique to the United States; no other rich country
saw a similar turnaround. The midlife mortality reversal was confined
to white non-Hispanics; black non-Hispanics and Hispanics at midlife,
and those aged 65 and above in every racial and ethnic group, continued
to see mortality rates fall. This increase for whites was largely
accounted for by increasing death rates from drug and alcohol poisonings,
suicide, and chronic liver diseases and cirrhosis. Although all
education groups saw increases in mortality from suicide and poisonings,
and an overall increase in external cause mortality, those with less
education saw the most marked increases. Rising midlife mortality
rates of white non-Hispanics were paralleled by increases in midlife
morbidity. Self-reported declines in health, mental health, and ability
to conduct activities of daily living, and increases in chronic pain and
inability to work, as well as clinically measured deteriorations in liver
function, all point to growing distress in this population. We comment
on potential economic causes and consequences of this deterioration.

The article also says that the increase is confined to middle aged whites with less than a college education.  The main factors were a big increase in poisonings, followed by suicide and liver disease.  In the discussion, they zero in on a vicious cycle that starts with musculoskeletal pain, and involves treatment with opioids that only worsens the problem, supplanted by self-treatment with alcohol primarily.  There is an overlay of financial distress caused by stagnant incomes and falling perceived financial security in retirement, although the authors point out that this by itself can't explain the findings since it's true in other countries who don't show these same mortality effects.

I'm guessing that obesity and reduced levels of exercise has a lot to do with this, since sedentary obese people are the ones who develop disabling neck and back pain.  The medical community unfortunately doesn't handle this well.  Most doctors just hand out piles of medications that only worsen the root problems.  To be fair, one of the reasons they do that is that patients will shop around until they find a doctor willing to provide the happy juice.

Anyway the good news here is that members of this forum are highly unlikely to end up contributing to these statistics.

Legalizing pot would help this without a corresponding downside of any significance.

[WiseOne]

I'm not sure that a religious outlook is the only way to meet this need. 

It's clearly not the only way, but it can be wrapped up very tightly with cultural norms, to the point that losing the religion causes the entire culture to lose it coherence.

Look at the tribes where the entire social structure falls apart soon after the missionaries arrive.

But then why would college-educated people be so much less affected?  If anything, college graduates are less likely to be religious than people with no more than a high school degree.

My hypothesis is that non-religious people with college degrees are more likely to find fulfilling work, which can provide the meaning that they would otherwise lack.

[MediumTex]

I'm not sure that a religious outlook is the only way to meet this need. 

It's clearly not the only way, but it can be wrapped up very tightly with cultural norms, to the point that losing the religion causes the entire culture to lose it coherence.

Look at the tribes where the entire social structure falls apart soon after the missionaries arrive.

But then why would college-educated people be so much less affected?  If anything, college graduates are less likely to be religious than people with no more than a high school degree.

My hypothesis is that non-religious people with college degrees are more likely to find fulfilling work, which can provide the meaning that they would otherwise lack.

Religion provides a cultural framework for the endurance of a variety of forms of suffering, and IMHO uneducated working class people are more likely to encounter suffering than an educated middle class person.

(The Buddha, of course, said that ALL of life is suffering, but it's possible that he just wasn't hanging out with the right people).

[Pointedstick]

My hypothesis is that non-religious people with college degrees are more likely to find fulfilling work, which can provide the meaning that they would otherwise lack.

I think this is probably true, and also explains why career-oriented types often drop dead within a few years of retirement. If you make your work the center of your emotional life, you can never stop working and retain your mental health.

[Mountaineer]

It's clearly not the only way, but it can be wrapped up very tightly with cultural norms, to the point that losing the religion causes the entire culture to lose it coherence.

Look at the tribes where the entire social structure falls apart soon after the missionaries arrive.

But then why would college-educated people be so much less affected?  If anything, college graduates are less likely to be religious than people with no more than a high school degree.

My hypothesis is that non-religious people with college degrees are more likely to find fulfilling work, which can provide the meaning that they would otherwise lack.

Religion provides a cultural framework for the endurance of a variety of forms of suffering, and IMHO uneducated working class people are more likely to encounter suffering than an educated middle class person.

(The Buddha, of course, said that ALL of life is suffering, but it's possible that he just wasn't hanging out with the right people).

Life in general is a struggle.  We have to work.  People get mad at us.  We get mad at others.  Friends desert us for someone more fun to be with.  War.  The prosperity Gospel types (think Joel Osteen) are a farce.  Style versus substance.  Economic depressions.  Unemployment.  Sickness.  Death.  Humans generally cope.  Whatever gives you meaning and security is your god.  My speculation is when one loses their god (whether it be money, family, job, love of dominating others, narcisicism, or the real God) and does not have a good worthy replacement .... then trouble ensues, sometimes, maybe even frequently, ending in suicide.  My experience is that almost everyone needs to see meaning in life, and understand the meaning of life .... even if it is only to find the bottom of the bottle as fast as possible.  When the meaning goes, the reason for existence goes.  If ones god is internal, we as frail needy beings, are in serious trouble.  An external stable source of meaning goes a very long way toward keeping an individual "hanging in there" through all the struggles and suffering.  Without hope life would be really, really depressing - at least for me.  Do you have hope?  For what?  Why?  Can you give others your reason for your hope?

... Mountaineer

[Jack Jones]

Legalizing pot would help this without a corresponding downside of any significance.

Pot has plenty of downsides despite popular opinion.

[Jack Jones]

(The Buddha, of course, said that ALL of life is suffering, but it's possible that he just wasn't hanging out with the right people).

Like Ikkyu?

Calling My Hand Mori's Hand

My hand, how it resembles Mori's hand.
I believe the lady is the master of loveplay;
If I get ill, she can cure the jeweled stem.
And then they rejoice, the monks at my meeting.

[Libertarian666]

Legalizing pot would help this without a corresponding downside of any significance.

Pot has plenty of downsides despite popular opinion.

Such as what?

[MWKXJ]

Pot has plenty of downsides despite popular opinion.

"They started at once, and went about among the Lotus-eaters, who did them no hurt, but gave them to eat of the lotus, which was so delicious that those who ate of it left off caring about home, and did not even want to go back and say what had happened to them, but were for staying and munching lotus with the Lotus-eater without thinking further of their return nevertheless, though they wept bitterly I forced them back to the ships and made them fast under the benches. Then I told the rest to go on board at once, lest any of them should taste of the lotus and leave off wanting to get home"

-Homer, "Odyssey"

Life is an adventure.  More should face it soberly.

[Libertarian666]

Pot has plenty of downsides despite popular opinion.

"They started at once, and went about among the Lotus-eaters, who did them no hurt, but gave them to eat of the lotus, which was so delicious that those who ate of it left off caring about home, and did not even want to go back and say what had happened to them, but were for staying and munching lotus with the Lotus-eater without thinking further of their return nevertheless, though they wept bitterly I forced them back to the ships and made them fast under the benches. Then I told the rest to go on board at once, lest any of them should taste of the lotus and leave off wanting to get home"

-Homer, "Odyssey"

Life is an adventure.  More should face it soberly.

Do you know anyone who uses pot? Since over 40% of the population has used it ("According to the 2001 National Survey on Drug Use and Health by SAMHSA, a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 41.9% (just over 2 out of every 5) of all Americans 12 or older have used cannabis at some point in their lives, while 11.5% (about 1 in 9) reported using it "this year."[16]") you probably do.

Hint: Cheech and Chong movies are not documentaries.

Also note:

"According to a 2013 survey by Pew Research Center, a majority of Americans are in favor of complete or partial legalization of cannabis.[9] The survey showed 52% of respondents support cannabis legalization and 45% do not. College graduates' support increased from 39% to 52% in just three years, the support of self-identified conservative republicans (a group not traditionally supportive of cannabis legalization) has increased to nearly 30%, and bipartisan support has increased across the board. "

(All quotes from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_ ... ted_States)

[WiseOne]

Religion provides a cultural framework for the endurance of a variety of forms of suffering, and IMHO uneducated working class people are more likely to encounter suffering than an educated middle class person.

(The Buddha, of course, said that ALL of life is suffering, but it's possible that he just wasn't hanging out with the right people).

(emphasis mine)

I've thought quite the opposite.  The higher you are on the career/income ladder, the more complicated life gets.  The guy hanging out by the lamp post just outside my office window looks like they are just coasting through life and haven't a care in the world.  Whereas I'm in here trying to juggle impossible deadlines, dealing with backstabbing colleagues, and doing all the little things one must do to continue to meet the expectations that have been building up as a result of past successes.  And, none of which makes me immune to the long list of life events that Mountaineer has provided.  They happen to all of us, no exceptions.

So ironically, I'm saying that a truly "simple" life can be deadly.  People need challenges and complications in their lives.

[Libertarian666]

Religion provides a cultural framework for the endurance of a variety of forms of suffering, and IMHO uneducated working class people are more likely to encounter suffering than an educated middle class person.

(The Buddha, of course, said that ALL of life is suffering, but it's possible that he just wasn't hanging out with the right people).

(emphasis mine)

I've thought quite the opposite.  The higher you are on the career/income ladder, the more complicated life gets.  The guy hanging out by the lamp post just outside my office window looks like they are just coasting through life and haven't a care in the world.  Whereas I'm in here trying to juggle impossible deadlines, dealing with backstabbing colleagues, and doing all the little things one must do to continue to meet the expectations that have been building up as a result of past successes.  And, none of which makes me immune to the long list of life events that Mountaineer has provided.  They happen to all of us, no exceptions.

So ironically, I'm saying that a truly "simple" life can be deadly.  People need challenges and complications in their lives.

I assume you wouldn't want to trade places with one of those "simple" people.
Why not?
Because you have choices they don't have.
While that can be annoying or even stressful, having no choices is really bad.

[MediumTex]

Religion provides a cultural framework for the endurance of a variety of forms of suffering, and IMHO uneducated working class people are more likely to encounter suffering than an educated middle class person.

(The Buddha, of course, said that ALL of life is suffering, but it's possible that he just wasn't hanging out with the right people).

(emphasis mine)

I've thought quite the opposite.  The higher you are on the career/income ladder, the more complicated life gets.  The guy hanging out by the lamp post just outside my office window looks like they are just coasting through life and haven't a care in the world.  Whereas I'm in here trying to juggle impossible deadlines, dealing with backstabbing colleagues, and doing all the little things one must do to continue to meet the expectations that have been building up as a result of past successes.  And, none of which makes me immune to the long list of life events that Mountaineer has provided.  They happen to all of us, no exceptions.

So ironically, I'm saying that a truly "simple" life can be deadly.  People need challenges and complications in their lives.

I was thinking more about uneducated working people with little upward mobility who are trying to raise families and fit more and more family expenses into paychecks that aren't rising.

We all suffer, of course, because humans tend to whine about almost anything, but the thing I'm talking about is more of a grinding chronic suffering that can drive a person to drink and then on to the harder stuff.