On Monday, NBC’s Today finally discovered the elusive secret to happiness – European-style socialism. While taking a bicycle tour of Copenhagen with National Geographic’s Dan Buettner, correspondent Cynthia McFadden proclaimed: “For 40 years Denmark has ranked as one of the happiest places on Earth….the Danes make life less stressed and more joyful.”
How you might ask? The reporter explained: “Here, no job is less than any other….[garbage man] Alan Christensen works just five hours a day, but earns the same as a school teacher.” Buettner proclaimed: “Ambition is not celebrated. No matter what you do, you’re no better than anybody else.”
“And while some studies show the average American clocks in over 50 hours a week,” McFadden observed, Buettner touted how in Denmark “on average they work 37 hours and they have very clear punctuation between their work life and their social life.” He cited one example: “Mothers don’t have to worry so much about child care. In Denmark, you get a year off.” McFadden chimed in: “Paid.”
Buettner praised the supposed socialist utopia: “And there’s a feeling here in Denmark that nothing too bad will ever happen to you.” McFadden hailed: “The Danes trust their government. They pay enormously high taxes.” Buettner cheered: “Every Dane is born with the right to free health care, free education through college, comfortable retirement. They’re free to pursue a job that meets their passions and their interests.”
At the top of the report, McFadden celebrated the primary mode of transportation in the Danish capital: “Can a bike lane lead to a happier life? In Copenhagen, this is how half the city gets around.” Buettner bragged: “The city of Copenhagen estimates it saves $15 billion a year because people are biking to work instead of driving.”
Following the taped portion of the segment, McFadden lectured: “By the way, here in America, the amount of time we spend in our cars has tripled since the 1970s, and that is not making us happier.” Co-host Savannah Guthrie was so impressed with the fawning puff piece that she jokingly requested “Five tickets to Copenhagen.”
One week earlier, on October 9, CBS This Morning was similarly impressed with the city as correspondent Mo Rocca heralded “Copenhagen’s ambitious plan to become the cleanest energy city in the world” with a massive tax on cars.
The biased segment on Today was brought to viewers by Comcast, Lincoln, and Toyota [no bicycle sponsors].
(First reported by mrcNewsbusters) https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/kyle-drennen/2017/10/16/nbcs-today-finds-secret-happiness-socialism (October 16, 2017)
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