How can you find true love? While it may not be as existential as questions about spirituality, as introspective as self-improvement, or even as practical as financial success, true love may be the key to happiness. Ask a psychologist about the key to happiness and their answer is sure to include, cheerfulness, friendliness, compassion, and gratitude. If you ask a spiritual guide they may tell you to focus on your inner self. What does that mean? Things like don’t seek external approval, nourish your body with healthy foods, and avoid judgemental behaviors.
Alternative View
While I took several psych courses in college and I’ve served as the godfather of several nieces and nephews, that hardly qualifies me as an alternative source on mental health (at least not in a good way). I’m more of what you might call an observationalist. With that in mind, I’d argue that what people want most in life, is true love. We devote an inordinate amount of time attempting to attract that special someone. We have products, seminars, classes, poetry, art, music, and an inordinate number of other things dedicated to finding true love. All right, some may quibble about the difference between finding true love and having a little fun. Fair enough, but for my unscientific purposes I’m going to lump it all together using reality TV.
Say What
By my unofficial count there are roughly two dozen reality dating shows out there. USA Today (August 2022) went the trouble of ranking their 17 favorites. Shows like the Bachelor trio (the Bachelor, the Bachelorette, and Bachelor in Paradise), Love Island USA (there’s a UK version, too), Cosmic Love, and Love is Blind made their list. There are even shows targeting demographic subgroups (Indian Matchmaking & Love on the Spectrum), to say nothing of The Farmer Wants a Wife. In full disclosure, I have never seen one of these shows. My reality dating eperience is old school. When too sick to go to school I often watched TV including The Dating Game.
Back in 2017, the reality show Shark Tank featured a pitch to fund an app that helps you find true love based on common hatred. Just in case you’ve lost your faith in humanity, the Hater app has gone out of business. However, before it did, more than ~1 million people downloaded it and input their hates. That brings us to our map. It parses that data to create the most popular hated thing in each state. Which state shares your hatred? Would you consider moving there to find true love?
As always thanks for reading.
Armen
Note to pay the bills: Reading may not bring you happiness, but it’s certainly worth a try. My Warders series is a James Bond-like thriller filled with magic and adventure in a high fantasy world that’s appropriate for readers of all ages. Why not give take a look? You can find a summary of the six book series here or find links to purchase books here.
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