Happy is as happy does

You know, if you go through life thinking mostly in terms of victims and victimizers, you probably see yourself as victim rather than victimizer, so you're likely to be unhappy most of the time. That's my take on the guest column we published by Judy Harris, an adjunct faculty member in women's studies at IPFW. She quotes approvingly the work of another academic, Rose Brooks of the University of Virginia School of Law:

Based on social psychology research, happy people tend to rely on “heuristic shortcuts” in their task-performance and decision-making processes. In other words, they make simplistic assumptions and “rely more on ethnic and social stereotypes and political ideology in lieu of analysis,” as compared to unhappy people who recognize the complexity of circumstances and think them through. The naive ways of looking at the world can act as insulation from contemporary humanity and its many realities. There is a desire to hold on to a romanticized past in which life appeared less complicated and easier to control. The recognition of the intricacy and interrelatedness of issues and problems and the application of critical thinking, as opposed to effortless-cliché approaches to life, do have a tendency to somewhat reduce the happy mentality.

I'f I'm reading that right, it's the old "if you're happy, you must be stupid" argument. The smarter you get, the unhappier you are, because you realize this crazy old world is a lot more complicated than the goofy simpletons realize. Unless, of course, you are one of those evil conservative, Republican religious types, because then you out there every day trying to figure out how to screw everybody else. You are naturally the happiest people of all, because you are blind to the "racial and gender inequities that occurred and still persist."

I could go on and on about the politics of all this, but that's well-trod ground. And besides, I think Harris and Brooks are just plain wrong on a fundamental level:

We need unhappy people in our world and our town. Unhappiness and discontent inspire movements for change. Living in a comfort zone, the environment of what we deem to be happiness, does little to help entertain or initiate solutions for inclusiveness of all.

I don't think unhappy people contribute to anything. Unhappy people just sit around and stew in their own misery, paralyzed by their feelings of inadequacy. Progress and innovation, both evolution and revolution, come from people who are both dissatisfied with the way things are and driven to change them. That combination results in reslessness, which unleashes creativity. Unhappiness and discontent are not the same thing.

I hate to sound like a damn self-help book, but happiness comes from within. As Martha Washington said, "The greatest part of our happiness depends on our dispositions, not our circumstances."