AMERICAN SCIENCE AND THE ENFORCEMENT OF HAPPINESS

[Morpheal]

AMERICAN SCIENCE AND THE ENFORCEMENT OF HAPPINESS

BBC News - December 6th, 2008 Wrote:

“Happiness is infectious and can "ripple" through social groups, say US researchers. Researchers found a person is 25% more likely to be happy if they have a friend living within a mile who becomes happy - an effect that declined with distance.The study of 5000 adults, led by the Harvard Medical School, says the 'happiness effect' extends to three levels of separation - to the friend of a friend of a friend.However, the study also found that the mood of work colleagues did not play a part in happiness.”

America has long distorted most research on human contentment, and happiness. We have to look at more solid sociology, psychology, from 40 years ago to begin to comprehend the negative changes that American science has consistently suffered during America’s constant swing towards totalitarianism, tainted with its peculiar version of “spirituality”.

This is partially due to ideology that emphasizes being sold on the idea and rejects real psycho-physiological responses to the meeting of real material needs and wants. A popular phrase, some years ago, was “sweetness and light”, prevalent in the religious right. The attitude of uncomplaining, “smile and be happy”, no matter what is actually happening or being experienced in material life of body and social, behavioral, political and economic facticity, extended far beyond the religious right into redefining concepts of “health”. Dissent, disagreement, even debate, and particularly expressions of unhappiness and discontent, were increasingly to be believed as being “unhealthy”. In that paradigm something is always wrong with the complainant, and everything reflects back onto self, including all blame for every variety of anxiety, adversity, failure, obstacle, and misfortune.

It really meant that a frown of dissent was unacceptable, as were any critical, dissenting, words. Similarly the concept of “congruence” crept into Americanism, and meant that not only were people expected to smile and be happy on the surface, but they had to internalize that superficial fascism of externalized happiness as being what they truly believed about themselves. Internalization of external behavior is a factor in political totalitarianism. Earlier socio-psychological ideas did not venture into promoting congruence but tended to follow theories such as Irving Goffman’s “Presentation of Self in Everyday Life” where the difference between internal thinking and expressions of external behavior was validated. The theory of congruence tends to invalidate internal dissent and discontentment, supporting the superficial living of the lie. The belief is also inculcated that expressions of happiness and contentment, even when completely inappropriate to circumstances are rewardable, while expressions of unhappiness and discontentment are punishable reinforcing the revised political value system.

The political implications are obvious. Slowly and certainly everything that is wrong with society, the social situation, the political realm, economics, and particularly wrong with religion or the national ideology, is pushed behind the curtain of happiness. It no longer exists. Only happiness exists. Those other matters are increasingly “passed over in silence”. Another angle derivative from Americanist religious ideology, If you are unhappy, discontented, critical about anything, you can talk to yourself, by yourself, forever, or seek medical help in terms of pharmaceuticals that will help you change your mind to one of totalized happiness, via a manipulation of your physiology. You have no freedom to be unhappy and remain a member of society. That is not allowed. You will be passed over in silence, utterly ignored, and told that you are crazy, needing help, unhealthy, ill, and unacceptable to society, god, the nation, the group, and so forth. Social dynamics become part of the reinforcement of happiness enforcement.

Now we can see why the real condition of America has deteriorated consistently and constantly for nearly 40 years, in every area of its life, behind that curtain of enforced expressions and feelings of contentment and happiness. We can now see why America, as nation, in terms of its condition today, still cannot face its own truth, at home and in the world beyond its borders. Why its upper leadership still sells false beliefs, unable to face up to responsibility and failure. Faith in the future, optimism, and being completely sold on those has become a standard of health, of sanity, and a condition of social, political even of economic membership. Even leadership is constrained to the ideology of happiness. We have seen the slow erosion and destruction of real political dissent in America, and of religious dissent, watching it pushed increasingly underground and its manifestations changed to increasingly ineffective, unemotive, masked behind conflicted behavioral expressions and internal feelings. Real dissent and discontent is no longer allowed its honest expression. It is placed into social and psychological conflict with itself, in regard to its negative valuing as unhealthy and inappropriate in the larger sphere of life. It is parochialized to the extreme, and becomes the preserve of smaller and smaller groups, who are increasingly labelled as being the equivalent of dangerously infected, and necessarily as undergoing treatment for what is wrong with them. The usual result is increasing member antipathy and ambivalence to their own cause and their own social associations.

Americanism has increasingly become an ideology that requires, in fact demands, happiness, and demands its valuing by others when it occurs meaninglessly in any, even when needs and wants are entirely unmet and even when the circumstances make happiness inappropriate. In that Americanist ideology dissent, discontent, unhappiness, and their external to the psyche behavioral expressions become increasingly always inappropriate, while their opposites are given increasing value as being appropriate.

Americanism, even in its social and psychological science, is not necessarily the truth about the human condition and about humanity. The rest of the world needs to rethink the issues, and apply solid real science and genuine critical thinking to it, not simply accept it as given “gift from the American god”. Science cannot be properly pursued on the basis of deeply held ideological assumptions, unexamined and unexaminable beliefs, acting simply as handmaiden in support of a failing ideology.

Now, smile and be happy whenever you see an American flag. America demands it.
You have no choice. Not only must you smile and be happy on the outside, but you must
feel that happiness as your one and only internal response. All your feelings and all your
thoughts must be pure happiness when you see that flag. You have something seriously
wrong with you if you do not feel happy inside and show your happiness outside as behavior
that is clearly expressive to all around you, when you see that flag.

And never utter what might be considered to be a discouraging word, or you will end up the recipient of a flood of discouragement. You have to sell the ideology. You have to promote it. You have to be an American salesman of a bill of goods ideology and spirituality, joining a nation of such salesmanship, if you want to succeed at anything.

You see what has gone wrong now, don’t you ?


Cheers.

Robert Morpheal

Anyone may copy, reproduce, distribute, this article in any form, by any means, anywhere, and is in fact encouraged to do so.

[The Traveler]

1. Discontent produces the motivation for change

Surely, discontent of the little people must be managed or public dollars cannot be safely spent on "retention bonuses" for AIG executives. So keep 'em happy with flat screen TVs and pills while we send their kids over seas to bleed for corporate interests. Don't let that discontent spread and become a popular movement for changing the order of things.

As a people, we have so much to unlearn ... and so many new things to learn. Exciting times, when you think about it. Rich in opportunity and dangers grave. The politics and psychology of denial so aptly described above provide no tools for seizing the opportunities or coping with the dangers. There is no strength there.

I want us to be strong again.

K&R, BTW. Thanks for posting this.

Trav

[nashville_brook]

2. i like your piece -- the study has an unstated converse that's more relevant than "happiness"

If happiness extends three degrees beyond each person -- so would unhappiness, and UNhappiness, anxiety, and depression are undoubtedly the dominant trope right now. We are not experiencing waves of happiness. We are experiencing waves of anxiety. We are experiencing waves of fear and depression.

The solution to that is not to find 'the happy people.' It's to fix our economy and environment in order that the anxiety and fear can subside.

This study is interesting, yes. But it's not the last word in our social mood. If I am out of work and about to lose my house, finding employed and happy people to be around is NOT going to make me happy. In fact, it's likely to piss me the hell off.

[Celebration]

3. happiness

Happiness isn't exactly the opposite of outrage or dissent. Sometimes, it makes me very, very happy to be outraged. They can easily coexist.

The problem comes when there are forces that want to medicate us into a stupor. That's not happiness, and it's not outrage. It's........PROFITS.

[silverweb]

4. Exactly.

I was trying to figure out how to say pretty much the same thing, but you beat me to it. :hi: