Caution: Mandatory Happiness Ahead

 Professor J,


Our intellectual love child didn't seem to suffer in my absence. :) I see that you were trying to help me out but I can't resist moving on to Chapter IV. Do you think our readers knew that "intercalary" means an extra day inserted into the calendar? I'll admit having to look it up. Capital idea! Can we get one every week? :)


As I read this chapter, The Illusion of Happiness, a song kept playing along in my head. "Don't Worry Be Happy" wafted in and out of my consciousness; it seemed to perfectly represent the sometimes silly, sometimes dangerous view that the author gives of positive psychology. He lays out his concerns and sums up the ideology mid-chapter:

Psychologists in and out of government, have learned how to manipulate social behavior. The promotion of collective harmony, under the guise of achieving happiness, is simply another carefully designed mechanism for conformity. Positive psychology is about banishing criticism and molding a group into a weak and malleable unit that will take orders. Personal values, those nurtured by an independent conscience, are gently condemned as antagonistic to harmony and happiness. (129)


More than any other chapter this one caused me to often think, "But wait, what about...?" Like the chapter on porn, I felt this could have been a stand alone book had he explored the matter a little more. This is a broad and complex issue, but perhaps he was operating under the assumption that we are all already too familiar with the argument for the positive thinking side. There are a lot of nuances and fine lines. He indicates on p. 117 that he is talking about "positive psychology--at least, as applied so broadly and unquestioningly to corporate relations--is a quack science."  He makes it clear that he thinks many of these seminars that corporations buy into are nothing short of Cultural Revolution re-education camps with coffee and cream cheese pastries.


I waffled back and forth in my reactions throughout the chapter. On p.121, I agreed fully with Hedges creepy comparison between much of what he describes in the chapter and Huxley's Brave New World:

"Don't you wish you were free Lenina?"
  "I don't know what you mean. I am free. Free to have the most wonderful time. Everybody's happy nowadays."
   He laughed, "Yes, 'Everybody's happy nowadays.' We have been giving the children that at five." But wouldn't you like to be free to be happy in some other way, Lenina? In your own way, for  example; not in everybody else's way." 
   "I don't know what you mean, she repeated.


Other times I thought he was just giving us a curmudgeonly insight to how he views the world. I felt he needed someone to cheer him up, but that he would take a very dim view of that. He's made me feel very self conscious about my happy face emoticons. :)


The thinking the author is outlining negates the benefit of negative experiences in life. Much that is worth knowing is learned in some very dark places (you may recall). Sadness, loneliness, and failure are magnificent, though demanding, teachers. I think Hedges' main point however, is that corporations and governments don't really care if people have rich inner lives or feel fulfilled. That is all so unnecessary for making good workers and soldiers.


Some of the things he points out, like visualization, often used by athletes, and positive self talk, seem harmless. We see him describe some common leadership strategies taken to extremes and used to manipulate workers. The question with a lot of the techniques Hedges lists is one of intent.


Sometimes the line between the acceptable and unacceptable is that it isn't just WHAT you do, but WHY you do it.



The chapter raises a lot of questions: Where is the line between hope and delusion? What is the difference between a government or corporation boosting morale and manipulating people to do what they want? When does cooperation become group think? Can we face glaring reality and be optimistic? Is positive thinking beneficial for individuals but dangerous in organizations and institutions? What's the difference between contentment and "settling?" Were WWII propaganda posters encouraging reminders or a subtle form of brainwashing? (Does that depend who's side you were on?) And how much do things like natural disposition matter?