I just read one of the greatest blog posts ever, linked to by @Pistachio, and felt that I had to share it. It’s titled Let Me Save You $40: Here’s How to Be Happy. Its approach to happiness is so pragmatic that it’s shocking. Go ahead, take three minutes and give it a read.
My favorite part? I agree with Laura (Pistachio):
There are 7 billion people on the world. You can afford to not hang out with that one again.
It’ll make sense soon, I promise.
Ugh. Time for the counter-argument.
1. I cannot stand hypocrites. Mr. Unsmiley is being a dick by acting like he is the perfect human being and we’re all lowly slop. So I propose that he take his own advice and “just stop.”
2. Mr. Unsmiley can’t fix the world, especially human nature so he shouldn’t whine. Commenting on human nature is OK, being all normative about it is a waste of time.
3. Work and efficiency, not wasting one’s time dealing with others, is what we need.
4. If, unfortunately, your life keeps you from being an absolute shut-in, and/or you live in a country with a government, you will have to deal with people who treat you like crap. No running. Deal.
5. Mr. Unsmiley is assuming everyone’s psychological analysis of you (except you own, of course) is 100% perfect. Guess what, not everyone is always right. The one person you can always trust to tell you what kind of person you are is yourself.
6. Wow. Read William Hazlitt’s “On the Want of Money.” Now try and tell me that society doesn’t ask us to do what is hard.
7. The minute we start “letting go” or “sucking it up,” people like George W. Bush become President. Twice.
Thank you for sharing that post! I saw Laura’s tweet, and unfortunately didn’t follow through on it at the time. I must have needed to hear it, since here it is again.
@mousewords: You’re very welcome.
@Michael: That’s just one counter-argument, not “the” counter-argument.
I think you failed to see the point of the article. Sometimes, people try to counteract a general feeling or problem by sending a “wake up call”. This is one of those articles; it’s suppose to trigger epiphanies, not solve the world’s problems. The author is hardly saying he’s a perfect person, and he doesn’t claim he can “fix the world”. He’s just giving his perspective on how to be happy.
For instance, listening to the criticisms of others. People ignoring criticisms from others is a much bigger problem than inaccurate criticisms. Writing, “listen to the proper criticisms of others but ignore the unjust one”, only serves to bolster our self-confidence in our ability to do no wrong. If we were to first assume that all criticisms of us are true and then reason with them, rather than just flat-out denying their accuracy, we’re doing ourselves a favor.
Don’t take the blog post too seriously. Treat it like an opinion post whose goal is to help you.