Smile

Say “cheese!!!” The modern photographer is trained to try to capture the happy experiences even when there is none. Movie makers and novelists can work in a similar fashion catering to human emotions of happiness to intrigue their patrons into purchasing their work. Yes there are many artists that capture other human emotions; desire, pain, loneliness, pride, and apathy. However the concept of escaping pain, suffering, and strife and finding happiness dates back to the earliest of human records. All of these negative emotions are coupled with Mother Nature: Chemical reactions that shoot pain signals to the brain, weather that damages homes and crops, and aging that leads to death. The positive parts of life have no real relation with nature though. Happiness is a choice our brains subconsciously make out of any situation. Malcolm Gladwell in his essay “The Power of Context” looks into how the tiny mechanics of a situation can change how an actor plays out his/her role on during this scene on the metaphorical stage of life. Daniel Gilbert takes these cues a step further in his essay “Immune to Reality” by recording whether the expected experience is positive or negative and comparing it to the actual emotions felt after. Gilbert discovers a “Psychological Immune System” that protects the mind from devastating blows to moral of the subconscious. Jean Twenge, with her article “An Army of One: Me”, would conclude that the inflation of the “self” has come so far that a conscious now has “self” defense. The human body’s ability to cope with trauma is well conditioned because the self-esteem movement can not give a real answer for existence. People search diligently for a meaning and will not give up till they have their happy explanation.

Happiness is a specific perception of an event in which the facts behind it are twisted into a positive. Both good and bad experiences can be changed to have a positive effect on the recipient. “We are normally unaware of the processes that change them” but when the changes are noted by the conscious it muddles the credibility of a happy feelings (Gilbert 217). “For positive views to be credible, they must be based on facts that we believe we have come upon honestly” (Gilbert 216). These factual supports are abundant and can be found in science, history, upbringing, and immediate context. People can warp their reality by just throwing together the right grouping or facts. Gladwell walks his readers through common processes of determining criminal behavior to show how different Bernie Goetz’s actions look when the facts are set up to show his affinity for proper leadership, his strict father, and his crazy neighborhood antics (242). Goetz appears as a psychotic killer brewed from hatred. Gladwell then goes on to direct the facts through another channel show how the context of the subway invited Goetz’s criminal action (243). Looking into the crime to find the motive doesn’t allow humans to necessarily change anything about when criminal acts will happen or how to stop them. The main reason they search is to warp their own reality into something positive and happy: ‘I know I am not a murder’. Thusly nothing is accomplished but many people have been in the same position and had the same thoughts as Goetz. This emotion of hate is natural yet they must keep their sanity by blaming it on external motives.