Home-Free Living

A Fictional Interview of the Author by an Inflamed Conservative, part II (Anticipated Frequently Asked Questions [A.F.A.Q.])

IC: Why can’t you liberals just be happy?

KC: Ah, I’m very glad you asked this, IC. This is something that both liberals and conservatives–but particularly conservatives–have at the core of their beliefs about America and developed-world lifestyle. The aforeposed sentiment is exemplified by this bumper sticker:

“Annoy a Liberal – Work hard. Succeed. Be Happy”

IC: Yes, I suppose that is the sentiment I was expressing.

KC: I like this sticker because it illustrates the core difference between conservative and liberal–particularly eco-liberal–value systems. In order to examine this difference, I am going to start with the original sentiment and move on to the bumper sticker.

Why can’t I just be happy, indeed? This is a question I’ve asked myself many times. I have a nice place to sleep, good food, a couple close friends around here, a car and a bicycle and a job in an office. Why aren’t I happy?

Truth be told, there is no true answer. There are a million factors figuring into any one individual’s happiness, ranging from genetic, environmental, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and mental. Depression is often an inexplicable thing. Those that have never experienced depression don’t understand what a terrible thing it is. I don’t suffer from depression anymore but I do often have days where I forget what happiness feels like, such that when I experience it again I am impressed. Furthermore, I don’t take much stock in the “privilege” argument–-”you have so much more than most people, so you should be happy. QED.” The reason I don’t spout this argument is because a) there is always, no matter how low your station, someone in the world with less than you b) happiness has little or nothing to do with money, most of the time, and b.1) happiness is possible without having a lot of money, and finally c) the hidden implication in the italicized statement is that more money equals more happiness. So although it is indeed virtuous to not take things for granted, it certainly doesn’t equate to happiness necessarily.

I figure there are three reasons that I, personally, am not happy. Firstly, I think I am not happy because I have been so much happier in the past. Allow me to elaborate, because that sounds a bit odd. By way of an analogy: A child who hasn’t tasted chocolate does not crave it. A year ago, I was living in an open, expressive, and diverse intellectual community. I felt a sense of belonging, a sense of purpose, and a sense of care from others. It was by far the pinnacle experience of my life in terms of contentment, and the transition away from a sense of care, community and belonging has been negative.

Secondly, I am not doing what I want to do. This is a simple argument. No one likes being drawn away from their dreams. This is not controversial at all.

Thirdly (maybe second-and-a-halfly) I am being drawn away from my dreams. Work is a distraction that feels needless. School was always a distraction, though a necessary one, from my writing, though now it feels that I am just wasting time here at a job that doesn’t correlate directly to my life goals.

Fourthly, I am more irritated by the fact that I am stagnating here. As I’ve mentioned many times in this blog, I make so little money, and rent is so fucking absurd in the Bay Area, I cannot save anything. If I could save money, any money at all, I would be able to maybe live in a room for a brief period of time, not “working” in the traditional sense and working on my writing instead. But this is impossible because I have a consistent $300 worth of padding in my bank account. This remains stagnant.

IC: You still haven’t really answered the question. And what was it about the bumper sticker?

KC: Bear with me, IC. I guess the final answer here is that happiness is an extremely arbitrary thing. Some people are happy just working their whole lives, spending their money in their free time on their family, on living “well” (which means living opulently and with lots of material goods, at least here in America), and primarily on escapism (television, HDTV, Blu-ray, movies, video games, etc.). Anything that allows one to escape from the Real World, right?

And you know, I’m totally okay with that–with the decision to live the culturally normative consumptive American lifestyle. I guess a lot of people aren’t as ambitious as I am. But I really enjoy writing, I like writing fiction, nonfiction, making music, drawing, designing. These are just things that I like, and I find publishing something–showing it to the world–to be supremely satisfying. Some people find working at their job to be satisfying, even if that job doesn’t change anyone’s mind, doesn’t give them a chance to be creative, or is pretty damn boring (so, the majority of jobs). And others may not like their jobs, but they find the money they make, which goes to their family, is important to them, and they get a supreme genetic satisfaction from raising their children and providing a good life for them.

And there’s really nothing wrong with that. I might not believe, personally, that this would be a fulfilling lifestyle, for me at least. I need something different than that. But if both sides can just accept that what makes me happy is different (not superior or inferior) than what makes someone else happy, we can maintain harmoniousness.

IC: Yes, but you still haven’t talked about the bumper sticker on the back of my 4×4–the one that says: “Annoy a Liberal – Work hard. Succeed. Be Happy”

KC: Ah yes, thanks for reminding me, IC. Okay, so I feel I just addressed the “Be Happy” portion of that sticker. Conservatives just have to recognize that different values make different people happy. Mindless consumption doesn’t make me happy. Sorry.

But what I find more bizarre about this sticker is the narrative within. There is a subtle but kind of alarming implication in this bumper sticker. Let’s reread it: “Work Hard. Succeed. Be Happy.”

What is implied by “working hard?” It is not as straightforward a message as one might think. It doesn’t say “work hard at a job that you love that makes the world a better, healthier place.” No, that would make it a liberal bumper sticker. Simply “work hard.” I think the implication here is that the driver is suggesting that one works hard at anything, really–car salesman, CEO, Starbucks barista, marine sniper, etc.–as long as you work. Working Hard is a conservative value. The nature of the work is somehow irrelevant, though it’s probably safe to assume that this isn’t volunteer work.
Now the next part: “Succeed.” But the message here isn’t actually “succeed” at whatever you do. What if I want to learn to meditate, and after twenty years I succeed at it? This is definitely not what this message implies. In this context, being in relation to “work,” “succeed” means “make money.” In the business world, success=capital. If you sell cars, you sell a lot of them. If you’re a CEO, you increase your company’s quarterly profits every quarter. If you’re a barista, you work extra hard to make tips and work your way up to supervisor. If you’re a sniper, you kill a lot of enemies and get bronze stars on your lapel. Capital is what is really encapsulated in the phrase “succeed.”

And now, we reach “be happy.” The real message here is “work hard at your job, whether or not it is meaningless and destructive or causes death (sniper/CEO). And then make money. And then spend that money on escapism (be happy). What else would one spend it on if the moral part of your lifestyle is not something you think about?

So finally, we’ve reached the crux of why this bumper sticker alarms me. The real meaning behind this sticker is that an ignorant lifestyle is a happy one. If you work, succeed and consume without ever once considering any of the implications of your lifestyle, of course you will be happy. There are a lot of things you can do with your money in advanced capitalism.

So why does this alarm me, as an unhappy liberal? I guess because it secretly promotes ignorance as a positive value. I think ignorance is just about the worst value you can possess. Ignorance has created disharmony in the world. Ignorance causes war, racism, death, destruction, basically the majority of man-made ills.Yet in America, this has evolved into an omnipotent, albeit hidden, value. Why? The obvious reason is that advanced capitalism cannot survive without this ignorance. The moment you think, analyze, become aware of the chain of horror that brings your product to you, you become less inclined to consume. And capitalism exists solely to turn humans into consumers.

Yet material capitalism itself is a system of organization that disembodies the chain of production. That’s it. It is an organizational structure of consistent dehumanization brought on by industrialization and manipulation via media.

And maybe for a lot of people, they don’t notice or care about their actions and purchases and how they affect people. But I do. I’ve tasted the chocolate–I understand that my lifestyle choices have a grave affect on the well-being of other world citizens. Just because they are poor, or don’t live in this country, doesn’t mean they don’t exist. And being a creature in possession of empathy, I feel, frankly, a bit alarmed

I know this is a bit of a tangent, but it really does play into my decision to be homeless. I’m exiting, for the most part, the system of ignorance that makes me upset. I believe that I can succeed in achieving part 3 of the bumper sticker, “Be Happy,” by “working hard” on my private endeavors. And though my writing won’t initially produce “Succ[ess]” in the conservative sense of it–capital–it will produce happiness in me because it is what is morally right and empathetically right.

Postscript: Furthermore, I would like to add one more thought I had since analyzing this conservative sentiment, since I could just as easily flip around the message. I am, rather amazingly, defending myself in this blog against those that think my decision to consume less is crazy. If I was asked to defend myself against the conservative value party line–”why can’t you just be happy with what you have?” I would respond this way: “Why can’t you just be happy with less?”

Do you understand what I’m saying, Inflamed Conservative?

IC: I suppose I see where you’re coming from. However, I still must admit that I like living an escapist lifestyle. I may not like my job, but I’m making a fair bit of money that provides me with a materially satisfying life, and my children and wife have everything they ever could need or want, so that provides me with a certain intrinsic satisfaction. And I’m certainly not motivated by creativity like you are, so that doesn’t interest me. I like coming home and watching TV for the rest of the night. I like my idleness. Is that okay with you?

KC: That really doesn’t irk me. Some people might never see the world the way that I do. America is founded on the kind of staunch individualism that allows both you and I to live in the same society, even if I live in California and you in Texas (so we are admittedly segregated, true).

But I am confident that if I do keep writing, others who aren’t as ideologically distant might see my point of view, and agree with it, and maybe take up the cause.

The final point I’d like to make is that IC needs to be aware that his lifestyle won’t be able to last forever. We are running out of resources on the planet, at least fossil fuel resources. The days of large automobiles, long commutes and large heated houses are over. You should enjoy the petroleum glut while you can, IC, because it will never be cheap again. You live a life temporarily enabled by extraction of a limited resource for which there is no cheap replacement.

IC: Bullshit. Humans are smart. We’ll just keep finding resources to replace those other ones and keep the people happy. That’s called R&D and it’s how capitalism works.

KC: What about when the rest of the world starts to modernize? If you really believe in capitalism, don’t you think everyone in the world should have the same standards of living as Americans? Certainly you’re aware that capitalism can’t function without poverty–once the petroleum imports to the rest of the world start to rise exponentially, you’re totally fucked anyway.

IC: I ain’t gonna change my lifestyle as long as I can live how I want.

KC: Ah, this is where we’ll never agree. See, I am a socialist, and I believe in limiting or stymieing lifestyle choices via taxation and regulation in order to prevent environmental destruction and third-world poverty. It’s kind of an antidote, one might say, to the spendthrift, carefree ignorance that your bumper sticker promotes.

IC: Well, until that day comes, you can just suck it.

KC: I knew we wouldn’t be able to agree on this.