Month: May 2006

(This entry’s title is made of the first two lines of Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song.)

I make it a point to hang out with people of all sorts of political persuasions. My preference is to treat life like an invitation to an exclusive party: make sure you RSVP, bring a gift for the host, remember that the reason you were invited is because the host believes your presence will add something to the party and last but not least, work the room! As Manhattan party organizer Chi Chi Valenti said in an interview with Gothamist a couple of years back:

Since someone’s always hooking up, getting wasted or starting a fight these days, my standard for a great party is somewhat higher. Most importantly, there must be a MIX – Vampires and diamond dealers, legends and New Kids, fetishists and objects of worship, romantics and cynics, geeks and pop stars, boys, girls and everything in between. Historically, New York’s best parties (and club nights) have combined all ages, gender prefs, income levels and style schools. A roomful of one kind of person is boring and predictable – it is the mark of the provinces.

Give it a try sometime. Urban hipsters, go visit your friends who moved to the ‘burbs (you have some, and you know it). Suburbanites, try a night at Julie’s speakeasy (email me for directions). Mother Jones and National Review readers, mix it up once in a while! The adage “travel broadens the mind” was coined because travellers meet people with experiences quite different from theirs.

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One person whom I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in my “at-home travels” is Bob Tarantino, who writes the blog Let It Bleed. Bob’s a conservative and a funny one at that — his blog’s motto is “All the Left has to offer is hypocrisy and lies. We’ve got that PLUS good looks. Testify!”.

I’m surprised how little ire Bob caught for a recent blog entry which begins with:

It’s always struck me that having about as open an immigration policy as possible is the best strategy, culturally, economically and politically. Perhaps I’m biased. The resiliency of the host culture is often understated – and, without getting too melodramatic about it, not every component of our cultural heritage “deserves” to withstand change; the ones which manage to withstand the assaults are the best ones (because they’re the ones worth fighting for). That should be suitably vague to get me on the wrong side of just about everyone.

I think it’s pretty right-on, but I also expected some lively arguments to ensue as well.

The two comments that his article managed to garner pointed out one of the urban legends of the Right: that the vast majority of current immigrants are either Jamaican gangsters or Islamofascist (to use a term popular in the right-wing blogosphere) sleeper agents, and how the old European immigrants were better people who contributed more. It’s an old canard: “ever since my family came to Canada, we’ve had to put up with crap from the immigrants.”

There’s a certain bit of disingenuous conflation going on every time a right-wing blogger crows about his or her cultural superiority by quoting William Henry III’s In Defense of Elitism and says “It is scarcely the same thing to put a man on the moon as to put a bone in your nose.” The statement, while true, should not be used in such a context by anyone who falls under two or more of the following categories:

• You have never worked in anything related to a space program or aeronautics.
• You neither major nor work in science, technology or engineering nor did you ever take a non-mandatory science, technology or engineering course.
• You give credence to the concept of Intelligent Design.
• Any math beyond addition, subtraction, multiplication and division confounds you.
• You have trouble assembling IKEA furniture or hooking up consumer electronics.

(I have no problem with elitism; I just think one should claim membership in an elite honestly.)

Now while I think that we ought to ensure that we don’t admit gangsters, family members of warlords and Sharia freaks, I would like to remind everyone out there not to throw out the baby with the bathwater — don’t forget about good-looking, hard-working, value-adding immigrants like Yours Truly or my late dad, whose contributions to Canada and medical science probably outstripped the entire room at the right-wing-heavy political blogger bash that took place in January.

James Montier is an investment banker with Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (a European bank) who often writes sober, fiscally conservative reports urging people to invest their money in a sober, fiscally conservative manner. His report titled Part Man, Part Monkey [PDF version | web version] has a pretty good “top ten list” for avoid financial pitfalls. The Gambler’s Fallacy [PDF version | web version] takes a look at a common misperception that plagues both gamblers and investors alike.

The paper of Montier’s that really caught my attention is titled If It makes You Happy [189K PDF], one in which he doesn’t talk about investing at all — at least not in the way we think of it. It’s about a pet topic of mine, something I might go so far as to call a hobby: happiness.

Why Be Happy?

The first question he asks in his essay is “Why be happy?” Here’s his list of answers, which are listed below and are based on “based on careful scientific studies (rather than cheap self help books!)”. (He also directs the reader to Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky at University of Califonia Riverside, who has devoted the majority of her reasearch career to studying human happiness.)

• Social rewards
  • Higher odds of marriage
  • Lower odds on divorce
  • More friends
  • Stronger social support
  • Richer social interactions
• Superior work outcomes
  • Greater creativity
  • Increased productivity
  • Higher quality of work
  • Higher income
  • More activity, more energy
• Personal benefits
  • Bolstered immune system
  • Greater longevity
  • Greater self control and coping abilities

I’m certain you can come up with your own list of reasons that best suits you.

What Makes Us Happy?

I’m posing this question in the broadest sense — what are the general categories of factors that contribute to our happiness? According to a paper by Sheldon, Lyubomirsky and Schkade titled Pursuing Happiness: The Architecture of Sustainable Change [PDF version | web version], it boils down to three general factors:

• A set point, probably based on your brain chemistry and determined by your genes. Sheldon, Lyubomirsky and Schkade write that this set point “likely reflects immutable interpersonal, temperamental and affective personality traits, such as extraversion, arousability and negative affectivity, that are rooted in neurobiology, …are highly heritable… and change little over the lifespan.” Translation: there’s not much you can really do about this one.
• Circumstances. Simply put, a married, well-paid, secure, healthy person with a rich religious or spiritual life and a strong support network of friends and family and meaningful work is more likely to be happy than a struggling recently-dumped unemployed pariah on oxycontin whose life philosophy is nihilism. Some circumstances are easier to change than others. For example, switching careers is one thing; getting the hell out of North Korea is something else entirely.
• Intentional activity. These are actions and practices you choose to undertake. Of the three general factors that contribute to happiness, this is the on you can affect the most.

Here’s how the three factors listed above break down, according to the research. The stuff in red are my annotations.

Circumstances

Note that circumstances plays the smallest role. That’s due to something called hedonic adaptation, a ten-dollar term that has the same essence as the saying “time heals all wounds”. We have an ability to adjust to changes to our lives, good or bad, and assimilate them so that they become “the new normal”. We get used to getting a job with a bigger income, the initial flush of a new romance eventually fades (either into something longer-term or it fizzles out) and the dream place you moved to will sooner or later just be part of your everyday life. Lest you think that hedonic adaptation is a bad thing, it also blunts the sting of a death in the family over time and lets you get over the many defeats that life will hand you.

The research shows that money does not necessarily equal happiness. In fact, a survey of over 7000 students across 41 countries found that those who valued love more than money reported greater satisfaction with their lives than those who valued money over love. Here’s the chart of the results:

(Don’t get me wrong. Viewed as a means to certain kinds of freedom, money can assist happiness. It’s just not the whole ball o’ wax.)

The “Set Point”

I’ve already mentioned that there’s not much you can do about the set point of happiness that got installed in you at the factory. Barring some kind of gene therapy for happiness, you can either languish in Philip Larkin’s poem:

They fuck you up, your mum and dad.

They may not mean to, but they do.

They fill you with the faults they had

And add some extra, just for you.

…or you can concentrate on the factor that you can best control: intentional activity.

Intentional Activity

As any biologist will tell you, genes plus environment equals “this is your life”. Intentional activity is simply the set of things you do and is the best way for you to influence you environment. It’s also the factor that can account for 40% of your happiness.

Some of my friends are what I like to call “misery-seeking missiles” because their approach to life — and hence their actions and choices — tends to make them unhappy. I should send them this top ten list from Montier’s report, which explains what you can do to be happier:

1. Don’t equate happiness with money. People adapt to income shifts

   relatively quickly, the long lasting benefits are essentially zero.

2. Exercise regularly. Regular exercise is an effective cure for mild depression

   and anxiety. It also stimulates more energy, and is good for the mind and

   body.

3. Have sex (preferably with someone you love). Need I say more?
4. Devote time and effort to close relationships. Confiding and discussing

   problems and issues is good for happiness, so work on these relationships.

5. Pause for reflection, meditate on the good things in life. Focusing on the

   good aspects of life helps to prevent hedonic adaptation.

6. Seek work that engages your skills, look to enjoy your job. Doing well at

   work creates happiness, and the easiest way of doing well at work, is doing a

   job you enjoy.

7. Give your body the sleep it needs. Too many people have a sleep deficit,

   resulting in fatigue, gloomy moods and lack of concentration.

8. Don’t pursue happiness for its own sake, enjoy the moment. Because

   people don’t understand what makes them happy, pursuing happiness can be

   self-defeating. Additionally, if people start to aim for happiness they are doing

   activities for happiness’s sake rather than actually enjoying the activity itself.

9. Take control of your life, set yourself achievable goals. People are

   happiest when they achieve their aims, so set yourself goals which stretch

   you, but are achievable.

10. Remember to follow rules 1-9. Following these guidelines sounds easy, but

    actually requires willpower and effort.

If you’d like to read more, I’ve enclosed Montier’s paper for your perusal. Read it, and get working on being happy!