Group 2

My name is Connor Moss and I am the spokesperson for group 2. Our discussion centered around the idea that people who may not actively seek happiness or the secret of life are sometimes forced to be engaged in the marketing and cultural aspects of happiness. Barbara Ehrenreich seems to feel that the sale of happiness is in some was disgusting and should be dealt with individually instead of everyone putting on a happy face for things that may not be especially happy about.

Our questions are:

 1. Can the marketing and forcing of cultural ideals about happiness make people more anxious and angry at those around them even as they put on the happy façade as well?

2. What does Mrs. Ehrenreich suggest we, as a population, do to alleviate this forceful and faux idea of happiness? Does she have some overall alternative methods for dealing with sadness or the over production of a “happy America?”