Have you been watching Dr. Phil again, q?

why? is he doing that thing with the flowbee hose again?

what if you're only happy when you're right?

What if you're only right when you're happy?

Right. Actually, it's part of the reason I assume the worst will happen: If I'm wrong, something good happened so I don't mind, and if things go badly, at least I have the satisfaction of being right. I can only assume this won't end well.

I'd settle for either one...

With that special someone, if you're wrong, you're not happy. And you can be wrong even if you're right. If you're happy, you stand a better chance of being right even if you're wrong.

Outside of work, I'm happy. And, while it's not for me to say, really, I think I'm right more often than not.

So I guess the real question is, where do I pick up my flowbee?

I dunno. Let's see.

Sometimes I think that the world isn't just corrupt and filled with evil. I sometimes think that it's hopelessly corrupt and filled with evil.

Would I rather be sure of that (and not happy) or ignorant (but not right)? Eeeaeeaaahhh. You people are depressing me.

Rightness -- it is a precondition for happiness. If, by right, we mean "just".

Justice and happiness have only a contingent relation.

Hmm, make that, if by right, we mean "doing the right thing". Doing right, not being right in a smartassy sort of way.

Happy. It is so fucking obvious--yet has taken me half a life to figure out.

Nothing makes me happier than hearing the words, "Man, you were so right."

Neither. Both options are an anathema. Give me happiness and rightness in small quantities and let me continue my search for both.

Happy. I'm right most of the time... and that sometimes makes me feel proud, but feeling proud doesn't make me happy. I'd rather be wrong and happy, and it wouldn't hurt to whittle down the pride. I'd rather be proud of other things than being right.

But there's almost never an either/or choice in life. Some decisions lead to more happiness, some to less, but almost any course usually leads to a certain amount of satisfaction and a certain amount of regret, and the path is very, very twisty - very difficult to see ahead. Some choices seem obvious, but end in non-obvious conclusions... The best (and worst) laid plans, and all that.

Ultimately, it seems to me that overall the most important decisions regarding happiness are those we make every day... the tiny minutiae of our lives. The big decisions - career, marriage, relocation, children - may take months or years of planning, and turn out better or worse for reasons often unforeseen, but how we occupy the minutes and seconds inside those decisions is what determines our happiness. And the good thing is that regarding those microdecisions, it's really very easy to tell what is "right", though we don't always choose to be right.

Shows how much you know. I’m always happy because I’m always right. Especially when I’m wrong!

I love this motto: "Often wrong, never in doubt". Where does that come from?

Since truth only requires one other person to agree, and to be right, truth is a necessary component, I'll spend a few minutes convincing a dupe, leaving the rest of my time for happy.

I love this motto: "Often wrong, never in doubt". Where does that come from?

anyone who knows about Bush?

"...And I'd rather be happy than right, this time."
—The Dismemberment Plan, "Come Home"

Happy. No contest.

would you rather be happy, or be right?

dame: Right.

Really? I never would have guessed.
/sarcasm

Happy; being happy makes everything right.

If I'm happy, being wrong or right doesn't matter.

If loving you is wrong, I don't want to be right.

well, it's possible to be both, i'm told.

but if it comes down to a choice, it kind of implies that the cost of that particular happiness is stupidity. and that seems too high a price.

that's why i'm not on medication, at any rate.

Being happy doesn't make you right.

Being right might make you happy.

I'd rather be right, if I had to choose.

Why is this an XOR choice?

It reminds me of that Ursula LeGuin story, where you can only be happy if some child is suffering in a dungeon, which is clearly not right. In that case, I'll take being right over happy, but if there's no gruesome catch, then I think I'd rather be happy. In actual fact, though, I'm not sure I have the ability to sustain either one for very long.

It depends on what kind of 'right' it is. Things that I feel to be petty, ego-driven or attempts at instigating power plays I tend to avoid, as I do people who are motivated by those qualities. At times, you've got to make the choice, but I try to choose my battles wisely and keep that to a minimum.

In the broader scheme of things, when regarding 'right' as a moral quality I try to surround myself with people and environments that don't make the two mutually exclusive states.

On preview: mgl, the LeGuin story is "The Ones That Walk Away From Omelas"

It reminds me of that Ursula LeGuin story, where you can only be happy if some child is suffering in a dungeon, which is clearly not right.

I though that was Auden.

Both would be nice once in a while. Often I find that, in order to continue to be "right" you have to escalate an issue to the extent that molehills become mountains. In these cases, I would rather say "OK, whatever, you were right" and move on, because I have got to the age where I can't be bothered sweating the small stuff and you can't be happy if you insist on being right about everything.

If something is important enough to me, though, I will dig my heels in and never ever admit to being wrong, no matter how unhappy the resulting shitfight makes me.

The tricky part is working out what things are worth sticking up for and then letting everything else go.