Intelligence is more important that popularity

Thanks for the opening argument. I don't necessarily agree with the entirety of the position I'm arguing, but its good to explore both sides a topic. Framework:To determine which trait is superior, we should look to which one leads to the greatest happiness for the person. The reasoning is that happiness is what almost all humans are inherently trying to achieve, and the resolution implies a comparison of traits for the average person. So judges should vote for which trait produces the most happiness based on the arguments made in the debate round.C1: Happiness"Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know." - Ernest HemingwayBill Allin finds that intelligent people are empirically less happy that others (1). The reasoning is that "Western society is not set up to nurture intelligent children and adults, the way it dotes over athletes and sports figures, especially the outstanding ones. While we have the odd notable personality such as Albert Einstein, we also have many extremely intelligent people working in occupations that are considered among the lowliest....""Education systems in countries whose primary interest is in wealth accumulation encourage heroes in movies, war and sports, but not in intellectual development. Super intelligent people manage, but few reach the top of the business or social ladder."Additionally, intelligent people are at a higher risk for depression (2) and people who get mental illnesses tend to be above average in intelligence (3).Moreover, people with high IQ scores engage in sexual activity much less frequently. In high school, "Each additional point of IQ increased the odds of virginity by 2.7% for males and 1.7% for females" (4). Also, intelligent people generally had less premarital sex partners than people with lower IQ scores and even has less sex within marriage."This is problematic because sex is good. WebMD Health writes, "Overall, the happiest folks are those getting the most sex....People who consider themselves happy are usually richer in sexual activity." (5)Second, popularity correlates with more happiness. By definition, popular people have a lot of friends and are more socially active. WebMD finds that "the happiness of an immediate social contact increased an individual's chances of becoming happy by 15%"....The happiness of a second-degree contact, such as the spouse of a friend, increases the likeliness of becoming happy by 10%, and the happiness of a third-degree contact -- or the friend of a friend of a friend -- increases the likelihood of becoming happy by 6%." (6)Pro case:I'll give some more arguments as I refute my opponent's.First he says that intelligent people do better academically than popular people. I don't deny this. But popular people, due to having more friends, will have more people they know to potentially cheat off of. They can easily ring up their bff and ask them what the answers are to the homework assignment. This also saves the popular person more effort because they don't necessarily have to study or work as much as an intelligent person to get good grades. Then he says that intelligent people are more likely to get a job they want. Turn - popularity is a much better avenue into an occupation. "Sixty to 90 percent of jobs are found informally - mainly through friends, relatives, and direct contacts." This means that people are more likely to get a job by knowing somebody and getting a referral than just being qualified for it. This gives the popular person another advantage since, by definition, they know a lot of people who can refer them.Finally, he says that popular people who aren't overly intelligent can't make it to college. Not true. The average ACT score is 21 (7). While most State colleges require a 24, most community colleges or other, lesser ones will accept less. But also, participation in band, sports, and what not are ways to get past a less-than-stellar academic record. And popular people are usually in these extra-curricular stuff because they had to have gotten popular somehow.So in short, popular people are empirically more happy than intelligent people, get jobs more easily, and can still get good grades and the college experience. Since we're looking to happiness as the framework for the debate, Pro needs to present a strong critique of the happiness argument to win. I await his response.1. http://thecriticalthinker.wordpress.com...2. http://www.recurrentdepression.com...3. http://www.cmha.ca...4. http://www.gnxp.com...5. http://www.webmd.com...6. http://www.webmd.com...7. http://en.wikipedia.org...