I'm Tired of Unhappy People

There is definitely a lack of authenticity when someone is consciously and deliberately choosing to reframe an event so they can have a more positive reaction to it. The other trap you can fall into is playing this surface stuff like it's a game, and not tackling the underlying issues, rather than merely reframing them. The determined feeling of tackling a problem doesn't resemble happiness - it happens with more of a furrowed brow - but I don't think it's "unhappiness" either, which I would put alongside apathy in similarity.

Firstly, ...more than people in general? All this tells us is he values the company of brilliant people, not that he values their company more than happy people.

It is true, there are fake happy people. But if you've never met one of those bubbly laughing folks who seem high on life, or one of those charismatic people who's smile fills you with warmth, I am truly sorry for you. Whether or not they are secretly dying inside, they are true gems to be around.

Emotions are affected by action and reaction, in a cyclical and continuous feedback fashion. There is no contradiction between saying that un/happiness is a choice and un/happiness is contagious; it's just that when you're in a group, there's more than one person choosing how to act, and some measure of one's reaction is involuntary. The more negative people are in your group, the harder you have to fight - i.e. the more times you'll have to consciously choose - to turn reactions more positively.

There are a lot of ambient factors that affect un/happiness though, particularly health, environment, stress etc. The more of these things that are getting you down, the more work it is to stay upbeat. The spiral you have to fight to keep out of is getting discouraged, and not changing those ambient factors any more.

both unhappiness and poverty are 50% choice. Unless you live in a caste-based system OR have some genuine reasons to be unhappy (e.g. a close relative just died). Luckily, these are usually NOT the norm...

1) You can choose who you hang out with

2) If hanging out with someone routinely brings you down, it wouldn't be right to BLAME them for making you sad, but that doesn't mean you have to keep spending time with them. Fault can be separated from causality.

That's true. A plastic smile doesn't make someone one bit happier.