What does the statement ""The trouble is that we have a bad habit, encouraged by pedants and sophisticates, of?

Please tell what this sentence means...."The trouble is that we have a bad habit, encouraged by pedants and sophisticates, of considering happiness as something rather stupid. Only pain is intellectual, only evil interesting. This is the treason of the artist: a refusal to admit the banality of evil and the terrible boredom of pain” This is from The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas.