Jason A. Merchey's Blog, page 5

America: Land of …. What Exactly?

This blog is a social critique of America, and makes the point that the United States has had some endemic problems written right into the Constitution, and in regard to the racist, genocidal, patriarchal, and overly-capitalistic values that were there right from the get-go. By many measures, things have gone downhill since...

I am using the late, great lyricist Neil Peart's song “Beneath, Between and Behind”, which he wrote in 1974, to make my points about America. He hit the nail squarely on the head, and hard. I love this song, and I hope you will take an interest in what it has to teach us.

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How to Find Happiness in Modern America

Attitude is everything, so they say. There is truly something to that. According to one strain of research, our happiness is about 50% “determined” by our genes. There is little we can do to stray very far from our “set point” level of happiness. A death will bring us very low, and that “new car smell” will give us a happiness bump for days, perhaps weeks. A promotion will engender some greater satisfaction, but it’s effect, too, will fade (perhaps only leaving a somewhat larger paycheck and potentially greater stress associated with increased or different responsibilities). The point is, If genes account for 50% of one's level of happiness, what does that leave us with? This is a blog about psychological research, applied philosophy, and values and virtues such as personal growth, free will, and responsibility.

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I Think About the Spotted Northern Owl

A poem dedicated to the the Spotted Northern Owl, a beautiful creature that was here long before the Mayflower sunk its anchor into the seabed like a claw into flesh...

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Quotes About Religion and Secularism

In this blog about the downsides and abuses of religion, one will find many interesting and rare quotations by both zealots and true believers, as well as by those who are atheistic/agnostic/secular/humanistic/freethinking!

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Economic Justice: My Ideal Society Described

What would a society that really paid attention to economic justice look like? Here are some thoughts on the philosophical underpinnings of such a society. The basic structure of my favored economic system is roughly welfare statism centers around merit, equity, progressive goals, and just desserts. There is little of laissez-faire capitalism in this system, though, to my understanding, the welfare state needs to be based on an open market, with its emphasis on supply and demand, private ownership of the means of production, and due recognition of human nature. Thus, my system would stop short of a true, radical egalitarianism, or Marxism/State socialism/Communism. Those systems are too pie-in the-sky and frankly, just political impossibilities. Whereas many of the ideas Bernie Sanders touted during his almost-successful bid for the presidency are workable and politically possible, the State taking over all the means of production and taking private property from the oligarchs and plutocrats in this globalized system is a non-starter. Most Americans would not be in favor of a radically egalitarian distribution of societal goods, either. It just isn’t in our ethos. There is a lot we would be up for, and I will spell out my thoughts about economic justice in an ideal society.

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Inquisitiveness and Lifelong Learning

I'm a big "lifelong learning" guy, meaning I believe that education that Americans receive in high school and college, is not only often inadequate, but misguided, and in all casesmerely the beginning of education. In general, I believe in the power and the virtue of having an interest in educating oneself, in being inquisitive, and in looking for the truth (vs. what feels good or fits with one's ideology).
This is a blog in favor of lifelong learning, curiosity, intellectualism, and education. It's important for the mind; it's helpful for the brain; it's desperately needed for societal improvement!

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Are Americans Virtuous, or the Opposite?

I wish to ask a question about whether we Americans are virtuous—or, alternatively, vice-ridden, lazy, selfish, evil, immoral, and culpable. The curiosity was brought about by my watching a Firing Line with Margaret Hoover last night. In light of the interview Hoover conducted with Sara Botstein and Ken Burns, the co-directors of the recently-completed documentary film America and the Holocaust, I really do wonder about my country and my fellow citizens...

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Aristotle’s View of Humanity’s Highest Aspirations

Aristotle is the grandfather of ethics and human flourishing; his book The Nicomachean Ethics has been a classic read in philosophy and ethics courses at universities since about 340 B.C.E. He studied with Plato and is largely credited with inventing logic and natural science. In this blog, I will share a brief outline of Aristotle's first section entitled "The Human Good", including a few quotations about humanity's highest virtues.

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Times Are A-Changin’

As Bob Dylan wrote in 1964, the times they are a-changin'! That might be an understatement when applied to today, in fact. The changes are coming in very rapid succession nowadays, and much of it ain't good, as Dylan might have put it...
It's not just a right-of-center phenomenon, since I too think that more progressively-minded people are right to lament ways in which society has changed since Reaganism was first ascendent (these individuals are relatively much more focused on the ways in which society is being prevented from changing by those at the top—more than any kind of moral degradation that has to do with the country failing to uphold its proper Christian values and virtue on the whole).

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Do Humans Deserve Climate Catastrophe?

Does America deserve to survive and thrive on into the future? We are facing a veritable climate catastrophe, yet our sense of alarm is about "3" on a scale of 1-10. Does that mean we deserve (morally) to suffer whatever fate the gods have in store for us, if you will? I am talking here about responsibility, wisdom, and proactivity. Bottom line: there really is no excuse; we are out of time; it's a climate catastrophe that should trump Trump, cultural disputes, and the status quo.

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