MercatorNet stands for reframing ethical and policy debates in terms of human dignity, not dollars and cents.
We oppose moral relativism, scientism, utilitarianism, and materialism -- in short, any ism which reduces persons to soulless machines.
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Free speech advocates gathered at the “Rescue the Republic” rally at the National Mall in Washington DC on September 29. Their aim was “to protest the ongoing dismantling and destruction of Western values across the globe.” Amongst the speakers were Jordan Peterson, Tulsi Gabbard, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Russell Brand, and Matt Taibbi. Here is […]
AI Morality edited by David Edmonds | Oxford University Press | 2024, 256 pages In May of last year, The Irish Times published an opinion piece by Adriana Acosta-Cortez, a 29-year-old healthcare worker living in north Dublin. Acosta-Cortez described herself as “Latinx” and a “cat mom” in her article and social media profile. Acosta-Cortez’s article was about […]
Has the English-speaking world hit peak woke? Consider these surprising developments: A Virginia county will restore Confederates’ names to schools. Stonewall Jackson High School became Mountain View High School in 2020. In 2025 it will become Stonewall Jackson High School again. The President of Harvard University, Claudine Gay, a champion of diversity, equity and inclusion, was forced […]
Fading quickly from the headlines, last week’s presidential debate was noteworthy only for its three-on-one format, in which former president Donald Trump found himself debating not just rival Kamala Harris but also two ABC News moderators. Indeed, the only line from the entire 90-minute stoush that maintained prolonged national interest was the Donald’s, “they’re eating the dogs; […]
So-called “artificial intelligence” (AI) has become an ever-increasing part of our lives in recent years. After public-use forms of it such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT were made available, millions of people have used it for everything from writing legal briefs to developing computer programs. Even Google now presents an AI-generated summary for many queries on its […]
Several key medical journals, including JAMA, have identified the profound harms caused by medical and health misinformation. They assert that health misinformation on social media disproportionately harms female adolescents, racial and ethnic minority youth, LGBQT+ youth, and other marginalized groups. The recent conference of the American Psychological Association in Seattle, USA, offered a session titled Safeguarding public […]
This week the Washington Post ran a long feature about a school police officer in South Carolina who has been accused of several sexual assaults on high school girls. It turns out that more than 200 police officers have been charged with child sexual abuse between 2005 and 2022. These officers are patrolling schools to prevent mass […]
The US Surgeon General, Dr Vivek Murthy, just issued an official advisory warning against the stressful nature of parenting and labelling it “an urgent public health issue.” The document says Surgeon General Advisories “require the nation’s immediate awareness and action.” So, according to the Surgeon General, what exactly is the urgent issue and what immediate actions should be […]
Steven Mosher is his own man: an attribute, which, in our corrupt epoch, is a decided disadvantage. Thinking for oneself, no matter the mania, fad or fashion into which the mass of humanity is herded, has cost him dearly. Those of us “bitter clingers” who still value archaic concepts such as integrity understand that elite […]
Transgender advocacy is welded into Kamala Harris’s campaign for US President. Her choice of Tim Walz was interpreted as a strong signal to the LGBTQI+ movement, partly because he made Minnesota a “refuge” for trans people. The participants in a Zoom call convoked by Trans Folks for Harris recently were confident that she would support them. “We have […]
I recently stumbled across Harvard’s mission statement issued in the year 1642: “Everyone shall consider as the main end of his life and studies, to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life.” This, of course, is based on a scripture from the gospel of John: “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only […]
Anyone who thought that the Christian relic known as the Shroud of Turin was dead and buried would have been surprised last week by a sudden burst of headlines around the world suggesting the burial cloth, said to carry an image of Jesus in death, was not a fake after all. The headlines included: “Turin […]
When the topic of abortion came up at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, truth got dismembered. How so? By lots of talk about justifying abortion as “reproductive freedom,” “reproductive rights,” and “reproductive health care.” Thinking people should, well, think. Reproductive freedom justifies abortion? No, it doesn’t. Reproduction, i.e., the creation of a child (pre-natal human […]
The phenomenon known as Ballerina Farm on Instagram is one of the most popular moms in America. With her eight children, a gaggle of hogs, endless Instagram videos of baking from scratch, and her 10 million followers, Hannah Neeleman is a mom to be reckoned with. Oh, and she also wins beauty pageants like a boss. And […]
Since Kamala Harris wrested the Democratic Party’s nomination from the grip of Joe Biden late last month, the legacy media machine has been working overtime to rebrand her into an American saviour. Her marketers have several large hurdles to overcome, not least that the Harris-Walz ticket is the most stridently left-wing outfit ever offered to the American […]