The Happy Merchant's Early Life
- Deric Hollings
- Jun 26
- 11 min read
If you reject arguments which advocate free speech while choosing to use ad hominem attacks toward those of us who advocate principles of free expression, this post may not be something you appreciate. Even still, I invite you to consider the psychoeducational lesson outlined herein.
Before proceeding further, I’ll offer two unique disclaimers. First, I maintain that sovereign nations have a legal, as well as moral and ethical, right to defend themselves. As legal matters are somewhat more complex to define, herein I’ll only focus on moral and ethical arguments.
Whereas morals relate to principles of right and wrong in behavior, ethics are moral principles of conduct governing an individual or a group. Thus, morals determine what is considered good, bad, right, or wrong, and ethics are moral rules by which people pledge to live.
While I support the right of nations such as Israel to defend themselves, the claim that “Israel has a right to defend itself” has loses moral and ethical ground with each fight in which it offensively engages. This is particularly notable regarding ostensibly genocidal actions or ethnic cleansing.
Second, I reject the reported “current tendency to label any criticism of Israeli government policies as antisemitic.” Regarding this matter, I stated in a blogpost entitled Ideologically Inconsistent:
Free speech in the United States (U.S.) is a principle based on the First Amendment which is a negative right—an inalienable right not to be subjected to an action of another entity, such as a government, usually occurring in the form of force, abuse, or coercion.
This principle isn’t synonymous with an ideology. In fact, it remains in conflict with a perspective that maintains special rights, privileges, liberties, or otherwise for one group over another, such as an adopted definition of antisemitism which the U.S. government currently uses:
Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.
If you support free speech, then you support speech with which you disagree.
Unique disclaimers aside, I’d like to address two matters which are considered antisemitic in nature. More importantly, I think it’s worthwhile to provide a psychoeducational lesson on Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) regarding how one may deal with such matters.
The first matter relates to the “happy merchant,” also referred to as Jew face, merchant face, and le happy merchant. Regarding this legitimately antisemitic trope, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) states:
The “Happy Merchant” is an antisemitic meme depicting a drawing of a Jewish man with heavily stereotyped facial features who is greedily rubbing his hands together. The meme is by far the most popular antisemitic meme among white supremacists, who have created a nearly endless series of images and variants featuring the “Happy Merchant.”
Photo credit (edited), fair use
Noteworthy, REBT was developed by the late psychologist Albert Ellis, whose paternal grandparents were reportedly Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire. Fortunately, rather than favoring victimhood narratives, Ellis advanced a method to deal with antisemitism.
His method uses two tools, the first regarding the ABC model which illustrates that when an undesirable Action occurs and you Believe an unhelpful narrative about the event, it’s your unfavorable assumption and not the occurrence itself that causes an unpleasant Consequence.
In particular, there are four predominate irrational beliefs which people often use to disturb themselves: global evaluations, low frustration tolerance, awfulizing, and demandingness. When contemplating these unproductive beliefs, I invite you to think of the acronym GLAD.
Noteworthy, from a psychological standpoint, people disturb themselves using a Belief-Consequence (B-C) connection. Of course, this isn’t to suggest that in the context of the naturalistic or physical world there is no Action-Consequence (A-C) connection.
For instance, although the number of victims regarding the Holocaust remains disputed, I imagine the number wasn’t zero. Given this outlook, if between 1941 and 1945 a Jewish person was subjected to a gas chamber (Action), then use of Zyklon B resulted in death (Consequence).
From an A-C standpoint, inhalation of toxic gas can cause death. However, encountering the happy merchant meme online doesn’t cause self-disturbance in a similar way a Zyklon B causes death. Regarding self-disturbance, correlated with a meme, the B-C connection is utilized.
For example, you observe the happy merchant meme online (Action) and unhelpfully Believe, “People who post this content are worthless [G], and I can’t stand antisemitism [L]! In fact, it’s terrible seeing the happy merchant [A], because it mustn’t be allowed to exist online [D]!”
With use of this unaccommodating GLAD narrative you self-disturb to an unpleasant Consequence that involves ruminating thoughts (cognitive), anger (emotive), pain in your chest (sensory), and a phone call to the ADL for the silencing of free speech (behavior).
Rather than infringing the rights of others, you could instead use Ellis’s helpful tool. Addressing how people upset themselves with unhelpful attitudes, the ABC model incorporates Disputation of unproductive assumptions in order to explore Effective new beliefs.
As an example, suppose you Disputed your self-narratives by asking, “What right do I have not to be offended?” When continuing use of critical thinking of this sort, you then Effectively believe, “Although I’d prefer not to be offended, people have a right to free expression.”
Now, consider Ellis’s second tool. REBT uses the technique of unconditional acceptance (UA) to relieve self-induced suffering. This is accomplished through use of unconditional self-acceptance (USA), unconditional other-acceptance (UOA), and unconditional life-acceptance (ULA).
To demonstrate use of UA, I’ll shift from the happy merchant meme to the second antisemitic matter related to this blogpost. Recently, I’ve become aware of the electronic dance music (EDM) song “Early Life” which is purportedly associated with Lucas Gage. Lyrics include:
[Chorus]
Every single time
Every single crime
Every single lie
(Early life)
Every single hour
Every single day
Every single night
(Early life)
[1st verse]
I know it’s hard to believe
It’s the whole forest, not one tree
And it’s every branch and leaf
(They’re born to deceive)
But I’m telling you the truth
It’s not just one or two
It’s every single Jew
(They all hate you)
And it really breaks my heart
But their lies are off the charts
And they only bring us harm
(You gotta get smart)
So if you want to be safe
And don’t want to get replaced
It’s best you start being based
(Or you’ll get erased)
[Chorus]
I know it’s hard to accept
That all the ones you’ve met
Lie with every single breath
(They want you dead)
But you must not be weak
Just open your eyes and see
They always exploit the meek
(See their vampire teeth)
And it can make you cry
To learn your life was full of lies
And their face was a disguise
(But you must fight)
So if you want to live
And protect all of your kin
You have to grow thick skin
(Or we won’t win)
[Chorus]
With my approach to REBT, I incorporate author Stephen Covey’s concepts regarding the circles of control, influence, and concern, as well as an area of no concern. UA maps onto the circle of control (USA), circle of influence (UOA), and circle of concern and area of no concern (ULA).
The circle of control encompasses only oneself, the circle of influence encapsulates elements which may be subject to one’s sway, the circle of concern engrosses most matters one can imagine, and the area of no concern relates to all content which isn’t yet imagined.
Regarding “Early Life”, imagine hearing the track and not appreciating it. For the sake of this example, suppose you consider the EDM song offensive, antisemitic, and downright malicious. Yet, being the resilient person you are, you don’t self-disturb about this matter.
Logically and reasonably, you conclude that you’re just a fallible human being who has control only over your reactions. Therefore, you don’t contact groups like the ADL and gripe, whine, bitch, moan, complain, whinge, or vent about this free speech matter. With USA, you got this!
Similarly, you acknowledge that people who made and who enjoy the track are merely flawed individuals over whom you likely have little to no influence. Thus, instead of self-disturbing, you regard this UOA lesson as one which allows you to simply not listen to “Early Life”.
Additionally, you recognize that life itself is imperfect. There are all sorts of things about which you’re frustrated, annoyed, or disappointed. Yet, given that you practice ULA, you can tolerate and accept the existence of disagreeable matters such as the happy merchant and “Early Life”.
Whether using the ABC model or UA, you’re able to un-disturb yourself. If you can apply this psychoeducational lesson to a meme and an EDM track, then I suspect you can also use it to un-disturb yourself as Israel apparently continues its plausibly terroristic actions in the Middle East.
If you’re looking for a provider who tries to work to help you understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.
As the world’s foremost EDM-influenced REBT psychotherapist—promoting content related to EDM, I’m pleased to try to help people with an assortment of issues from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters.
At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply trying to help you to feel better, I want to try to help you get better!
Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW
References:
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