I'm in a philosophical mood today so for those readers who might have some aversion for abstract thought please click your way out of here before it's too late.
As I grew older my view of Good and Evil has evolved quite a lot. At first it was flat simple black and white: Good is what God says it is; what He says is Evil, must indeed be so. As you go along the way you stumble upon bumps, huge bumps in the presumably bumpless road that God has built for you and that was supposed to lead you to heaven's door. Discrepancies in the Godly system of Good and Evil spark an internal argument between the theist and the atheist in you. Things reach a tipping point at which both the theist and the atheist reach an agreement. An agnostic truce that lasts long enough for you to start using the one thing that religion and tradition allied themselves together to prevent you from using, in the words of Poirot, your little grey cells, before you realize one morning that the atheist has killed the theist in you and that there is little for certainty in your world anymore and a whole life of doubt ahead of you instead. Enjoy. You're Godless so whenever you think you do good you presumably don't do it in hope for redemption. Doing good I'm sure involves a fundamentally selfish impulse though. Doing good makes you feel better. It's chemistry at its purest form. But then you keep asking yourself what is good and how you are supposed to do it. At which point you start being interested in political and economic theories.
I've asked myself these questions for a long time now and by doing, went from one end of the spectrum to the other in search for answers. I consider myself a progressive, at the left of the politics of many of my friends but still I have some excruciating pending questions.
Is there any such a thing as a benevolent capitalist?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpAMbpQ8J7g&feature=player_embedded
Is greed ultimately good?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76frHHpoNFs
Are there any credible and viable alternatives?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfdJrNhJ6do
BIO
Hi! My name is Hisham Almiraat. I’m from Morocco. I’m a medical doctor by trade and occasional blogger.
I quit smoking after medical school. Now hooked on caffein and Twitter.
An ultra-naïve humanist, I deeply mistrust religion and power and I spend my time daydreaming of a secular, liberal democracy at home.
I'm passionate about freedom of expression and thought which I consider to be the most fundamental of our rights.
In pursuit of defending these rights I am and was involved with a couple of projects:
I'm the former advocacy director at Global Voices Online and co-founder of Mamfakinch.com and TalkMorocco.net -- award-wining platforms that advocate for and encourage freedom of expression.
I am the recent founder of the Moroccan Association for Digital Rights.
I try photography from time to time and do some graphic design and artwork, though I still have a lot to learn in that department... and in everything else for that matter.
You can email me at hisham [at] riseup [dot] net
.. or, if you feel like it, follow me here.
.. or, if you feel like it, follow me here.