Tuesday 13 October 2015

The Morality of Sam



So. I started watching a 2 hour compilation of Sam Harris' best arguments. It is about religion, morality and atheism. I didn't expect to agree with Harris, I'm usually pro people basing their lives on a non-scientific world view, at least to  the extent that people are not doing harm to others which should be none of their business.

After listening for ten minutes I would have expected the video to present Harris' main arguments. Why is religion one of the most dangerous concepts that humanity ever thought of? Yet, even after ten minutes I still haven't found a theoretical model that I feel applicable to the world today. This could possibly be a question of culture. It might be that because Harris lives in a fundamentally different society from my native Sweden. Maybe the threats he are talking about, the fundamentalism and the eventual stonings of non-virgin women on their wedding days might be common concepts in christian America, but somehow I suspect not. I believe that more than anything Harris is fighting a stereotype.

During his video he is giving a beating to religion from the vantage point of what I experience as the "liberal west". An intellectual sentiment I believe to be present in Sweden as well as America. Now, while Sam's beef is with religion, I have mine with the western liberalism.

Sam throws a punch at how the old testament in no way condemns slavery, despite the fact that we today can conclude that slavery is completely morally deprevated. OK, fine. But really? Who assembled the latest iPhone? Or the models before?. Ever heard of Foxconn? The CEO even likened he's employees to animals when saying "to manage one million animals gives me a headache". And you know what? This is part of the fuel running western liberal society.

And we roll our eyes at the middle east. These war monger muslims, can't they ever catch a break!? Funny enough, despite them being such a rowdy bunch, it seems western liberal society really love being there playing with them. Unlike for example North Korea, that have nuclear weapons and that it has recently been stated could be able to send one all the way to America, being in the middle east, often against the will of the people there seem like something our peace loving western liberal societies love to do.

Alright! So it is all America's fault.. Hmm, sounds like something I've heard before. Well no, it is not the conclusion I want to draw. But what I would like to state is that as a society, it is extremely unbecoming of us to have an idea of ourselves as morally superior, whilst at the same time profit from the misery of others.