Continuing with the opiates theme...

[Peregrinator]

Marx called religion the "opiate of the masses," right?

What are your personal opiates, things that if the government took them away would cause you to rise up? What do you see as the distractions that keep us from noticing what's going on, keep the mass of humanity tranquilized?

Or if you want to make an argument that the mass of humanity has its eyes wide open, do that too. I'm sure someone will find that engaging as well.

As a start, consider what might happen if we did away with beer and television.

 

[restlessnights]

What's with the drug fascination? Should I be concerned?

 

[BBWetKitty]

The ability to make music is my opiate.

 

[Killswitch]

http://www.arawakbeach.com/

 

[Peregrinator]

What's with the drug fascination? Should I be concerned?

Naah. Just got to thinking, is all.

 

[restlessnights]

Naah. Just got to thinking, is all.

Uh-oh. Don't do that. It will only lead to no good.

 

[Peregrinator]

http://www.arawakbeach.com/

Lol. I thought of you when I started the thread, KS; I was going to mention NASCAR as a current opiate, and I know you like racing. I decided not to take any shots at known Litizen's favorites.

 

[Peregrinator]

Uh-oh. Don't do that. It will only lead to no good.

Yeah, I need some opium to keep me dumb. Where's the remote?

 

[Peregrinator]

The ability to make music is my opiate.

That's a healthy one. It's most likely good for the rest of us, too.

 

[restlessnights]

http://www.arawakbeach.com/

That's not an opiate. That's living life, taking all the world has to offer.

 

[restlessnights]

Yeah, I need some opium to keep me dumb. Where's the remote?

That's not what I meant and you know it.

 

[Killswitch]

That's not an opiate. That's living life, taking all the world has to offer.

Thats where we are going next December.



If ya want to that is.

 

[Killswitch]

Well....Im going for a week.

Anyone with the cash can tag along.

 

[Cleopatra]

What are your personal opiates, things that if the government took them away would cause you to rise up?

Guns. I think they make us feel safer than we really are, but if they were banned, you'd see a huge response.

What do you see as the distractions that keep us from noticing what's going on, keep the mass of humanity tranquilized?

I think the whole "live well, home improvement, keep up with Jones' " mentality is a big opiate. People are being fed this stuff with such force these days, they much improve their lives, spend money, change their homes... Maybe it's just something positioned to get the economy moving, but it seems to me that while everyone is busy fixing up their landscape, they aren't noticing that the world is going to hell.

 

[atmas]

Ernest Becker, in a most important but largely over looked work entitled The Denial Of Death, contended that the biggest distraction that any human has is the constant and energetic denial of their own mortality. People are aware of death but their awareness, unless they're crippled or have a terminal and incureable disease, is usually more an awareness that other people die, relatives and famous people. They deny, consistently and categorically, that at some point their life will end. If this is the fundamental description of what it means to be human (and Becker thought that it was and gave a compelling argument to explain it), then really practically anything we do could be seen as an opiate, anything could be seen as nothing more than an activity to avoid the realization of the inevitable.
However, there are religious elements. Most religions contend that if we were created then we must have been created for a reason, a purpose. The meaning of life would be to find that purpose, then, not to come to terms with our mortality. If we were not created then the meaning of our lives is what we ascribe to it, the meaning we give it, and so our purpose is to live meaningfully and purposefully, being self-sufficient not to find out there what our purpose is but to create one for ourselves.
My head aches at trying to be this deep on a cloudy Saturday afternoon. I could use some opium.

 

[rimmy]

Have the government abolish sports and watch the masses go ape crazy.

 

[Matt12191982]

opiates!

 

[Kirkrapine]

What do you see as the distractions that keep us from noticing what's going on, keep the mass of humanity tranquilized?

Actually, Marx was not speaking of religion as something the ruling class peddles to keep the masses docile, but as something the masses themselves cook up to ease the pain of their lives.

 

[CandiCame]

opiates!

Right? That's what I was thinking.