2007-01-09 00:44:01 · 10 answers · asked by Ethan M 5 in Politics & Government ➔ Politics
True.
I've never heard it put quite like that before, but it hits the nail on the head.
People now look to government to protect them from everything they consider bad or harmful or just too hard to do themselves.
Retirement pay, medical plans, stopping nasty people from smoking in bars (remember in the 1960's Batman movie when Robin whined to Batman, "You risked your life for a bunch of.. smokers!"), etc, etc. They don't want to have to deal with it themselves.
It is an opiate far more dangerous and seductive than religion is. At least with religion, people still have to do the work themselves. But with the government opiate, they lose their ability to do for themselves at all. Followed to its logical conclusion, it will result in a dual society like in The Time Machine, the childlike Eloi, who do nothing for themselves, and the predatory Morlocks, who run things.
As people cede more power and control to government, it threatens the life, liberty and well-being of every person.
2007-01-09 01:03:51 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
False, religion is the opiate of the masses.
2007-01-09 10:10:18 · answer #2 · answered by Count Acumen 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
excerpt
Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people.
Karl Marx
http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/31765.html
excerpt
Religious distress is at the same time the expression of real distress and the protest against real distress. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusion about its condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions.
Karl Marx, Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right
Usually all one gets from the above is “Religion is the opium of the people“ (with no ellipses to indicate that something has been removed). Sometimes “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature“ is included. If you compare these with the full quotation, it’s clear that a great deal more is being said than what most people are aware of.
In the above quotation Marx is saying that religion’s purpose is to create illusory fantasies for the poor. Economic realities prevent them from finding true happiness in this life, so religion tells them that this is OK because they will find true happiness in the next life. Although this is a criticism of religion, Marx is not without sympathy: people are in distress and religion provides solace, just as people who are physically injured receive relief from opiate-based drugs.
http://atheism.about.com/od/weeklyquotes/a/marx01.htm
2007-01-09 09:08:17 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
False. Opium is the opiate of the masses.
2007-01-09 08:47:11 · answer #4 · answered by Do You See What Happens Larry? 5 · 1⤊ 2⤋
False it is the opiate of the governing!
2007-01-09 08:47:19 · answer #5 · answered by paulisfree2004 6 · 2⤊ 2⤋
False. People are aware of the dangers of government run amok. A naive belief in the benevolence and know how of corporations more closely resembles an opium dream.
2007-01-09 08:55:49 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
True, there would be more government programs that the people would want more and more of.
2007-01-09 08:47:13 · answer #7 · answered by Mikira 5 · 1⤊ 2⤋
True - the massses feel safe having big government run their lives - so they don't have to.
2007-01-09 08:49:18 · answer #8 · answered by Militant Agnostic 6 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Very true.
2007-01-09 08:56:31 · answer #9 · answered by JudiBug 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
true, it makes them feel safe and all fuzzy inside when they have someone to hold their hand and wipe their butt.
2007-01-09 08:51:57 · answer #10 · answered by Jedi 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋