{"id":9000,"date":"2009-07-26T18:10:05","date_gmt":"2009-07-26T23:10:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=9000"},"modified":"2009-07-26T18:14:35","modified_gmt":"2009-07-26T23:14:35","slug":"the-new-opiate-of-the-masses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2009\/07\/the-new-opiate-of-the-masses\/","title":{"rendered":"The New “Opiate of the Masses”"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1844 Karl Marx said that “Religion is the opium of the people,” and seemed to suggest that its abolition would bring true happiness.<\/p>\n

His statement is often phrased in English as “Religion is the opiate of the masses,” implying that it is meant somehow for the common people, the lower and middle classes.<\/p>\n

I don’t believe that this idea ever was true, at least not in the sense of true religion, but I do think that societies seem to find their own “opiates,” illusory dreams that hide us from reality, keeping us from true happiness.<\/p>\n

Given our culture in the U.S. today (and in much of the West), I think it is probably more true to say:<\/p>\n

Sex is the Opiate of the Masses.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Of course, I don’ meant that all sex should be abolished, or even that we should never think of sex. I do think that most of the focus on sex in our culture today is not healthy — leading to all sorts of undesireable side-effects. If nothing else, as it is portrayed in popular culture, it is certainly an illusion, something that distracts from things that are much more important.<\/p>\n

You may disagree. [I could almost be persuaded that ‘fame’ is the new “opiate of the masses.] If you do disagree, please comment and let me know, and tell me what you think should be the new “opiate of the masses.”<\/p>\n

If you agree with me, I think “Sex is the Opiate of the Masses” makes a great signature line, or bumper sticker, don’t you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1844 Karl Marx said that “Religion is the opium of the people,” and seemed to suggest that its abolition would bring true happiness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-philosophy-and-theology"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9000"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9000\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9004,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9000\/revisions\/9004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}