“Hate is the opiate of the masses. Some say it’s religion, but that’s incorrect. Religion is merely a syringe of choice.” - Sunflier

  • Pratai@piefed.ca
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    28 days ago

    This was in response to something I said. I found it pretty profound as well. Definitely deserves meme status!

  • JayDee@lemmy.world
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    28 days ago

    Yeah I get what they’re talking about. Humans are pack creatures, we want to band together and cooperate, but we’ve also developed techniques for strengthening internal cohesion over time that are counter-productive to forming larger cohesive societies. One of those is hate and fear of out-group members. It’s convenient for conserving resources if you feel justified in hoarding them for the ingroup. It’s also a prejudice which is useful for producing precedent for stealing resources from weaker groups, thus preserving a surplus for the strongest collective.

    Ultimately, this tendency in humans has existed prior to structured society and organized religion, and it takes a great amount of teaching and practice to restrain this urge. Ultimately religion mostly serves as a channel for this natural tendency of ours. However, the original scripture seems to directly function to reinforce this othering, which makes sense when religion is written by humans.

  • melsaskca@lemmy.ca
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    28 days ago

    If Marx were alive he would approve (while laughing his ass off and picking errant shit out of his big old beard).

    • Aqarius@lemmy.world
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      27 days ago

      I’m not so sure. What people forget is that back in the day, opium was one of the few anaesthetics available. It’s why he also called it “the heart of a heartless world”.

  • Varesti@lemmy.zip
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    28 days ago

    I dunno about the rest of the world, but in America, opiates are the opiate of the masses.

  • Kyrias@lemmy.ca
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    28 days ago

    So many people in this thread misunderstanding the original quote. The image misunderstanding it as well.

        • shishka_b0b@lemmy.zip
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          28 days ago

          Not every mistake warrants a correction and you should go watch a Bob Ross video if you disagree. That’s beside the point though bc your intention either wasn’t to inform or you’re really bad at it.

  • Malica@lemmy.zip
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    28 days ago

    Outrage and anger give you a good amount of dopamine. That can be exploited, turning you into a radicalized addict desperate for your next fix. To get it, you’ll believe something you otherwise wouldn’t.

  • egrets@lemmy.world
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    28 days ago

    This has “in this moment I am euphoric” vibes.

    I can up with this quote just a few minutes ago

    Just to be clear, I’m not a professional ‘quote maker’. I’m just an atheist teenager who greatly values his intelligence and scientific fact over any silly fiction book written 3,500 years ago. This being said, I am open to any and all criticism.

    ‘In this moment, I am euphoric. Not because of any phony god’s blessing. But because, I am enlightened by my intelligence.’

  • Shenanigan@lemmy.ca
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    27 days ago

    fair. Unless it’s that baptist church that promotes hate. They deliver hate and religiosity in a packaged deal

  • sit@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    28 days ago

    Is this debatable here?

    Hate can be empowering as a good amount of hate increases chances that actions are taken. Hate can be felt towards real things. Hate (anger?) is a human emotion that will bottle up and cause problems later on if not dealt with.

    Religions root cause for existence is control, make believers calm down because karma or something will cause justice. -> I’m less likely to cause change if I think justice will be served without my action.

    Religion is the opiate of the people.

    • mHtt@lemmy.ca
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      28 days ago

      Religions root cause for existence

      personally, I believe Religion is a consequence of a feedback loop between the concepts of Marriage and Faith. Marriage provides the next generation of believers and Faith gives the dogma/community for context of raising them to adults. Sprinkle in some environmental stimuli that leans towards more emotion and less criticality and boom: BIBLE BELT.

      Faith is still a fiction though, and they promote faith based unenlightened thinking.