As I’ve said many times through my channels, I’m not a Marxist.
That doesn’t make me an enemy of Marx or Marxism, but does mean I’m not fan, because to really be a fan you need to do sufficient homework, not just offer empty praise, lip service, or expedient flattery.
I’m not a Taylor Swift fan for the same reason: I couldn’t tell you the name of her songs or recite lyrics. But that doesn’t mean I have a negative opinion of Taylor Swift. On the contrary, I went to one of those three hour movie versions of her road show and enjoyed it — a lot more than most other non-fans have done I’d hazard.
Not being a fan is not the same as being an anti-fan or detractor. A non-fan is closer to being clueless about X than to experiencing antipathy towards X.
Back to Marx. Didn’t he say “religion is the opium of the people”?
I get that many religions are addictive and foment a detached view of life, and/or provide a fantastic kind of science fiction (e.g. Scientology), but I’m more inclined to see religion as a mind-control tool used by elites vs a ground-up grassroots phenomenon.
Folk religions provide the raw material. Elites turn folk beliefs into ideologies more useful to their agendas, which often involve conquest and territorial expansion.
So not so much “opium” as “chip implant” — which of course Marx had no experience with (chips had not been invented yet).
Christianity would not be what it is today without its constant reshaping by imperial powers. That doesn’t mean Christianity is helpless against this type of manipulation, just most people don’t develop their immune systems sufficiently and are easily programmed by the powers that be.
I’d consider it a topic within anthropology to study how religion is almost always weaponized by the agenda-makers, but not necessarily to their own benefit as miscalculations are common.
Most schemers and dreamers seeking to use others as cannon fodder find their schemes backfire sooner or later, as people get wise to what’s up.
So am I saying religion is bad? Not really, as I do believe a controlled mind is better than an uncontrolled mind. But it’s best if the individual human is auto-programming through intuition versus submitting to the authority of others. Many religions discourage this, and I’d say those are the religions to stay away from, if you value personal autonomy.
Some don’t want autonomy — they wanna escape having a sense of self, of responsibility, and just bliss out. Isn’t that what Eric Fromm’s Escape From Freedom was all about? Time to chat with Perplexity again.
Regarding Marxism, if it contains the dogma that only human labor is a source of value-added in an economy, then that I’d certainly disagree with. We could have a debate maybe.
