opium of the masses
Karl Marx once said that religion was the opium of the masses.
On Sunday at our blended congregation we had as our guest Dean Phelan who is the current President of Churches of Christ in Victoria and Tasmania. He used this quote from Phillip Adams to describe some of the changes that are appearing in our culture and to suggest that the Church needs to be aware and respond to this new context.
“SHOPPING is the opiate of the masses. Once mapped with lines of latitude and longitude, the world is now girdled and defined by malls full of shuffling people staring with lacklustre lust into an infinity of emporia.”
So, I went home and googled the quote and found the original article from Philip Adams in the Australian newspaper titled I shop, therefore I am.
This was another interesting quote from the article.
“Once all roads led to Rome. Now all shopping malls lead to emotional numbness.”
February 27th, 2006 at 8:30 pm
Do you think this is a sign of an underlying spiritual sickness within society or just endemic obsessive compulsive disorder?
March 1st, 2006 at 12:25 pm
Ouch, this really hits a sore point with me. Shopping is too much a part of my life…and I don’t even go to the shops. I could tell you the next ten things I’m gonna buy because I’m always thinking about them.
But as soon as I have my next ten things, there will be ten more.
Love to hear thoughts from you guys on the points raised in The Australian article.
Thomas
April 5th, 2006 at 10:05 am
I work in high volume retail ( supermarket) and the “emotional numbness” is right on the mark. Consumer lust is something that is hand fed by the macro corporations that monopolise our souls. Absolutely everything is driven by the bottom line which of course is driving sales that lead to profits. I often wonder what would happen if some digital catastrophe forced the closure or destruction of shopping centres and supermarkets..
It worries me that this causes me such great anxiety… first, I would have no income, second, I think something like this could concievably turn our society into a third world environment in a matter of months… our society has been raised on consumerism monopolising every aspect of our lives. If every supermarket in the land was suddenly out of business, is it too far rfetched to say that people would begin starving? We moderns havent been taught to raise crops or chickens or livestock, but how to shop.. Or is this going to far? Any thoughts…
April 5th, 2006 at 10:07 am
Kerien, I dont think we are even aware of how sick it makes us… Is it not possible that endemic compulsive disorders are part of a larger and deeper sickness?