Аннотация: Религия - опиум для народа? А телевидение? И что же тогда сам опиум? Не особо глубокое исследование, посвященное этим вопросам. Опять же непатриотично на инородном языке:)
It is generally believed that the saying "RELIGION IS THE OPIUM OF THE MASSES" was created by Karl Marx and widely used in speeches produced by Russian revolutionary ideologist V.I.Lenin. However, in fact, the father of these popular words is a German writer Novalis. He wrote:"Your so-called religion is like opium: it transforms and deadens the pain, instead of giving the strength".
Nowadays the meaning of this phrase has slightly changed. What do we usually mean when we pronounce it? Something, that unites people, making them closer to each other through common values and traditions. With the help of the institution of religion people ("the masses") circle themselves with a certain list of limitations, which should be daily strictly obeyed to. By all means, people become dependent on these conditions, that seem to bear even sacred and vital sense in them.
And now one more question is bound to arise: can only religion be "the opium of the masses"? Or does there exist any other sphere, which provides the same influence? Can we, for example, form such saying as "Television is the opium of the masses"?
No doubt, in the XXI century TV has become extremely popular and even vital for people as a source of getting all kinds of information about events, which happen in every spot of our planet. Practically no one can imagine his house without a small screened box in the corner of a room. Even if it is switched off (what happens not so often, in fact) there always remains a possibility to switch it on, which is psychologically important for a person. Everybody remembers that panic and confusion several years ago, when the Ostankino-tower was on fire and all Moscow television-programs were out of order. People seemed to have lost the only connection with the outside world!
Hence, we"ve just arrived at one common feature between religion and television - it"s, surely, dependence of "the masses" on them. But whether this state has equal origins in both cases or doesn"t have we are going to reveal later.
In order to analyze the original meaning of this saying in greater detail, first we should pay attention to the word "opium" and consider, why it is this very drug to be used here. After carrying out a small psycho-narcological research, we can draw a conclusion that "opium" is a cheap strong drug, which produces two effects: 1.It causes joyful relaxation and 2.It brings a person into the state of dreamy hallucinations. Opium"s components cause quite fast psychological and physical dependence. It means that the masses get used not to the drug itself, but to the state, that it provides. Thus, opium is a kind of mediator between a person and a certain state.
Then, following our logical chain, we are to compare the influence of opium to the influence of religion and television.
It can be generally assumed that the institution of religion performs also a role of mediator, between people and God. And as for television, we"ll take a risk and state that it works by its own sake, without forming an institution and simply transferrs data by means of new modern technologies. Moreover, we should necessarily mention that religion influences inner spheres of human"s life, concerning his life-spirit, vital needs, moral and esthetic values. Television, in its turn, has nothing to do with the overall state of a person and his inner world, on the contrary, it touches upon outside social life, which is strongly connected with people and relations among them.
Therefore, generally speaking, religion and television both cover two inevitable worlds of every person: his inner, fully individual world and the outside world, based on communication.
At long last, we"ve managed to come to the conclusion that television has a sea of difference with religion in terms of devices and purposes as well, while speaking about humans. In addition, our former logic shows that television has nothing in common with "the opium of the masses".
Coming to a conclusion, we can only specify again and again that the saying "RELIGION IS THE OPIUM OF THE MASSES" has its unique, original meaning and every word there is of special importance and value.