A-Z Challenge 15: Opium of the people

Carl Marx was a great thinker with some original ideas. He wrote a heavy book about the importance of capital, and the difference between does who have it and those who don’t. Unfortunately, his ideas didn’t fit with human nature, and didn’t work very well in practice.

Marx also had thoughts about the role of religion. His most famous statement is that “religion is the opium of the people”. Here, I think he has a good point.

Most species of animals manage quite well without gods. Even the most intelligent animals, such as monkeys, dolphins and parrots live happily without religious practise (as far as I know). So, why do the humans believe in God? I think there are three main reasons:

1. Because we needed to explain observations that were difficult to understand. In ancient times, this incuded thunder and lightning and earth quakes, things that are currently well understood by science. But there are still questions science has not yet been able to answer.

2. Because we are taught to believe in God, by our parents, in school, and by the authorities in our society. In the Islamic part of the world, the latter is still a very effective force. This is where the statement by Marx applies.

3. Because of our collective fear of death. At some point in the evolution, humanity developed such and extraordinary intelligence (compared to the other species). It’s hard for us to accept that we only have this short earthly life. There has to be something more, something that lasts forever.

I have always refused to take the opium. I rather drink a dark beer >:)

Left is right

Today is election-day in our country. We're gonna elect members for our parliament and government for the next four years. I have to make up my mind about which party to vote for.

The election is serious stuff. That’s when we do our duty as citizens. We dress up in our best suit and tie and walk with dignity to the poll place. Not anymore. That’s the way my grandparents did it, the generation who had lived through the war, and really understood the value of democracy.

But it’s still important to vote, even though we show up in washed-out jeans and black T-shirts, to put the ballot in the brown envelope. I agree with the election analyst in radio who said: If you don’t vote, you effectively give half of your vote to the guys you don’t like.

Our political landscape Is quite different from e.g. the United States, where the options are only right wing (Democrats) and ultra-right wing (Republicans). We have a much richer fauna of political parties to choose from. We have the right-wing parties (two of them), the Christian-democrats, the social democrats, the socialist party, the left-liberal party, the environmentalists, and the communists.

Usually, but not always, I have voted for the social democrats, the Labor Party. They’ve been in the government office for eight consecutive years now, and I think they need a break. Some years in opposition would be good for them.

I support the general idea of a society of equal opportunities, free education and free health care, and just distribution of wealth and prosperity (and I’m happy to pay about 50% income tax). Therefore, I can’t really imagine voting for the right wing, or any party in their coalition.

So who should I vote for?

Maybe I should vote for the communists this time. I like some of the ideas of Marx and Engels, but experience has shown that the system doesn’t work very well in practice. Marxism doesn’t fit with human nature. I don't want to be ruled by the communists, but it’s good to have one or two of them in the parliament, as watchdogs and whistleblowers, when the bonds between right-wing politicians and Big Corp become too tight.

Yes, I think I’ve found a solution.

But wait, we have two communist parties; the China-communists and the real (Soviet) communists. Hmm … there’s still a choice I need to make.

And after all, the ballot is secret; I won’t tell what I’m actually going to vote >:)

(I took the picture last week, in the Russian ghost town Pyramiden. The Lenin statue is still there, more than 20 years after the fall of the Soviet regime. I guess nobody have bothered to remove the statue in such a remote location.)

Private property

I don't want to own anybody.

I don't want to be owned by anybody.

It's just this little madness. Private property is evil. Marx was right, but his theory has not been properly tested.

It's against human nature