| Jul 23 @ 6:42 PM |
Opium of the Masses
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16knots
Posts: 2,805
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Stalin thought religion and in particular Christianity as the Opium of the Masses.
I tend to agree with him on this point.
Isnt there a tendency to hallucinate, become delusional and even psychotic on the subject for some?
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| Jul 23 @ 7:44 PM |
Opium of the Masses |
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Jankia
Posts: 8,601
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So long as your into Stalins thinking...
In the Soviet army it takes more courage to retreat than advance.
Die, but do not retreat.
Seems there were many subjects that he was delusional and even psychotic about. 
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| Jul 23 @ 8:17 PM |
Opium of the Masses
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Loreli
Posts: 18,571
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Isnt there a tendency to hallucinate, become delusional
Not me.....
If you have a solid base, you'll do what's right.
I have also seen agnostics, atheists, Buddists, etc that acted a tamale short.
Ignore them. 
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| Jul 23 @ 8:36 PM |
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hammertime
Posts: 12,906
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Loreli
You have native American blood yet you're a Christian. Native Americans smoked opium in their ceremonies as well as taken peyote in their vision quests. You realize being a Native American and Christian is kind of like a Jew being a Nazi. It was the Nazis that slaughtered the Jews and it was Christians who slaughtered Native Americans. Christianity was forced upon them, their children who were taken away from their parents and put in orphanages. The truth of history really sucks.
Religion is worse than drugs. At least there are treatment programs for drug abuse. Religion does its damage in a far more insidious way.
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| Jul 23 @ 8:41 PM |
Opium of the Masses
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Loreli
Posts: 18,571
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Just to clarify....my ex was, so my daughter is part Sioux 
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| Jul 24 @ 1:43 PM |
Opium of the Masses |
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16knots
Posts: 2,805
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hammer
Thats the problem with Christianity..... its insidious.
People dont realize they are so effected until they are out of it and clear of it.'
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| Jul 24 @ 2:10 PM |
Opium of the Masses
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yashaenka
Posts: 3,366
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Stalin thought religion and in particular Christianity as the Opium of the Masses. Because he knew the Communist Manifesto was based on the bible! Commune sound familiar?
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| Jul 24 @ 2:18 PM |
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16knots
Posts: 2,805
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Oh.... my english boyhood upbringing always thought "commune" was something you do to a pretty girl then I heard about the American sixties communes..... hell.... I aint found them yet! 
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| Jul 24 @ 2:43 PM |
Opium of the Masses
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yashaenka
Posts: 3,366
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Believe it they are still around one finds them in the desert or in the mountains although the are suspicious of outsiders.
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| Jul 25 @ 3:48 PM |
Opium of the Masses |
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Thor1960303
Posts: 1,638
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Ever known a hard core drug addict that suddenly got religion? They get just as extreme over religion as they do the drug. It's extremism either way, just trading one addiction for another, much like an alcoholic who discovers pills.
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| Jul 25 @ 4:03 PM |
Opium of the Masses
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SunBabe
Posts: 11,765
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Ever known a hard core drug addict that suddenly got religion? They get just as extreme over religion as they do the drug.
I've noticed that about most of the "extremists" -- both here and face-to-face. There's often a "past" and a repetion of a pattern, just a substitute "drug" (or drink or emotional/mental "addiction" or compulsion). 
Luckily not everyone is born with or developed an addictive personality. They're able to discriminate, balance, and practice moderation throughout their lives. 
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| Jul 25 @ 5:08 PM |
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uab_5
Posts: 2,370
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Ever known a hard core drug addict that suddenly got religion? They get just as extreme over religion as they do the drug.
Except the religious conversion usually benefits society more than the drug or alcohol use ever did.
A sober taxpayer who has religion is better than a atheist homeless alcoholic anyday.
Believe me, it takes one to know one.
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| Jul 25 @ 9:45 PM |
Opium of the Masses
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Thor1960303
Posts: 1,638
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Except the religious conversion usually benefits society more than the drug or alcohol use ever did.
A sober taxpayer who has religion is better than a atheist homeless alcoholic anyday
True in many cases, I'll agree. However the same atheist, homeless addict can become a sober atheist and get off his ass and find a job like everyone else. Religious conversion is not a prerequisite for alcoholics to become sober, drug addicts to get clean or the otherwise dysfunctional person to become functional.
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| Jul 25 @ 11:51 PM |
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uab_5
Posts: 2,370
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True, case and point Art Alexakis, front man for the grunge band Everclear, quit drugs cold turkey.
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| Jul 26 @ 12:05 AM |
Opium of the Masses
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SunBabe
Posts: 11,765
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A sober taxpayer who has religion is better than a atheist homeless alcoholic anyday.
LOL, I agree...as long as I'm not being preached to ~grin~ (though the homeless atheistic alcoholic is free to be so, too, as long as he doesn't panhandle from me or pee against my barn...and isn't being subsidized by the government There are still a few "honorable bums" who don't think it's beneath their dignity to sweep sidewalks and haul out garbage for their brewskis. )
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| Jul 26 @ 12:07 PM |
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Angel54214
Posts: 12,423
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You have native American blood yet you're a Christian. Native Americans smoked opium in their ceremonies as well as taken peyote in their vision quests.
Wrong Indians hammer. The Opium trade began with China and India export to Europe in the 19th century. The facts are, Opium was valuable to the Asians, and their royals. They were buddhists-"Opium of the Masses".
http://www.drugpolicy.org/library/opium_india.cfm
More Opium history...
http://www.1902encyclopedia.com/O/OPI/opium.html
****
an excerp:
It is still widely known that opium was not only a narcotic scourge, but also a major political football of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Finally, in 1909, nations came together in order to force an end to the British opium trade with China as communities in Asia and North America enacted bans on smoking the drug. But before the opium trade and subsequent glut made opium affordable to even the poorest Asians, opium was an elitist vice -- indulged in by the court eunuchs and even emperors within the deepest chambers of old Peking's Forbidden City. It was here that the paraphernalia and ritual of opium smoking reached dizzying artistic heights. Opium pipes, lamps and other accouterments were crafted from the finest materials -- ivory, jade, silver, and semi-precious stones. Mandarins and wealthy merchants made opium an integral part of late Qing dynasty culture. http://youtube.com/OpiumMuseum
Opium den...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_den
note: if you don't like wiki, research other sources.
[Edited on 7/26/2008 12:23 PM]
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| Jul 26 @ 12:30 PM |
Opium of the Masses
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hammertime
Posts: 12,906
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The facts are Native Americans used Papaver Somniferum (California Poppy) for medicinal purposes. They used hallucinogenics and even snake bites for the vision quests.
But not of that changes the fact that Native Americans were slaughtered, brainwashed and raped of their cultural heritage by Christians and every Christian Native American is a casualty.
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| Jul 26 @ 12:43 PM |
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Angel54214
Posts: 12,423
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The facts are Native Americans used Papaver Somniferum (California Poppy) for medicinal purposes. They used hallucinogenics and even snake bites for the vision quests.
The indigenous California Indians used this poppy as both a source of food and medicine. Several groups boiled the plant, or roasted it on host stones, to eat as a green. The Costanoan Indians rubbed a decoction of the flowers in the hair to kill lice; the Indians of Mendocino County used a poultice of fresh root for toothaches and a topically applied extract for headaches and sores; and Cahuilla women used the pollen as a cosmetic and the whole plant as a sedative for babies. Medicinally, California poppy is a plant with sedative, analgesic and antispastic activities, but unlike the alkaloids of the opium poppy, it does not seem to induce tolerance and dependence. It is touted by some for the treatment of anxiety and to induce sleep in patients affected with insomnia.
But not of that changes the fact that Native Americans were slaughtered, brainwashed and raped of their cultural heritage by Christians and every Christian Native American is a casualty. Nothing to do with the Topic here.
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| Jul 26 @ 12:50 PM |
Opium of the Masses
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hammertime
Posts: 12,906
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Nothing to do with the Topic here. The topic is that Christianity is the opium of the masses and there are Christians who tend to hallucinate, become delusional and even psychotic. Aren't Native Americans who were brainwashed included? They were forcefully indoctrinated and now suffer from its addiction in the same away an opium addict suffers.
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| Jul 26 @ 12:53 PM |
Opium of the Masses |
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SweetNapaGuy
Posts: 3,919
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Christianity is the opium of the masses
For some, it's the PCP of the masses...
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