What is the new - "opiate of the masses"

[benjammin]

I think sex is the opiate of the masses. Not married, procreative sex, which is beautiful, but illicit sex, and sexual behaviors and even the way our culture glamorizes sex and hooking up and dressing untastefully. I think that is the opiate of the masses. The media simply picks up on it and plays to our taste

 

[BobCatholic]

TV is the opiate of the masses.

Marxism is the opiate of the Elites.

 

[edwest2]

I think sex is the opiate of the masses. Not married, procreative sex, which is beautiful, but illicit sex, and sexual behaviors and even the way our culture glamorizes sex and hooking up and dressing untastefully. I think that is the opiate of the masses. The media simply picks up on it and plays to our taste

I work in the media. The media purposely glamorizes or makes us indifferent to bad behavior. Did anyone ASK for porn on cable when it first started? WAKE UP PEOPLE. THE MEDIA IS NOT YOUR FRIEND. It is the dirty, filthy, foul-mouthed, sex outside of marriage pimp for everything that is wrong.

You think those people walk into their jobs every day - writers, producers, actors - and think: I’M FORCED TO GIVE THE PUBLIC WHAT THEY WANT???

Wake up, please. The New Normal is on TV right now, or perhaps you prefer a TV show about a slightly disturbed man whose hobby is kidnapping people and cutting them up in his spare time? I hear you can pick up the last season of Dexter at Target.

Sheesh,
Ed

 

[jeannetherese]

The opiate of the masses is a rabid consumerism. Millions will flock to stores on Thanksgiving evening and Black Friday to get “bargains” on things they really don’t need, but simply want. Consumerism, ugly as it is, is what keeps the economy going.

Amen. I’d like to give a shout out as well for sports- both youth and adult, armchair and active.

 

[JRKH]

I work in the media. The media purposely glamorizes or makes us indifferent to bad behavior. Did anyone ASK for porn on cable when it first started? WAKE UP PEOPLE. THE MEDIA IS NOT YOUR FRIEND. It is the dirty, filthy, foul-mouthed, sex outside of marriage pimp for everything that is wrong.

You think those people walk into their jobs every day - writers, producers, actors - and think: I’M FORCED TO GIVE THE PUBLIC WHAT THEY WANT???

Wake up, please. The New Normal is on TV right now, or perhaps you prefer a TV show about a slightly disturbed man whose hobby is kidnapping people and cutting them up in his spare time? I hear you can pick up the last season of Dexter at Target.

Sheesh,
Ed

A lot of truth in what you say here…But I don’t think that we can entirely escape the fact that media is profit driven. If the programs are not watched the revenues go down and they go away.
I believe that a big part of the reason that there isn’t even a real “balance” in “wholesome” vs “unwholesome” is that the TV folks play “follow the leader”…Some show comes out and gets high ratings, and suddenly there are 6 more just like it. Unfortunately these seem to be the more “shocking” type shows. Wholesome family entertainment just aren’t going to garner the numbers that the “shockers” are…

That said…I think that there also is absolute addiction to TV…and people will many times choose to watch something rather than turn the thing off. Even if that something isn’t really that good or wholesome etc…again - this feeds into the “rating” thing.
And this only feeds into myth of the TV people “giving us what we want”.

Peace
James

 

[edwest2]

A lot of truth in what you say here…But I don’t think that we can entirely escape the fact that media is profit driven. If the programs are not watched the revenues go down and they go away.
I believe that a big part of the reason that there isn’t even a real “balance” in “wholesome” vs “unwholesome” is that the TV folks play “follow the leader”…Some show comes out and gets high ratings, and suddenly there are 6 more just like it. Unfortunately these seem to be the more “shocking” type shows. Wholesome family entertainment just aren’t going to garner the numbers that the “shockers” are…

That said…I think that there also is absolute addiction to TV…and people will many times choose to watch something rather than turn the thing off. Even if that something isn’t really that good or wholesome etc…again - this feeds into the “rating” thing.
And this only feeds into myth of the TV people “giving us what we want”.

Peace
James

Hi James,

I wish your formula is that simple, but looking at the media from the inside: TV shows and movies, are both forms of advertising. I watched TV gradually change over the last 40 years and you know the constant complaint I heard from the creatives? “They, meaning networks, won’t let us do what we want.” They wanted to push the envelope, break down barriers and erase taboos. In plain English, they wanted all the perversity and soft porn on TV and in the movies we have now.

They consciously chose to move in this direction - not us. Oh no. They dripped the poison into our veins a few drops at a time and as the decades passed, it consistently got worse.

Do you think powerful media executives who own TV stations, magazines and newspapers are content to just give the public what they want? No. They have power and they can tell their writers: “Write about this and do TV shows about that.” It would be fantasy to think that they just check to see how much money is coming in. They have agendas, and they believe in “issue advocacy.” That meams, “I’m ridiculously wealthy and I’m going to do things my way.” And if their current crop of writers and actors don’t like it, they can leave.

Yes, there a lot of TV Addicts out there. A lot of people who are convinced that “it’s just fiction and has no effect on me whatsoever.” Sorry. Not true.

A former TV news reporter and Catholic media writer has laid it all out. This isn’t just my opinion.

amazon.com/Noise-Media-saturated-Dominates-Dismantles-Families/dp/1932927948

Where do we get our ideas about right and wrong? Good behavior and bad behavior? How to behave in public, how to dress or how to have relationships? It should be the Church, but today - it’s the TV and movies.

I see one or two movies a year. I stopped listening to “popular” music in the 1990s, and only listen to Catholic Radio. I limit my TV watching to a few programs that I watch on rare occasion, just to see how far this evil is going. It’s pretty bad.

What can we do? Watch far less TV. Don’t go to most movies. And read Christian publications:

ncregister.com/

And listen to Catholic Radio in your car or on the internet. The media will not give you the Christian perspective.

Peace,
Ed

 

[Burdensome1]

For a lot of people, opiates.

 

[Elizabeth502]

Electronics and technology in general. Not a specific device, but the mania to “upgrade” one’s personal technology, ad infinitum, and the fixation on that.

People seriously behave as if they’re going into withdrawal if they don’t have “the newest.”

Pretty sad.

 

[hieroglyph]

A lot of truth in what you say here…But I don’t think that we can entirely escape the fact that media is profit driven. If the programs are not watched the revenues go down and they go away.
I believe that a big part of the reason that there isn’t even a real “balance” in “wholesome” vs “unwholesome” is that the TV folks play “follow the leader”…Some show comes out and gets high ratings, and suddenly there are 6 more just like it. Unfortunately these seem to be the more “shocking” type shows. Wholesome family entertainment just aren’t going to garner the numbers that the “shockers” are…

That said…I think that there also is absolute addiction to TV…and people will many times choose to watch something rather than turn the thing off. Even if that something isn’t really that good or wholesome etc…again - this feeds into the “rating” thing.
And this only feeds into myth of the TV people “giving us what we want”.

Peace
James

Media follows ideology more than money. Look at film profits. Kid movies are some of the top earners because kids watch movies more than once, yet where does hollywood put its effort into? R-rated movies are produced so much more than kid movies. Walk into a rental store and look at how many R-rated movies are on the shelves versus kid movies.

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

Electronics and technology in general. Not a specific device, but the mania to “upgrade” one’s personal technology, ad infinitum, and the fixation on that.

People seriously behave as if they’re going into withdrawal if they don’t have “the newest.”

Pretty sad.

Careful now. Let’s not trivialize what today’s technology is actually enabling. It’s not always the desire to be ‘the latest’. Factors like usability, speed, and the ability to share information are just as much powerful drivers of need as the desire of just being ‘in’.

For example, I for one do not need a smartphone but for some of my fellow workmates, it is a necessary tool for communication and testing current projects.

 

[Robert_Sock]

the Famous quote from Karl Marx is that, “religion is the opium (or opiate) of the masses”…

With the decline of religious influence in secular society - is the quote still valid???
If not, what is the “opiate of the masses”…

Peace
James

The new opiate of the masses is football. It has become a false god, in that we stare into a television screen and unwittingly worship it. Think about it, and see that we are worshiping a false god. The TV screen has our full, undivided attention, as if we were in a hypnotic trance.

 

[JRKH]

Hi James,

I wish your formula is that simple, but looking at the media from the inside: TV shows and movies, are both forms of advertising. I watched TV gradually change over the last 40 years and you know the constant complaint I heard from the creatives? “They, meaning networks, won’t let us do what we want.” They wanted to push the envelope, break down barriers and erase taboos. In plain English, they wanted all the perversity and soft porn on TV and in the movies we have now.

They consciously chose to move in this direction - not us. Oh no. They dripped the poison into our veins a few drops at a time and as the decades passed, it consistently got worse.

Do you think powerful media executives who own TV stations, magazines and newspapers are content to just give the public what they want? No. They have power and they can tell their writers: “Write about this and do TV shows about that.” It would be fantasy to think that they just check to see how much money is coming in. They have agendas, and they believe in “issue advocacy.” That means, “I’m ridiculously wealthy and I’m going to do things my way.” And if their current crop of writers and actors don’t like it, they can leave.

Yes, there a lot of TV Addicts out there. A lot of people who are convinced that “it’s just fiction and has no effect on me whatsoever.” Sorry. Not true.

A former TV news reporter and Catholic media writer has laid it all out. This isn’t just my opinion.

amazon.com/Noise-Media-saturated-Dominates-Dismantles-Families/dp/1932927948

Where do we get our ideas about right and wrong? Good behavior and bad behavior? How to behave in public, how to dress or how to have relationships? It should be the Church, but today - it’s the TV and movies.

I see one or two movies a year. I stopped listening to “popular” music in the 1990s, and only listen to Catholic Radio. I limit my TV watching to a few programs that I watch on rare occasion, just to see how far this evil is going. It’s pretty bad.

What can we do? Watch far less TV. Don’t go to most movies. And read Christian publications:

ncregister.com/

And listen to Catholic Radio in your car or on the internet. The media will not give you the Christian perspective.

Peace,
Ed

Ed,
Thanks for responding…You are absolutely correct that the “formula” isn’t that simple…I agree wholeheartedly. And please trust me - my comments are not intended to support - not counter - yours.

Even as simplistically as my mind works sometimes I can’t get away from the idea that we in our living rooms share culpability for the simple truth is that the, “They” (networks) you refer to above, would STILL be rejecting such programming if the ratings for such programming remained consistently lousy…But we were content to let them drip these things into us little by little…
The “creatives”, trying to force an agenda is one thing. A healthy “revenue stream” is another.

It seems that the “agenda” folks managed to get their way by providing genuinely good programs that would get large audiences, and then they could begin slipping controversial things in. .“Law and Order” is perhaps the result and the “pinnacle” of this type of programming IMHO, but earlier programming gradually started the trend. First with comedies like “All in the Family” and Mash, but also with “cop shows” etc. where the show in general would be “wholesome” but - as you say - “drip drip drip” - - they would slip things in…

Yes - I wholeheartedly agree that things are largely agenda driven - and yet - I can’t get away from the idea the fact really - that none of us were strapped to a table and force fed these things. We chose to allow it.
The common response from TV people when some cry would be raised was…“nobody is making you watch it. If you don’t like it, change the channel, or turn it off”. The sad fact is that changing channels did little good and too few turned it off.

A lot of factors involved…

Peace
James

 

[AdDeum]

The government, of course.

It sends me a social security check, pays for my healthcare via Medicare, provides an EITC if your income isn’t too high, provides unemployment insurance, and free cell phones, and has a host of federal agencies designed to meet my every need.

Opiate indeed.

Ditto!

 

[Seeker1961]

A lot of truth in what you say here…But I don’t think that we can entirely escape the fact that media is profit driven. If the programs are not watched the revenues go down and they go away.
I believe that a big part of the reason that there isn’t even a real “balance” in “wholesome” vs “unwholesome” is that the TV folks play “follow the leader”…Some show comes out and gets high ratings, and suddenly there are 6 more just like it. Unfortunately these seem to be the more “shocking” type shows. Wholesome family entertainment just aren’t going to garner the numbers that the “shockers” are…

That said…I think that there also is absolute addiction to TV…and people will many times choose to watch something rather than turn the thing off. Even if that something isn’t really that good or wholesome etc…again - this feeds into the “rating” thing.
And this only feeds into myth of the TV people “giving us what we want”.

Peace
James

I think this is the driver more than anything else. People are deathly uncomfortable with silence so the “rectangle” is always talking to them. Whether it’s the big rectangle in the living room, the smaller one in the bedroom, the even smaller one in their backpack or the mini version in their pocket-every moment is filled with programming from the rectangle.

Now that the rectangle can bring you programming everywhere, waiting in line at the grocery store, riding the bus, at the MD’s office…everywhere people are faced with free time-out comes the rectangle.

And you’re right-not everyone is discerning about what they watch. They’ll watch whatever is on, they’ll watch what the rectangle says all the “cool kids” are watching-and the people who make the rectangles and the programming that goes on them are laughing all the way to the bank.

I still believe, even after reading Ed’s conspiracy theory a number of times that the real driver is money. The reason we get shock is because shock sells. There was a time when wholesome sold-the Little House, Highway to Heaven and Touched by an Angel era-but the pendulum has shifted. One show came on that was shocking, all the “cool kids” watched it and then the copycats arrived.

And as someone who works for one of the biggest, richest entertainment companies in the world-I can tell you that OUR biggest sellers are sports and kids movies not the sitcom pushing the envelope. Yes, Modern Family makes us some money…but nowhere near what ESPN and Pixar bring in. Modern Family could go off the air tomorrow and we’d barely notice.

 

[Tigg]

Electronics and technology in general.

I’ll go along with this! I received an e-mail the other day that said it all in the form of pictures…friends sitting at dinner, not speaking to each other, but texting other friends; an intimate date where both were on their cell phones, a day at the beach with everyone on their phones oblivious as to where they were…the constant concert of various ringtones no matter where you are and the relentless moving of thumbs… lol !

The last image of the e-mail was a pix of Einstein who said, “I fear the day technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.” Now it did cross my mind that Albert never really said that, but the message cannot be denied!

 

[JRKH]

The new opiate of the masses is football. It has become a false god, in that we stare into a television screen and unwittingly worship it. Think about it, and see that we are worshiping a false god. The TV screen has our full, undivided attention, as if we were in a hypnotic trance.

I’m not clear here…Are you saying that we are falsely worshiping football or TV in general??

Peace
James

 

[fix]

the Famous quote from Karl Marx is that, “religion is the opium (or opiate) of the masses”…

With the decline of religious influence in secular society - is the quote still valid???
If not, what is the “opiate of the masses”…

Peace
James

Sports

 

[Pug]

So, is the appeal of an EWTN or similar that it is religion or that it is on the rectangle and can fill time? I know I use CAF to fill time.

 

[JRKH]

So, is the appeal of an EWTN or similar that it is religion or that it is on the rectangle and can fill time? I know I use CAF to fill time.

For me - I would say that the appeal is that it is religion. We all choose to “fill time”…the question is what we choose to fill time with.

Peace
James

 

[jeannetherese]

So, is the appeal of an EWTN or similar that it is religion or that it is on the rectangle and can fill time? I know I use CAF to fill time.

One way of differentiating on this might be to consider the different agenda of EWTN vs that of corporate sponsored media.
EWTN is in the business of saving souls.
Noam Choamsky has contended that the media is in the business of selling consumers (viewers) to advertisers.
From a Catholic perspective we can pull together the arguments of KRKH, Seeker1961 and Ed West2 by pointing to an intersection between profit and concupiscence.