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Empire and Its Servile Masses (was Felix Morrow on religion)



On 2/24/07, joel blau <jblau@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Yes, there's a connection. In the U.S., both the marketplace and God as
the spiritual embodiment of the marketplace are harsh disciplinarians
who demand a pious, subservient working class.

Religion doesn't necessarily instill servility. One look at Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Venezuela, etc. demonstrates that. Religion may inspire people to bow to empire, but it may also inspire people to rebel against it. It all depends on what kind of religion, what kind of leadership, etc. people develop.

What inspires servility today, more than anything else, is integration
into the US empire.  That's what pious American workers and unpious
Japanese workers have in common.  Japan is far more deeply
economically integrated into the US empire than Europe is.  When
servile masses think that their fortunes are tied up with the
empire's, they don't arise, let alone wish to fight the "final
battle."
--
Yoshie
<http://montages.blogspot.com/>
<http://mrzine.org>
<http://monthlyreview.org/>



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