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

[joel blau <jblau@xxxxxxxxx>]

I didn't say that all religion instilled servility.. What I said was
that in the U.S., all three of the major religions practice
patriarchical monothesism, which demands subservience to an imagined
male deity, and that such subservience closely correlates with the
servility that market demands and expects.

Joel Blau

Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
> 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
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