Hi hello I have a question regarding Marx’s “opium of the masses” quote (hexbear.net)

submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by worldonaturtle@hexbear.net to c/chapotraphouse@hexbear.net

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People on the internet are saying it’s not a condemnation of religion and to Marx opium means medicine, Im confused help me bear website!

Edit: what did Karl Marx think opium was?

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[-] worldonaturtle@hexbear.net 3 points 10 months ago

My fault for not asking the question better. If he’s calling religion opium I need to know what his opinion about drugs was because it changes the meaning a bit of the quote.

[-] thirtymilliondeadfish@hexbear.net 10 points 10 months ago

This was written a year after the first opium war, and twenty years after confessions of an english opium eater. Opium has (and had) long been in the zeitgeist as seductive, panacea, dream-like, destructive.

I don't read it as supportive of either