[lbo-talk] Kristol on Marx and Obama on religion, in NY

John Thornton jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net
Mon Apr 14 12:40:23 PDT 2008


Charles Brown wrote:
> "It's one thing for Karl Marx to assert that "religion is the sigh of
> the oppressed creature" and another for Barack Obama to claim that we
> "cling to ... religion" out of economic frustration."
>
>
> ^^^^
> CB: Sound like pretty much the same idea to me. I was just going to point out the similarity, when I saw it already noted. Hope of a hopeless situation.
>
> ^^^
>
> Full: <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/opinion/14kristol.html?ref=opinion>

That's not a very accurate quote.

“It’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

Why insert the word economic? People are frustrated on many levels. They could cling to guns out of sexual frustration for all I know. I don't see the Marx in Obama's statement. Then again, I'm not William Kristol.

This also suggest peoples anti-trade sentiments are based on something other than a logical and well reasoned response to trade policies that people disagree with. Did Marx claim anti free-trade feelings were merely another opiate of the masses as well? So opposing free-trade agreements is like being a gun-nut, xenophobe, or religious fundamentalist in Obama's eyes. That's good to know.

John Thornton



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