The Opium of the People and Why I Prefer to be High

Why do we have rampant social activism and a "fix it" culture?

Because we have at least 2 (from me) generations of active deconstruction of a faith-based view of the life and afterlife of man which has been replaced by the Marxist theory behind religion as the "opium of the people".

Marx surmised that if we cast off the religious beliefs which help us make sense of tragedy by looking forward to an eternity in a more pleasant afterlife and/or accepting that tragedy has a purpose in the hands of a loving God, we'd find the real happiness in the aftermath of tragedy which is to look at it for what it is and by so doing, we'd know what to do about it in many imaginative ways.

The two theories are at conflict in the populace, but not everyone who holds to one or the other knows exactly what has impacted their own view. One may feel a need to have to look at what happened and fix something after a tragedy and not understand that viewing tragedy this way has its roots in Marxism. Conversely, one may accept that shit happens and not understand that has its roots in many faith views of tragedy.

When this is all there is, and in order for purpose to be found in tragedy, the rise of "fix it" - or make it better - is, of course, the result.

If this isn't all there is, if what happened has some greater purpose not yet known, we don't need to fix every tragedy in an effort to see it prevented from happening again.

Faith or Marx, as an individual value system? Whatevs. However, I tell you, "fix it" people, when out of balance in society - as they are becoming - are extremely authoritative and limiting to the individual. While their minds may be freer to "imagine" solutions, as Marx believed would be the case, their solutions are often costly (particularly when applied collectively) and limiting to the individual's liberty to make decisions for themselves.

While a faith-based approach is limiting in imaginative solutions, it's built on the premise of individual action and consequence. Barring emerging patterns of disaster, the faith view seeks no collective solution to what is an individual's experience. It just accepts that things happen and allows the individuals, directly and indirectly, impacted to learn from it what they will.