Blog 2- Marx and Religion/Ideology

In my sociology class for the past week, we talked about Marx and his views. I will admit, I got a bit angry in class when hearning about what he thinks.

He said that religion and other ideologies were a "human construct" and "opium for the masses." He refers to religion to be like opium because people used it as a medicine/ pain killer during his time. Opium also puts you in a haze to reality. One cannot think clearly and see reality, when they believe in a higher being and see the world through their beliefs.  Marx believes that that is unhealthy for society.

I really think that is conpletely not true. I, personally, belong to a religion and I think Marx has it wrong. For me, being in a religion give me clarity and a sense of purpose. It gives my clarity, because I can sit at the end of the day and read through some readings and pray. It helps me clear my mind from all the hustle and bustle and hecticness of my day. If I did not have that time, I would be so stressed out from the world; my head would spin. I think all that stress would put me in a haze and fog my sense of reality more than anything.

It also makes me think, if religion and other idiologies are not ok to have. Then what should we believe in? Are we supposed to just go through life as a robot having people tell us what to do, because we are not allowed to believe in anything and live for anything. That honestly does not sound like fun at all. That would be just wasting our precious human lives. I am not just saying that religion is the only thing people should believe in. Believing in being a good person, being kind of others or giving to charity are great things. That all benefits society and I really do not see how those ideologies could be bad for society.

This is a map of Moscow made by Anna Simmons, a british artist who specializes in making maps into art. I chose a picture of a map, because I see having a religion or an ideology is like a map. If we want to go somewhere, a map can show us where that point is and how to get there. In my religion, if I want to change something in my life, I just look to my readings and it tells me how I should get there. I feel like if I did not have a map on how I should live my life, I feel like I would just be wandering through life constently lost, having no purpose and not going anywhere meaningful. I would feel usless and being wasteful of the life I have been given. 

Blog 1- Individualism

Alexsis de Tocqueville is known for coming up with the term individualism. Individualism happens when a person takes themselves away from society and they look to themselves for how they are going to act in a situation. This term is to not be confused with egoism. Egoism is almost the same thing, but it is more an internal obsession with oneself. Individualism is where a person takes action based on what they think alone.

Thinking back on class discussion, I realized that America is a very individualistic society. I have people all the time telling me that I should go to school and major in what I want to major in. I am told get the job that I want and pursue my own individual dreams. But is this idea a good thing? Can only focusing on yourself be a problem?

I honestly think that individualism could be a problem. We care more about ourselves than the common good. I personally think that individualism has led to greed in our economy and producing greedy businessmen that do not care about the employees at the bottom of their business food chain. They could care less if one of their employees cannot put food on the table; they just care about their new Mercedes.  Individualism could also be a good thing too. If one only cares what other people think, they will never take cares of themselves. I personally have made some great decisions based on my individual wellbeing and I do not regret those choices. However, I have also made some selfish decisions and I regret them completely.

This picture is by a famous German artist. I chose this picture because I think it describes individualism quite well. The “Wanderer” has separated himself from society, just like a person being individualistic would do when acting out their own decision.

"The Wanderer above the Sea Fog" by Caspar David Friedrich