Christopher Hitchens on Karl Marx

Christopher Hitchens explains why religion still resonates in modern society by quoting from Karl Marx.

[Dyzlak]

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser men so full of doubts - Bertrand Russell

[trachtaire]

I cringe so hard when the audience laughs, thinking his praise of the phrase is self-flattery. 0:30

[conors]

Whatever you might think of his ideas, most people who talk about marx, have never read marx. They’ve just been told for 100 years that he’s either a good or a bad guy.

[benjimanmurray]

My favorite quote by Mr. Hitchens " I would be appalled to find myself in heaven. I find the idea of a Christian heaven comparable to North Korea. Well.. Lets not get extreme, you can escape North Korea when you die." Priceless!!

[tipoomaster]

The audience thought the opiate of the people quote was from Chris...Oh dear.

[iliyan-kulishev]

Here is a segment from Kurt Vonnegut at Clowes Hall, Indianapolis, April 27, 2007:

"...But there are still plenty of people who will tell you that the most evil thing about Karl Marx was what he said about religion. He said it was the opium of the lower classes, as though he thought religion was bad for people, and he wanted to get rid of it.
But when Marx said that, back in the 1840s, his use of the word "opium" wasn't simply metaphorical. Back then real opium was the only painkiller available, for toothaches or cancer of the throat, or whatever. He himself had used it.
As a sincere friend of the downtrodden, he was saying he was glad they had something which could ease their pain at least a little bit, which was religion. He liked religion for doing that, and certainly didn't want to abolish it. OK?
He might have said today as I say tonight, "Religion can be Tylenol for a lot of unhappy people, and I'm glad it works."

[ajpoopieschitz]

My favorite quote of all time, and I'm no Marxist. His critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right is a great read.

[PPartisan]

Hearing Hitchens speak gives such a rich sense of history and context, like you're seeing the problems of today over centuries.

[alancantu]

Objectively speaking, Marx and Engels provided incredibly valuable insights and analysis for the development of capitalist society. They understood the coming industrialist age so well that they even predicted the World Wars and false currencies (like bitcoin). It’s hard to come by any political or economic thinkers with similar sophistication today.

[jdd]

There is a lot of criticism om Marx, some correctly made, but one of the reasons Marx is important is a criticism of capitalism. Any system needs criticism because blind faith in anything is a bad idea. We need more healthy criticism to intelligently improve one of the foundational aspects of our country. Dissent from the norm is vital to a healthy democracy.

[Ray_Midge]

The passage also says to criticize illusions is the criticize a situation that requires illusions, that religious criticism is emancipatory. This files in the face of many new atheists - Dawkins, Harris, even Hitchens himself at times - who are/were content to spend most of their time calling people stupid and leaving it at that. The critiques of Marx, Freud, and Nietzsche are so much more in-depth and compelling.

[MilesBellas]

"Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.

The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo."

Marx, K. 1976. Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right. Collected Works, v. 3. New York

[Trowa]

0:42 Me when the workers of the world unite.

[SempiternalScientist]

He has evidently been vilified due to the fact that many oppressive regimes often portrayed him as a pivotal influence on the structure of their states despite the fact he probably would have reprimanded their treatment of the worker and people overall. I feel that the best parts of Karl Marx will be represented and materialise in society in the same manner that Adam Smith's own ideology often surfaces, in a subtle but influential way on most of Western society.

[raggledaggle]

"Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people." - Karl Ma...sshhtttt! YouKnowWho. 

[Hatoflegends]

"the sigh of oppressed creature, the heart, it is the spirit of a spiritless situation"
and that tit felt the need to try and criticise that- but that quote apt and eloquent brilliance

[bronzejourney]

Religion as our first attempt to cosmology, philosophy eh? Thats a great viewpoint, our first work as fresh sentient beings, right? And yet we so desperately clinged to it as if we cant do any better than that. Making me sad.

[dpowersblink]

Thank you for taking the time to properly inform. Normally there would be a sarcastic ending to this seemingly positive comment, as a more evolved version of a "not joke, " but I am quite sincere. Thank you :)

[algee]

The argument that never goes stale even though it is the stalest argument.

[blackbird]

if anyone can help me understand the distinction Mr Hitchens is making i'd appreciate it. i've listened to this conversation more than once, im not an intentionally dense or obtuse person, i just cant hear the fine line between what's being said and what's being misquoted. thank you in advance for trying.