The NFL is the "opiate" of the masses.

Ah, of course...

This thread is about American football being an opiate to the masses, not ACTUAL football!

Played with feet and a ball!

(I should probably disappear whence I came, at this point!)

But before I do, I strongly agree that football (as I know and love!) and the 24 hour media hype and hysteria surrounding it, does play a too bigger role in many peoples lives, like a religion, but one that constantly changes and evolves...

and will never have ONE eventual bloody winner!

Perfect distraction?

Still enjoy it immensely, though!

Thorneblood
No offense but wouldn't the current opiate of the masses actually be opiates?
Huff Post

The director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), R. Gil Kerlikowske, a former police and justice official, has called the illegal use of prescription drugs, especially narcotic medications in pill form, the nation's "fastest-growing drug problem." What once dominated the world of overdoses in the U.S., namely heroin, has been eclipsed by the prescription painkillers (see below). These drugs are termed opioid analgesics, referring to substances produced from the opium poppy or manufactured synthetically with the same pain killing effects on the human brain (analgesic means lack of pain).

Now as a semi-pro player should you not be supporting this "opiate"? Don't you dream of being one of the major dealers of this "drug" of choice for most Americans?

Oh and Go Seahawks.

No.
I know both "NFL /Sports addicts" and actual "Opiate addicts"..
and to be perfectly honest- I see more intelligence and hope in the actual opiate addicts than I do in the NFL/sports addicts.

They opiate addicts actually have brains that do work... even though those brains are prisoners to opiates...
The sports addicts seem to have barely working brains.
Sure, they walk, and they talk, and they "function" , and they do something they believe is "thinking".. But it's really not.

I see more intelligence in drug addicts than I do in sports fanatics.

I hear you. I've seen so many people arguing about sports in general and also TV shows instead of discussing things that actually matter. I know a guy that said if they banned the NFL, people would rise up and he'd be one of them. I was thinking, "So slowly whittling your rights away to nothing doesn't bother you but it would if they banned a stupid game?" People's priorities are really messed up. It's disgusting. Don't even get me started on so-called "reality" TV. I hate that the most.

JackSparrow17

RedShirt73
reply to post by JackSparrow17

 

Never watched football, baseball, soccer or any other sport for that matter, too boring. Just never interested me. I watch hockey every now and then but I really have no interest in that sport either.

About the only thing going for hockey in my mind is watching big guys try to throw punches on ice. Happy Gilmore comes to mind.

You obviously never watched hockey. "Try" to throw punches? Do a little research my man.

Look up Bob Probert. Tiger Williams.Tony Twist,Dave Schultz. Dave Brown. Those men did not "try" to throw punches. They did and they succeeded at it.Comparing NHL hockey to a stupid movie makes you look ignorant. Go to the other end of the scale when talking about pure talent,those players far exceed the ones who "try" to throw punches. Watch a real NHL game sometime. You may enjoy it.

As for the OP. I have to laugh at your post. Me thinks you're just a hater when it comes to Football. There's no conspiracy there man. It's just the most popular sport in America right now. It's not run by the Illumanati or any one else.To suggest it is makes you look ignorant as well.

FYI... I don't buy into all the hype that is the NFL either. I DO watch an occasional game. But I personally stay away because there's just too many damn commercials.It's become a slow,dumbed down version.The players are nothing buy cry babies. It's like drinking coke for most of your life..then having to drink coke zero

Chesterpudlian
Ah, of course...

This thread is about American football being an opiate to the masses, not ACTUAL football!

Played with feet and a ball!

(I should probably disappear whence I came, at this point!)

But before I do, I strongly agree that football (as I know and love!) and the 24 hour media hype and hysteria surrounding it, does play a too bigger role in many peoples lives, like a religion, but one that constantly changes and evolves...

and will never have ONE eventual bloody winner!

Perfect distraction?

Still enjoy it immensely, though!

I've played both types of football, never was the best at "soccer." I couldn't shoot the ball, couldn't boot it, dribbling was a chore, but I could take the ball away from anybody who thought they were Pele. Anyway, I've mentioned that ALL pro sports serve the establishment in the "useful idiot" way. I just used NFL as the prime example. I enjoy it too. Sigh.

Ahmose

No.
I know both "NFL /Sports addicts" and actual "Opiate addicts"..
and to be perfectly honest- I see more intelligence and hope in the actual opiate addicts than I do in the NFL/sports addicts.

They opiate addicts actually have brains that do work... even though those brains are prisoners to opiates...
The sports addicts seem to have barely working brains.
Sure, they walk, and they talk, and they "function" , and they do something they believe is "thinking".. But it's really not.

I see more intelligence in drug addicts than I do in sports fanatics.

Ouch. Scathing. But true. It's blind zealot behavior. Over a past-time. Now I love the game, which is why I play. Most players who don't play professionally are like myself. Most on my team are simpler minded to be fair, but it's more about the teamwork, camaraderie, and accomplishment of hard work. What's sad is I know sports addicts at my job in the semiconductor industry. Engineers are book smart, but total droolers like anyone else when the game is on. And I'm the only one out of 400 where I work that would rather play than be an armchair QB. Sad.

Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin referred to religion and popular sports as "opiates for the masses" as if they were a distraction from reality, meant for the stupid and ignorant, for the purpose of imposing "tyranny". Marx and Lenin would have rather had everyone work in Siberian Labor Camps than to actually go out and have some fun. Marx, Lenin and Stalin deeply and profoundly misunderstood life, liberty, love, beauty. They did not understand the joy we get from watching competitive and goal-oriented games. For Marx there should be no "winner and loser"....he considered this "inequality" and it deeply offended him. He thought that if someone loses at a game it meant they are inferior or being bullied. He could not grasp the concept of a game being a game...just for fun.

reply to post by JackSparrow17

And I'm the only one out of 400 where I work that would rather play than be an armchair QB. Sad.

Armchair quarter backs don't die young of lifetime injuries, though.

Anything can be used as a drug. Lots of distraction all around us. Keeps us from seeing whats going on in the world. Most of us choose to be "opiated" on something to keep from seeing it.

Fuzzy and warm.

Skid Mark
I hear you. I've seen so many people arguing about sports in general and also TV shows instead of discussing things that actually matter. I know a guy that said if they banned the NFL, people would rise up and he'd be one of them. I was thinking, "So slowly whittling your rights away to nothing doesn't bother you but it would if they banned a stupid game?" People's priorities are really messed up. It's disgusting. Don't even get me started on so-called "reality" TV. I hate that the most.

I couldn't have said it better. You and I share the same opinion there. Good stuff. Like I've been saying; the game of football, like any popular sport, had humble beginnings. Man has always loved competition, and football is among the best games invented. Plenty of things that started out good have ended up corrupted down the way. Take, for example, the US of A. Great beginnings, (save for slavery ) but what is it now? Absolutely corrupt and horrific. Leave man to their own whims and ambitions, and we will eventually corrupt everything. Christianity is a prime example. Many think of Christians as monsters of the inquisition, or the crusades. Those corrupt fools didn't represent Jesus, even if they said they did. Anyway, good point sir.

nightstalker78

JackSparrow17

RedShirt73
reply to post by JackSparrow17

 

Never watched football, baseball, soccer or any other sport for that matter, too boring. Just never interested me. I watch hockey every now and then but I really have no interest in that sport either.

About the only thing going for hockey in my mind is watching big guys try to throw punches on ice. Happy Gilmore comes to mind.

You obviously never watched hockey. "Try" to throw punches? Do a little research my man.

Look up Bob Probert. Tiger Williams.Tony Twist,Dave Schultz. Dave Brown. Those men did not "try" to throw punches. They did and they succeeded at it.Comparing NHL hockey to a stupid movie makes you look ignorant. Go to the other end of the scale when talking about pure talent,those players far exceed the ones who "try" to throw punches. Watch a real NHL game sometime. You may enjoy it.

As for the OP. I have to laugh at your post. Me thinks you're just a hater when it comes to Football. There's no conspiracy there man. It's just the most popular sport in America right now. It's not run by the Illumanati or any one else.To suggest it is makes you look ignorant as well.

FYI... I don't buy into all the hype that is the NFL either. I DO watch an occasional game. But I personally stay away because there's just too many damn commercials.It's become a slow,dumbed down version.The players are nothing buy cry babies. It's like drinking coke for most of your life..then having to drink coke zero

edit on 24-10-2013 by nightstalker78 because: (no reason given)

All I will say about your hockey comment is I went to a few minor league hockey games when I was a teenager, and my wife loves the Penguins. I've had to watch hockey more than I've cared to. I'm just not into it. Kind of like watching losers drive around an oval. Yawn. The only thing good there is cars flipping down the track on fire (so long as the driver is unhurt.)

As for me being a hater? Wow. I PLAY the game. Actively. Can't really hate it if I play it. I have a few teams I follow, a couple of players that stand out. Notice I put Illiminati in [" "]? I just used the term for lack of better ones to use. I do think that just like all of our other entertainment options, it's a convenient method to keep the sheeple drooling on themselves, and not paying attention to the real issues around them. I just happened to use the NFL as the example. I could use endless advertising as well. I don't think their is literally "Illuminati" guys on the NFL board or something. Things that are popular are effective methods of control. Roman Emperors used the games this way. Thanks for the comment though.

It's not run by the Illumanati or any one else

Actually, there was an article a while back about how professional sports are run by christian/dominionist types, so yes it could be a conspiracy.

I would put guns in the same opiate group as sports- mindless entertainment meant at allowing barbarians to release some hormones.

reply to post by JackSparrow17


Hi Jack, I thought you might appreciate this old Mitchell and Webb sketch, totally relevant, I feel...

Apologies in advance, should you not be able to view!

m.youtube.com...

reply to post by Chesterpudlian


Yeah I'll check this out on my first break. I always enjoy a good sketch!

reply to post by JackSparrow17


Half the year? What are you smoking? Football season is the shortest season of all the professional sports sitting at 4 weeks for preseason, 17 for the regular season and another 5 for the postseason (1 of which a game isn't even played on). This in comparison to Baseball which is 25 weeks for the regular season alone and Basketball which is around 38 weeks long. Sure the NFL has done a lot to maintain their relevancy during the offseason by televising the draft and things like that, but for the most part no one talks about football when the season isn't going on.

P.S. Go Ravens!

Krazysh0t
reply to post by JackSparrow17

 

Half the year? What are you smoking?

P.S. Go Ravens!

Preseason starts in August. Super Bowl is in February. How many months of football madness is that? 6 months exactly. I will say no more.

P.S. Though I also like the Ravens, they suck this year. Joe Flakeo is garbage.

Here's a couple of things I've been thinking about that link the NFL to the government as being the "opiate of the masses" or "bread & circus":

-The NFL is tax exempt... very suspicious. This is the deal the insiders get.

-The NFL is being used to sponsor Obamacare. The Ravens were paid to promote Obamacare, and there are more examples.

-The NFL superbowl halftime shows have been filled with Illuminati symbolism. The Madonna show comes to mind. And remember that whole fake Janet Jackson episode? "I'll have you naked by the end of this song", the top comes off, and she's wearing a pastie? Come on! It was a set up.

-The NFL has a very strong anti-gun stance, with Bob Costas spouting off earlier in the year about gun control on a half-time show, and they won't let any gun-related ads on the air for the Superbowl, even if they don't violate their guidelines.

-They rolled out the clear bag policy - a nod towards Homeland Security and the lack of privacy. I went to the Pats vs New Orleans game back in week 6, and it took forever to get through the security lines. I missed most of the first quarter.

That being said, I am a football fan. But I can see through the tinsel, and think its being used as a tool by the government for their own ends.

Krazysh0t
reply to post by JackSparrow17

 

Half the year? What are you smoking? Football season is the shortest season of all the professional sports sitting at 4 weeks for preseason, 17 for the regular season and another 5 for the postseason (1 of which a game isn't even played on). This in comparison to Baseball which is 25 weeks for the regular season alone and Basketball which is around 38 weeks long. Sure the NFL has done a lot to maintain their relevancy during the offseason by televising the draft and things like that, but for the most part no one talks about football when the season isn't going on.

P.S. Go Ravens!

Four, 17, and five add up to 26 weeks. That's half a year, right on the nose.

Not to mention the gambling that has become probably bigger than the sport itself and not just football. Games are probably won and lost based on the spread and straight up numbers. Calls that seem to favour one team over the other and I wonder how many games are thrown based on the possible payouts?

With that said, who's gonna win today I need to do my picks?

reply to post by Jedimind


I was agreeing with you until you mentioned all the people in the bleachers.

IMO, there is nothing wrong with agreeing to go to a sporting event to be a spectator and getting caught up in the emotion while you're there. It's when the event is over and you leave and you let it continue to have an adverse effect on you such that it interferes with your life or causes you to do insane stuff like riot, beat up the other team's fans or even kill them that it becomes a problem.

In my opinion we have a society that is being trained to act like a collective rather than a society of independent individuals. And that is where I agree with you.

However, as a fan who looks forward to the games, I disagree with you that it's wrong to go get excited in the bleachers. I look forward to that. It's one of the few times that I'm allowed to yell and scream and cheer and generally let my hair down in a socially acceptable manner in a crowd of other people. It's a very cathartic experience much like occasionally indulging in a violent video game can be.

I DO NOT however let it follow it me out of the bleachers. Nor do I let it go beyond high fives or groans. There are limits to what is acceptable behavior even there. But then, I'm part of a very good fan base that prides itself on being a family. The day that changes. I'm out.

I would say that it won't be long before they make football unwatchable with the new "safety" rules or kill it with outside litigation.