Short Quiz - Evicted and The Failure Of TheOpiateOfTheMasses

[johnkarls]

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1. Did we study last month, among other things, that while the European Union may be experiencing difficulty in assimilating its Muslim population (which per http://www.CIA.gov is only 2% of its population), America has failed for more than a half century to assimilate its Permanent “Untouchable” Under-Caste?

2. Have we also studied on many occasions that a good estimate of the size of America’s Permanent “Untouchable” Under-Caste is the 30% of the population that the U.S. government has constantly and consistently reported for more than half a century is illiterate in terms of the ability to read the warning label on a can of rat poison?

3. Does our focus book, “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City,” get away from seemingly-sterile statistics and provide us with examples of actual members of America’s Permanent “Untouchable” Under-Caste and describe in painful detail their struggles just to survive?

4. Many of the book reviews for “Evicted” proclaim that it is so shocking, it is bound to confront Christian America with its hypocrisy in NOT loving its inner-city neighbors as themselves -- is this realistic or only wishful thinking?

5. Did we also discuss last month how the first religion based on “from each according to her/his ability, to each (because everyone is loved as much as one’s self) according to her/his need” was, 18 centuries later, famously called “The Opiate of the Masses” by Karl Marx because he was so frustrated that the proletariat would NOT rise in revolt because they were too busy “laying up for themselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal”?

6. And did we discuss how, just like 2% of the European Union’s population that comprise unassimilated Muslims, America’s 30% Permanent “Untouchable” Under-Caste might have been better served by the militant “Nation of Islam” of Muhammad Ali rather than the Christianity (aka Opiate of the Masses) of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.?

7. Could MLK’s famous non-violent resistance based on The Opiate of the Masses have been more effective if it had, instead, been based on one of the world’s other major religions?

8. Who was Siddhartha Gautama?

9. If you had asked Siddhartha Gautama on his deathbed what his religion was, what would he have replied?

10. Digressing for a moment, does Buddhism have an unwarranted reputation as a peaceful religion?

11. During the 1930’s and 1940’s, was the Japanese population SIMULTANEOUSLY more than 90% Shinto (essentially ancestor worship though respectful of all life) AND ALSO more than 90% Buddhist?

12. Did Japan’s overwhelming Buddhism prevent it from what historians call “The Rape of China” which had already lasted for a decade before Pearl Harbor?

13. Despite what might be viewed as a Buddhist aberration regarding Japan’s Rape of China followed by Japan’s joining with Hitler and Mussolini to wage the Second World War, could Buddhism otherwise be considered a peaceful religion?

14. What was the turning point of the Vietnam War?

15. Do some historians fatuously claim that the turning point was the Tet Offensive which, despite being a military disaster for the Viet Cong, drove many members of the American news media to despair over the obvious failure of America and the South Vietnamese Government to “win the hearts and minds” of the Vietnamese people?

16. Is it true that “a picture is worth a thousand words”?

17. Isn’t the real turning point of the Vietnam War in terms of American public opinion the zillions of pictures that began to occupy the front pages of America’s newspapers on a constant basis, showing Buddhist Monks who had doused themselves with gasoline and then set themselves on fire?

18. Didn’t all the front-page pictures of the self-immolation of Vietnam’s Buddhist Monks have the same effect on American public opinion as the front-page pictures of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s peaceful marchers being ripped apart by police dogs?

19. So, even putting aside the aberration of Buddhist Japan’s Rape of China followed by joining Hitler and Mussolini to wage World War II, doesn’t the PASSIVE AGGRESSION of Vietnam’s Buddhist Monks portray a stark contrast with the Opiate of the Masses practiced for the last 48 years since the assassination of Martin Luther King by America’s Permanent “Untouchable” Under-Caste?

20. What does our focus book “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City” tell us about the suicide rate in America’s inner-city ghettos?

21. What would be the effect if America’s Permanent “Untouchable” Under-Caste abandoned Christianity’s Opiate of the Masses and converted to the passive-aggression of the brand of Buddhism practiced by Vietnam’s Buddhist Monks?

22. In other words, what if the residents of America’s inner-city ghettos whose despair drives them to suicide, decided to commit their suicide by self-immolation on the steps of America’s iconic buildings that house government, business and the news media? After mailing their suicide notes to members of the media (if any) who are willing to publish them?

23. Did Yours Truly opine, after 43 news media superstars refused to permit $84 billion of private funds to be used to benefit the education of 10 million inner-city children, that his greatest disappointment was NBC’s Chris Matthews rather than PBS’ Gwen Ifill? Why did Chris Matthews edge out Gwen Ifill?

24. If the Chris Matthews’ and Gwen Ifill’s of the world were willing to constantly cover the self-immolation of the Buddhist Monks of South Vietnam and they refuse to cover the self-immolation of America’s Permanent “Untouchable” Under-Caste who are driven to suicide by despair, would it be fair to say that the Chris Matthews’ and Gwen Ifill’s of the world are racists?

25. Last month we studied The War On American Workers and The War On America’s 30% Permanent “Untouchable” Under-Caste, both of which have been conducted for decades by The Establishment which was defined as the billionaires (A) who “own” virtually all of the politicians of both political parties as a result of campaign contributions, (B) who “own” many members of the media and many members of academia, and (C) who “own” political “think tanks” such as Brookings, Heritage, CATO and AEI -- and this month we are studying “up close and personal” the real-life stories of quite a few members of America’s 30% Permanent “Untouchable” Under-Caste and their unspeakably-painful struggles just to survive -- so why do you think The Establishment believes that, per the famous saying, "their shit doesn’t stink”???