Keeping you in line.

"Religion is the opium of the masses." - Karl Marx
Do you agree? It might have been true when he said it but the times have changed. Is religion the deciding factor that keeps the masses in check? Or is it the fear of getting caught and the punishment that follows which keeps humanity from falling into a world of utter chaos. For some, it still may be the fear of hell and a punishment in the next life but I would say for most it is the fear of what would happen to them now, in this life. Do people do right because it is the right thing? Or do they do the right thing only because it enables them to stay in the life that they are comfortable with. It is only on the rare occasions that well off people fly off the handle and do something heinous because as bad their current situation may seem at that moment they know it is a lot better than the daily rapes and beating that will likely await them in our lovely prison system. They couldn't care less about the moral issues, ethics or hurting others. They are more afraid of losing their s**t, especially their freedom. Maybe there are those who are pure of heart and whose actions reflect that but I feel that they are few are far in between. It is a sad state of affairs when we see that if someone is doing something kind deep down it is their own well being they are concerned about.
What about the ones who don't walk the line? For them the reasons are endless. Some are the product of their environment.  Think about Tyson... growing up in the slums of Brownsville, surrounded by violence everyday. We pay him extraordinary amounts of money to try and knock someone's head off in a ring and then act all surprised when he goes and bites an ear off. Really??? You create this being then are stunned when you can no longer control him. There are countless kids who live in a world where all they know is carnage. They only know loss and living without. They've abandoned all hope and go back to a behavior that some refer to as going "native". Being primal, and doing what ever is necessary, regardless of the hurt, to survive. We refuse to drive through their neighborhoods if we can avoid it. We turn the other cheek and look away from them. Why? out of fear? because if we stare too long we might feel obligated to help? because we know that some of us are just a few paycheck away from their world? Parents all around the world allow their children to do, eat and watch whatever they want to. They let them spend all day playing video games where they kill and steal and pillage. They refuse to punish them when they act up and then when the kid goes off the deep end and shoots up school, abuses his girlfriend and winds up in a small cell they wonder where they went wrong.
I am not saying religion is the answer. Maybe it is... maybe it isn't. I will say however that without rules there is chaos.
Is it hot in here or am I Crazy?