Opiate of the masses

To study communism or socialism is to study cynicism. Everything can be teared down to loneliness, exploitation and manipulation. If the tirade against capitalism is the truth, then perhaps cynicism is the study of human nature.

I don't know why I'm linking this upcoming idea to cynicism, and of course even if it's the right thing to do in my context, but I think that the advertisement on the trains on an upcoming spiritual revival is rather stark and out of place. There's a certain strong sense of detachment when I view the ad each time I take the train, which is quite sad, because the ad should be far from detached from the viewer.

It says (in Mandarin),
"Good news, Singapore. In April this year, you will be visited upon by miracles".

I know the ad is trying to reach out to the masses, and an incredible amount of advertising dollars by fervent devouts have gone into bringing this ad into the trains, but I can't help feeling that it's speaking to a disinterested and tired crowd, and that the ad seems to emphasize the emptiness of the proletarian masses on the public train. Maybe this sentiment is only reflective of my own worldview, which is scarier considering that I am a Christian, and I should probably be interested in hence heading down to the Singapore stadium in the hope of having encounter a miracle.

I guess if we have been a closely knitted community with little competition against one another in this rat race to seek satisfaction in wine and dining lifestyles and material goods, this ad would relate to us more. It seems that as much as we need the message driving this ad, it has been placed where it is scrutinized, mocked at and in the end, rejected by the much preoccupied crowd. Our very response to it, invariably signifies how much we need to have it.

I think this ad is a joke, as it preaches a kind of counter culture, yet is immersed in the very midst of conformist messages which vie for our loyalty--bank loans, hair replanting, beer ads and so on.