RELIGION and FOOTBALL. — “Opium for the masses…” BUT. — Kirtan at a small Bengali Hindu temple in the basement of a Queens building. I was happy to discover them on Father’s Day. Spent some time. Hindus in Bangladesh have gone through racism and persecution horrors, just the same way Muslims in India or 9/11 USA have experienced them. I would take Kirtan on a sunny afternoon over football any day. If both are opiate for the masses, there is one difference. TV soccer is plain voyeurism and Pavlov drooling. Kirtan is direct involvement. TV is alienation. Mass psalm is not. It’s society. Bonding. Real.
