Bread and Circuses
In the 1st Century AD, the Roman poet, Juvenal, wrote, in his work titled Satire X, “Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions–everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses.”
He was referring to the ways in which the Roman Empire, which had been a slowly dying Republic, transitioned, in these early years, to an absolute imperial monarchy. In part, he knew, the Emperors had presented grand grain giveaways and lavish public spectacles to keep the People from concentrating on their steady impoverishment, the high cost of food, the deep corruption at the top, and the Emperor’s gains of power and wealth, accrued at the cost of the citizens’ well-being. The phrase has come to stand for diversions and petty rewards routinely utilized by tyrants to entertain the masses, from whom they are leeching power. The more modern translation goes “Give them bread and circuses and they will never revolt.”
Perfect descriptor for our current situation.
Bread: did you get your $90 reward from the white house yet? Deposited directly into our bank accounts, (thanks to AI which has all of our most private numbers) this pittance is framed as a one-time gift from the white house to enrollees in Medicare Part B to help them offset soaring monthly premium costs. Whoopee. I pay every month. I get this once. And premiums are soaring because of YOU, oh most venal oval office squatter.
Many recipients have decided to forward that paltry amount to their favorite candidates who will help to break the stranglehold of the orange guy.
Then, of course, we’re promised another $5,000 if the president’s party wins the primaries. Well, I’m not holding my breath, either for the win or for ever getting any payout. The first US President to exhibit a clear case of Tourette’s Syndrome simply says whatever comes into what’s left of his brain, and then, just as rapidly, forgets it.
Circuses: look no further than Pete Hegseth proposing, not only a testosterone test and free boosters for the military who don’t measure up but the very manly (in his opinion I suppose) live-streamed public execution of a mass murderer by firing squad.
This would be the first public execution in America since 1937, bringing this country even lower in the estimation of most of the world, not to mention the harm done here at home. Think about your kids watching someone executed in real time in public. Hey kids! Look at this and forget about how hungry you are and learn more about cruelty as a spectacle. Which brings me to…
What Does It Mean To Be Humane?
Throughout our long history as a species, we have always grandly touted the virtues of being a human being and not an animal. Humans, we posit, have developed ethics, compassion, guidelines for decent behavior, empathy.
Or have we? LZ Granderson, in his brilliant LA Times column last week, wrote, in part, about the horrific story of the behaviors of the frat boys of Chi Phi at Cornell. One of the boys, writing in apology to their victim, revealed the texts that circulated quickly through the house, announcing that free access to sex with a drug addled victim was now available to all. And this was announced as casually as the arrival of a pizza at the frat door.
Granderson tied his analysis of the Jane Doe story to the death of Nolan Wells, the young black man who mysteriously never made it home from an outing with friends, who seem to have abandoned him. Nolan, the only person of color in the group, was said to have drowned, but no water was found in his lungs. Officials have also failed to conduct a full investigation of his death.
Granderson uses these as examples of our diminishing humanity and the ways in which we seem to be abandoning the golden rule, which, in every major religion, commands us to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” How can we call ourselves human and engage in these actions?
Throughout my own life, I have observed the influence that modeling of behaviors has on the development of children. It has become very clear to me that the coarsening of behavior from the top down in our country is leading us in the wrong direction. Add to that the labeling of empathy as a “fundamental weakness of western civilization” by the world’s richest man. What do our children learn from that? Lower your empathy and raise your bank balance?
That great enabler, AI, is not saddled by the kinds of constraints that accompany a humane person. Unrestrained by such baggage, it simply pursues a given goal with an eye only on success and not collateral damage. What do we take from that? Will the next generations pursue only the success?
And now, we are faced with the specter of a public execution. All of these stories, taken together, seem to be presaging a less humane future.
Unless we strongly counter them by modeling the positive results of acting humanly. And we are.
Hegseth is getting strong pushback on his circus of execution. Millions of demonstrators across the country are painting homemade (and often funny and insulting) signs extolling our connectedness and modeling the golden rule. The signs express our concerns and support for immigrants, for federal workers fired for no reason, for communities suffering because of the loss of services.
There are more of us than there are of them and we will swamp them with reminders of what it will cost them to abandon the golden rule and to be held accountable, from the frat boys to the grand juries to the Secretary of Defense to the president, himself.
We are the antidote. We care for each other. We are humane. And we will not be diverted from that by any offers of bread or the spectacle of circuses.
Nos praevii erimus.
