Why would the powerful want to placate the population?
Watch our Truth in Two to find out why (full text below).
Subscribe to MarkEckel.com (here). Find the MarkEckel.com YouTube Channel (here). Mark is President of The Comenius Institute (website). Dr. Eckel spends time with Christian young people in public university (1 minute video), teaching at Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis, and interprets culture from a Christian vantage point (1 minute video). Consider becoming a Comenius patron (here).
Picture Credit: Luke Renoe, Snappygoat.com
FULL TEXT
The movie Gladiator gives snapshots of social life during the Roman Empire. Whether in Rome or around its territories, Roman leaders would organize games for the entertainment of the local population. It is recorded that ahead of gladiatorial fights, bread would be tossed into the crowds. Feeding hunger for food and hunger for entertainment, Roman governors and emperors would use the games to pacify the populace. Governance of a nation would be so much easier if leaders gave people what they wanted, satisfying their bellies and their bloodlust. The Roman poet Juvenal blamed the Roman people for giving up their civic duty for what he called “free bread and circus games.” The phrase “bread and circuses” became a way to explain how governments placate any population, taking the public’s mind off public policy decisions.
“Bread and circuses” is an ongoing economic ploy in American politics: give people what they want, to divert their attention away from government actions. Sure, leaders bear responsibility for their governing practices. But beware. Proverbs 28 is clear,
“To show partiality is not good, but for a piece of bread a man will do wrong. A stingy man hastens after wealth and does not know what poverty will come upon him.”
The problem with cheap food and entertainment is that government money will run out and someone will always pay. Government checks that pay more than a full-time job, keep people happy. Government forgiving student loans with taxpayer dollars, keep people happy. Government financial loopholes for corporations, keep people happy. Cheap subscriptions to streaming services via Prime, Netflix, or Hulu, keep people entertained. Cultural celebrities and sporting events popping first into news feeds keep people entertained. Appeasing people with bread and circuses did not just exist in the Roman empire; the practice of pacifying the population continues in America today.
For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, president of the Comenius Institute, personally committed to my civic duty of saying what I see.