Bread and circuses

[Jcrowley]

Bread and circuses is a derogatory phrase which can describe either government policies to pacify the citizenry, or the shallow, decadent desires of that same citizenry. In both cases, it refers to low-cost, low-quality, high-availability food and entertainment, and to the exclusion of things which the speaker considers more important, such as art, public works projects, democracy, or human rights.

It originated as the Latin phrase "panem et circenses" (literally "bread and circuses"), and is thought to have been coined by Juvenal, a Roman satiric poet of the 1st century AD, to describe the practice of Roman Emperors who gave unlimited free wheat to the poor and costly circus games as a means of pacifying the populace with food and entertainment. Juvenal bemoaned that it was a deplorable apathy towards heroism.

In fact, after Juvenal's time, the system of free or heavily subsidized food distribution was limited to a minority of Roman Citizens holding a special token (tessera) entitling them to a monthly supply of grain and olive oil from the reign of Septimus Severus. The rations were probably too small to feed a family and the receivers were not necessarily poor or in need of free food. This does not change the fact that the food supply to a city the size of Rome was of primary concern to the emperors in order to avoid popular unrest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_circuses

[pansypoo53219]

1. indeed

i am off my favoorite-football. i have not cared since 2004. not much then. don't watch much teevee. and now, this year, i don't want to do what i should-make art.

[TygrBright]

2. Today: McDonalds' 99-cent Menu and "Reality" teevee. n/t

[Bigmack]

3. Pro sports...

... are the circuses of today.

The media tells us everybody wants to know whether one team of millionairs owned by billionairs can beat another team of millionairs owned by billionairs.

Folks can't afford to go to the actual stadium, so that watch at home. Actually, that's better for the Powers That Be. Large groups of people sometimes go off the reservation and burn places down. Better they watch on the flat-panel-HD in the living room.