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I guess I’ve had Ancient Romans on the brain lately. The previous comic referenced Juvenal’s famous passage regarding bread and circuses, and now with this comic I’ve been thinking back again on lines from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar:
Let me have men about me that are fat;
Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o’ nights
This is part of a speech from Julius to Marc Antony expressing his (rather justified, it turns out) concerns regarding one Senator Cassius, who has “a lean and hungry look”; in other words, a sense of ambition and purpose that makes Caesar nervous.
If only Caesar had had television on his side, perhaps his toga wouldn’t have ended up with all those unsightly dagger holes.
Which is not to say I believe television kills ambition. For one thing, these days the kids seem to be weaning themselves away from it. Well, sort of. Now they just stream the same content to their handhelds, leaving them more mobile but still occupying their attentions (a dangerous combination, if the new driving laws banning cellphones are to be believed). They go outside, but remain wired.
And by kids I of course mean “us”, it’s just that the kids are the ones who, as always, are the native sons and daughters of the new wave, their thumbs dancing on tiny key and touchpads with blinding speeds while someone like me is stuck doing the equivalent of the one finger typing I used to mock my own elders for.
Anyhow, I digress. It comes down to a simple matter of boredom, or at least perceived boredom. I’ve maintained for years that Boredom, not Money, is the true Root of All Evil. So assuming a person isn’t starving or taking care of other immediate survival needs, then their thoughts are going to wander to the question of “How do I occupy my time?”.
In a society that hopes to last, the Powers That Be had better seriously consider the answer to that question and how to guide it in a way that’s safe for their continued existence — a true irony considering that providing for their basic needs and securities is what even brought you to this point. That’s why it’s not just bread that rules the equation, it’s bread and circuses. Entertainment.
People are certainly capable of coming up with ways to entertain themselves, but O King, blame me not if you don’t like the result. It could involve setting fires and turning over cars, and I know this well from living in a city where people riot not just because corrupt cops get set free, but because our basketball team wins.
Juvenal was contemptuous of the idea of bread and circuses since it distracted the people from real matters of civics and government. It was appealing to the lowest common denominator of satisfaction. But at least in the short run, it works. And is it all bad? People have always desired escapism, especially in times where they felt most confined. We want to experience fantastic tales, perhaps safely quenching that desire for adventure in our own hearts with a minimum of disruption in our routines. Those that can best deliver such adventures to us, we reward with our loyalty and what wealth we can spare.
And they, perhaps, are content in turn that we are fat, and sleep o’ nights.
12 thoughts on “Fat and sleek-headed”
Andrew
Dang, I think I’m going to have to do a blog post on this. Considering you’ve linked a Shakespearean play about the Roman Empire to the Christian concepts of “money being the root of all evil” (it’s actually “the love of money”, which makes for a distinction) to the Protestant work ethic (idle hands are the devil’s playground) and then thrown in the creative process, which ties to the concempt of Imago Dei…a pastor could do a pretty awesome sermon, if not a sermon series, on this post. Well played.
SteelRaven
A few way to control people, 1.) Give them something fear 2.) Offer security from said fear and finally 3.) keep them distracted.
BarnOwl
Your post made me think of the Marx quote (Karl, not Groucho) that “Religion is the opium of the people” – in this case, it keeps them sedate and controllable. Then, with the advent, no, with the boom of Television in 50’s it seemingly began to replace, and to a great extent expand religion. Edward R. Murrow once said “We are currently wealthy, fat, comfortable and complacent. We have currently a built-in allergy to unpleasant or disturbing information. Our mass media reflect this. But unless we get up off our fat surpluses and recognize that television in the main is being used to distract, delude, amuse and insulate us, then television and those who finance it, those who look at it and those who work at it, may see a totally different picture too late.” Which, can, and has been distilled down to “Television is the opium of the people” (and I have seen this quote somewhere). But now we have a MASSIVE internet … a veritable Hydra of resources and information as well as tripe, claptrap and misinformation. Thus it seems that nowadays the World Wide Web is our new opium.
Rather funny to hear myself saying this. Being as I must, at least a couple of days a week, get my “fix” of certain on-line comics and games. The WWW has become an escape for me … but it is an escape from that other opium being fed to us via what used to be called the “airwaves”.
So, the centuries between about 100 C.E. and 1940 C.E. have seen the rise of religion to control people, then we moved on to television to occupy their minds and keep them sedate. This has given way to “kids” (I am in my 50’s, btw), walking through a beautiful wooded area on a lovely day, with “earbuds” stuck in their heads, with their heads down texting their friends. (Yes, living in northern Arizona, I’ve seen this a number of times.) This leads us to needing laws to make it illegal to drive 2000 lbs of lethal steel around the streets with your head down texting your friends.
It seems the person with their nose stuck to their “smart phone” is the new euphemism of the ostrich with it’s head in the sand. But, I guess a large portion of humanity has always been desirous of being led around by the popular trends, or being told what to think or what to believe.
That’s one of the things I like about “Zombie Ranch” so far. You’re giving us a picture of what our heroes should be. Independent, self reliant. But also holding up a mirror to those of us who live vicariously through what we see on T.V. I guess. Okay, over the years, I’ve probably become more like one of the people I’m talking about here … but I can still fantasize … 😀
I do still wonder where will this new opiate take humanity?
BarnOwl
Dang! That was way longer than I meant it to be. And rather a rambling bit of nonsense too …
Andrew Viertel
@BarnOwl I almost did the same thing in terms of a really long comment. Your comment on the various opiates of the people is interesting because, your latter two opiates, TV and the internet are different that religion in that they are tools and therefore neither good nor evil, yet some folks do worship them as if they are deities. Neil Gaiman touches on this in American Gods. In other words, they morph into deities. As for religions being an opiate, I would have to say that this statement can be true when religion is used in the bread and circuses context. In that sense, I’d draw a distinction between religion and faith.
Clint
I’d also contend that religion (perhaps we should further say “organized religion”) has been used as a control and/or safe outlet for the masses for a lot longer than Christianity has been around. It seems like there’s always been an element of spectacle involved in the bigger gatherings, whether that was in the form of ancient human/animal sacrifice or big monitor screens broadcasting the preacher’s smiling, singing face like a rock concert.
My question is, if television is a new religion, with that weekly or daily ritual where we tune into our favorite shows… does the advent of TiVO, Hulu, and general OnDemand bespeak a breakdown of our traditional structure and values? 😉
Andrew
At the risk of carrying a metaphor too far, I’d say that it represents an evolution more than a breakdown. I guess our comparison is pre-reformation Europe. In that case, you have the Roman Catholic Church dictating Christian teaching. I guess that would compare to the days where ABC/CBS/NBC were dominant. Then you get the reformation and the Lutheral church emerges. I’m not sure if that’s cable or VCR’s, but in any case people started to have choices. As the reformation proceded, you got more and more choices: Calvinists, Baptists, Anglicans, etc. Likewise, cable and home media spread, eventually evolving into what we have today.
Again, it may be carrying the metaphor too far, but I think it represents more of a democratization and evolution than a breakdown.
What were we talking about again?
Clint
Bread and circuses. But any conversation that ends up comparing the proliferation of the Christian faith to the proliferation of modern media outlets is pretty awesome in my book. So many roads to enlightenment? PS3, Xbox, iTunes, Comcast, Verizon…
Andrew
Ahhh…but there is where I would draw the line between faith and religion. I think religion follows culture. Faith is counter cultural. At its best (or worst, I suppose but I’m being positive), faith can change the culture and thus draw religious institutions along with it. (Think about the great American social movements: abolitionism, suffrage, civil rights, they all had very strong faith components which were counter to the culture and in many cases counter to the religious establishment of the day.
This is a fun conversation. Now all we need is Calvin the perfume vendor to show up and drive it into the ditch. 🙂
BarnOwl
It is an excellent discussion! I also post a fair bit on a discussion forum about Tarot – well, Tarot is the main topic, but there are sub-forums on many forms of divination and spirituality. I am rather fond of pointing out (both there and in any conversation where it comes up) that “Religion” (note that this is “Religion” with the capital “R” – ie, organized, mainstream religions) sometimes has little to do with “spirituality”, and rarely has anything to do with “enlightenment”.
Mainstream Religions generally do not want people to find enlightenment. Awareness of one’s self and one’s personal connection to one’s God, or gods, the spirit world, one’s spirit guides, and so forth, are anathema to mainstream Religion. This is very true of many of the “big” Christian Religions, especially the evangelicals and fundies (a word I picked up many years ago – meaning “fundamentalists”, pulpit-banging-fire & brimstone types). “Religion” is about gaining followers, people who believe the same as you … more importantly people who will believe that the priests, popes, grand-poobahs or whatever – are the direct messengers of “God” and their interpretation of God’s word is the only correct interpretation. “Religion” is about dogma … not necessarily about spirituality. Oh, the followers of a given Religion may have very strong spiritual episodes, they may even experience “enlightenment” of a sort as well. But for the most part these seem to be shared experiences in the context of their “circuses” and (in my opinion) always in the context of their Religion’s dogma. For example, I seriously doubt that you’ll ever hear a Southern Baptist jump up in the middle of services and shout “wow!!! I just realized that all these other ‘gods’ from these other religions may be facets of the One God and/or his ‘angels’!!!!”
Now, the question remains; is Television or, more recently, the Internet similar to Religion? Well … maybe not in the same way. Certainly T.V. is a massively shared experience. In the late 19th century and into the 1930’s this country saw an upsurge in the numbers and popularity of “camp meetings” and “tent revivals”. Those were shared experiences and people would stand around the equivalent of the water-cooler and say “wow, what about Dr. So-and-so at the tent meeting last night? He really tore up on them sins!” Now days, people stand around the Coke machine and say “wow, did you catch CSI, Miami last night? Man, they can solve any crime in an hour!” It seems to be much the same with You-tube, Facebook and twitter.
So, while they may not be “Religion” as such, there is certainly that shared “bread and circuses” religious-type experience. And, for many people, it keeps their minds occupied so they don’t have to think. Unlike a few of us (such as you Clint and Andrew and, myself) who still like to be able to think for ourselves and discuss ideas such as this.
One real problem seems to me to be TV shows like “Survivor”. They call it “reality TV” … but everyone survives! If there was a chance of really dying, it would be true “reality TV” …
SteelRaven
Most “Reality” TV is the complete opposite of reality, their the bastard children of game shows and soap operas.
M. C. Carper
Interesting page layout.
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