The Modern Day Coliseum

In ancient Rome, the government (i.e. Caesar) gave the general population free bread and circuses, in the form of “games” held at the Coliseum.  These “games” were one-sided affairs that pit fully armed and armored Roman champions against unarmed gladiator slaves.  Frequently, they would add live tigers to the bout, making it that much more certain that the slaves would be killed.

These “gladiator games” provided entertainment for the masses, and the people showed their barbarity by participating and even applauding these vicious, violent, and thoroughly unfair displays of brutality.  They came for and fully enjoyed these “shows”.

This satisfied the ever-present attitude of the people for amusement and distracted them from the more important issues of the day, thereby leaving Caesar free to forcefully exercise absolute control over the lives of those same people.

Little has changed in more than 2000 years, except perhaps the technology by which such public distractions are employed, and the mechanisms used by the sitting government to exercise absolute control over the general population.

The modern day Coliseum has a very different look from the magnificent Wonder of the World that still stands in modern Rome.  It is not a single building, housing barbaric “games” in which ordinary people are regularly mauled to death for the entertainment and amusement of masses of people.  Rather, a kind of “virtual Coliseum” has been created to fulfill the objective of all tyrannical governments: to secure control over the people they are supposed to govern.

However, today’s “games” utilize high-tech devices to create virtual realities designed to occupy the attention of the majority of the people, thereby leaving the power brokers free to work their evil deeds in pursuit of establishing absolute control over the lives of those same people.

21st century Amerikans are subjected to an ongoing and constant stream of catastrophes and crises, so that they never can sit back, relax, and think about how to make their lives more of what they desire them to be.  Every day, the TV news spouts out reasons for people to turn to their government for help; the newest bogeyman, latest threat to our security, greatest looming attack on our freedoms, etc.  We are fed a daily dose of fear, which is designed to maintain among the general public an acute paranoia that someone is always out to get them.

Actually, their paranoia is not unjustified.  Something is out to get them… their government!

The modern media-industrial-government cabal cannot ever allow the people to sit back and actually consider their sociopolitical surroundings, because if the general population ever learns the truth about how their government seeks to control every facet of their lives through deceit and misrepresentation and by engaging in police strong-arm measures against them, then they will likely mount an armed Revolution against their criminal government.

The only way to prevent this from happening is for the government to keep the majority of the people sufficiently distracted so that they are unable to emerge from the virtual world created for them by their would-be masters.

One of the government’s favorite methods of achieving this is to create situations that pit one group of people against another.  It is a variation on divide and conquer.  As long as the people are fighting among themselves they will never see the government as their true enemy.

Blacks are set against whites, men against women, workers against management, children against parents, homosexuals against heterosexuals, etc.  By setting up the people so they spend their time fighting each other, the government is left as the perceived savior of them all, providing controls and regulations designed to “resolve” whatever conflict seems to exist between the parties.

Such tactics have proven effective for thousands of years; only the technologies by which they are employed have changed.  By maintaining fear and trepidation among the citizenry and simultaneously pitting one faction of the general public against another, the government literally holds the reins of power, directing the populace wherever it wants them to go.

Meanwhile, the ongoing crises are repackaged and redistributed as entertainment for the masses.  Turn on CNN or Fox News and see the latest and greatest crisis, up close and personal!  Watch the Iraq War from the comfort and safety of your own home, through reports by “embedded journalists” who are actually nothing more than government spokespersons that only report what their government masters let them report.

Non-news TV shows are no better.  Today there is an endless stream of television programs that portray as heroes people who violate the basic rights of citizens in order to capture or kill a really bad criminal, such as a global terrorist bent on setting off a nuclear device or biological weapon in a heavily populated area.

By showing the viewers the most extreme examples of terrorism and the most heinous of criminals, these shows present a justification for their protagonists to circumvent the Rule of Law.  This does not inspire thoughts of Revolution in most; but rather teaches people to do whatever they are told to do by government officials.  It encourages blind obedience to government, which is patently un-Amerikan and runs contrary to the principles of liberty that the American Founding Fathers fought and died to establish so that you and I would have at least a chance to live free from government oppression and control.

If you wish to honor the honorable, then stand tall and, if necessary, fight to preserve the principles for which they stand.  Applaud those who do Good and revile those who do Evil.  Remember the principles of liberty that have been bestowed upon you not by your government, but by your Creator, and choose to elevate those principles to a level of importance far greater than your desire for money, power, position, or convenience.

Only then will you emerge from the virtual world of 21st century bread and circuses that has been built around you, and stop supporting the modern day Coliseum.