Panem et Circenses: How the Rich Appease You

If people were dissatisfied with the super rich, they would long ago have disposed of them. It’s the goal of the traditional tyrant to rule through fear, making people so afraid of dissent that they will fall in line. But this creates a highly unstable dynamic between the people and their leaders. Resentment always builds up, until somewhere it erupts. And the more it builds, the more dangerous it is. The tyrant seals his own fate by the very means with which he chooses to rule. Instead of having his people as allies, everyone is his enemy.

And, just as a few men cannot despotically rule an entire nation by mere coincidence, the world of billions cannot be ruled by a mere few thousand without an immense amount of scheming. The super rich realized the problem with traditional forms of tyranny and engineered a solution, one which has long been touted by successful rulers, including those of the most successful empire in the West’s entire history: the Romans.

“Panem et circenses” is Latin for “bread and circuses”. It is the idea that, as long as the people have ample food (“bread”) and ample entertainment (“circuses”), they will not care about the broader problem of the system in which they find themselves. They can provide for themselves and have enough entertainment to occupy them – these are the simplest satisfaction of human needs, and they are the only spheres with which many people are concerned.

People spend most of their time doing two things: earning money (to get food) and being entertained. Nothing beyond that is ever ventured. Consider how difficult it can be to get people involved in politics, despite how important it is. How can they be disinterested? – because they live their lives in the arena of food and entertainment. Everything else is just noise.

Other people might follow religious purposes, which serve as yet another distraction. The rich sponsor religions to a massive degree. Why wouldn’t they? If you can get millions of Christians to pursue exclusively Christian goals (thus ignoring the problem of the super rich), you’re golden.

Many people operate on the level of bread and circuses. Many more people need a third ingredient for a good life: meaning. Mainstream religion is simply the means by which this need for meaning is satisfied.

Food, entertainment, and meaning. These three form the circle of Common Life and the concerns of the vast majority of people. Other things are either contingencies or nothings.

What about love? Love creates stories and is therefore another means of entertainment. Love stories are often almost as gripping as actual love.

The Bible is made up of stories, which are broadly used in entertainment. We resonate with stories; not many people resonate with mere concepts, which is why the Bible is not an abstract discussion of the nature of God and his world (even if that would make more sense!).

Turning

It’s hard to take someone whose only interest is Common Life and make them interested in the vastly more expansive sphere of the world and the intellect. Food and entertainment have nothing to say about politics or philosophy. As for religion, its purpose is to provide justification of some higher power and give people a path to follow. That path is never opposed to the super rich who rule our world.

Conspiracy

Many people find the idea that the super rich are scheming against the people to be insane – mainly because this idea is usually espoused by conspiracy theorists who make a number of other, much more bizarre and stupid claims. But if you consider it with an honest outlook, you’ll find that:

  1. Billions of people do not come to be ruled by a few thousand by mere luck or chance. It’s not a natural state, either – a natural state would involve tribes and small, isolated communities. In fact, it’s an artificial state imposed on us by the super rich and the rule of law (which, ultimately, exists to serve the rich more than it does the poor).
  2. The greediest people in the world are those with the most money, and greed operates under the profound threat of others – which is to say, all greedy people are afraid of having their riches stolen from them. So, they lobby and put systems in place to ensure that they will retain their wealth and anyone trying to take it from them is punished. It really isn’t much of a leap to say that greedy billionaires will take every action necessary to ensure that they cannot be under threat.
  3. The richest people have the most power in society. They therefore have the means to influence public opinion and politicians. They lobby, sponsor certain public figures, fund think tanks, put pressure on the media, even establish whole media outlets themselves, lie, cheat – all to ensure that things go favorably.
  4. The richest people see that they stand to gain more for themselves when they work together (“network“). If it were every rich man for himself, they’d incur too many unnecessary losses opposing each other. It makes more sense for them to make strategic alliances and relationships, in order to benefit themselves in the long term. And of course, even psychopaths are capable of making strong bonds when they want to.

Note that these are all simply the consequences of putting psychopaths at the top. How did they get to the top in the first place? They’re psychopaths. Manipulation is their MO. Of course they do well in “free” markets. They will take up business strategies that any decent person wouldn’t even touch yet which yield immense tactical value. They will compromize all morals for a profit.

When you consider this, suddenly, the idea of a conspiracy by the super rich doesn’t look so implausible. The reason why it’s so often looked down on is because it’s discredited by the more ridiculous ramblings about alien lizards and Anunnaki and the Illuminati. Anyone who believes that bullshit is living in a fantasy land. They can’t face up to the simple reality of super rich psychopaths.

The rich elites aren’t scared of David Icke; they laugh at him. He’s an amusing distraction. He serves no other purpose than to be the circus. The day someone poses an actual threat to them, they’ll be scared – but that day has not yet come.

Conspiracy theorists can continue whatever stupid talks or shows they want; it won’t make a single difference to the super rich.

Don’t let them appease you.

Trumpism of the Day


“SHAMEFUL! The Radical Democrats, led by Comrade Kamala Harris and Deranged Jack Smith, are lying to the American People, and trying to hide the fact that I specifically said, “PEACEFULLY AND PATRIOTICALLY” to the huge crowd of Patriots gathered in Washington, D.C. on January 6th.” – Truth Social, October 3, 2024 [Link]

Wow, look at that – Donald Trump is calling someone deranged! Pot, meet kettle!

Very nice, Donnie. You also said:

  • “And by the way, does anybody believe that Joe had 80 million votes? Does anybody believe that? He had 80 million computer votes. It’s a disgrace. There’s never been anything like that. You could take third-world countries. Just take a look. Take third-world countries. Their elections are more honest than what we’ve been going through in this country. It’s a disgrace. It’s a disgrace.”
  • “But we look at the facts and our election was so corrupt that in the history of this country we’ve never seen anything like it. You can go all the way back.”
  • “Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong.”
  • “It’s all part of the comprehensive assault on our democracy, and the American people are finally standing up and saying no. This crowd is, again, a testament to it.”
  • “The radical left knows exactly what they’re doing. They’re ruthless and it’s time that somebody did something about it.”
  • “Make no mistake, this election was stolen from you, from me and from the country.”
  • “And not a single swing state has conducted a comprehensive audit to remove the illegal ballots. This should absolutely occur in every single contested state before the election is certified.”
  • “This is a criminal enterprise.”
  • “The Republicans have to get tougher. You’re not going to have a Republican Party if you don’t get tougher.”
  • “… the Constitution says you have to protect our country and you have to protect our Constitution, and you can’t vote on fraud.”
  • “They said it’s not American to challenge the election. This the most corrupt election in the history, maybe, of the world.”
  • “We must stop the steal and then we must ensure that such outrageous election fraud never happens again, can never be allowed to happen again.”
  • “Together, we will drain the Washington swamp and we will clean up the corruption in our nation’s capital.”
  • “As this enormous crowd shows, we have truth and justice on our side.”
  • “I think one of our great achievements will be election security. Because nobody until I came along had any idea how corrupt our elections were.” (You weren’t complaining in 2016!!)
  • “And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
  • “So we’re going to, we’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. I love Pennsylvania Avenue. And we’re going to the Capitol …”

No, you may not have literally said, “Let’s go and attack the Capitol to stop them certifying the election,” but no serious person could have failed to see the danger in what you said. Your rhetoric was highly incendiary and you gave false claim after false claim to a riled and angry crowd. You said, “And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”

Rather than handle things responsibly and shut up for a while and tell your supporters you were going to comply with the democratic process, you decided to launch a rhetoric of “taking back our country”. And it wasn’t just that speech; it was weeks leading up to it.

You also did not send the National Guard in to help the situation, and you only released a statement telling the rioters to go home once it had become clear that the situation was not going to evolve into a complete coup.

The only reason you used the word “peacefully” was to give yourself a safety net. There was nothing peaceful about your speech.

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