Beyond Bread and Circuses
How Power Maintains Control For Generations
“Men are so simple, and so subject to present necessities, that he who seeks to deceive will always find someone who will allow himself to be deceived.”
— Niccolò Machiavelli
Distraction is one of the greatest tools of those who rule. It appears in many forms and takes many shapes. Distraction is effective because it seduces the masses, it constrains their focus from things that truly matter to things that are trivial and are of no consequence to the bigger picture. What truly are the mechanics of distraction of the masses? Why is it so simple and easy to deceive the many from even the most detrimental decisions of the rulers?
Distraction is not as obvious as it seems. It works most effectively when it appears to be a major structural problem but in reality it is not major, it is moot. If the average mind were asked what they believe distractions away from power would consist of, they would say something along the lines of bread and circuses. This is true up to a point. A society that values satiating their appetites above all else is easily distracted and controllable. This mechanism can work for a time but if a society is solely built on appetites and the masses know nothing but hedonism then the society will eventually fall. They will fall because apathy and narcissism will overtake the average person to a point that they will not fight for their society or strive to create a better tomorrow. This will collapse a society fast and those in power who encouraged it will be destroyed in the process. That is why a ruling class must control distraction. If it moves too far in one direction it will destroy their very wellspring of power.
A far more effective strategy would be to allow a society to fall into a state of general hedonistic appetite and apathy for a generation. Then after they have created a distracted culture of hedonism they use a reactionary effect to balance out society again. Massive appetite and hedonism will distract a generation, and if those in power were to fund and promote the movement to fight back against this decadence then they have controlled another generation or two. The effects of appetite would be seen and felt throughout society. This reactionary generation will devote their entire lives to restoring society to what it supposedly was or the image that has been presented to them by those in power. If these ideals are battling amongst the factions of generations and the populace, those in power have successfully controlled and distracted two or three populations. While the populace was fighting decadence in a reactionary state they have allowed those in power to calculate their motives and feelings and reflect them back to the people.
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The new generations have voted in people who they believe are aligned with their values when in reality most people in power or attempting to gain it reflect the people’s own supposed virtues back to them. This creates a sense of a new generation in power that will disempower and discard the old generation that had let their society fall into decadence. While this has been happening the cycle was understood and managed by those men truly in power. They have kept two to four generations distracted while they slowly gain more power and influence over key institutions and bodies of power. They divert attention from themselves to a society of indulgence and apathy, and after the society has drifted too far into apathy and decadence the reactionary movement is funded and promoted. The same people remain at the top. They have changed their professed beliefs to suit the masses that will vote them in.
This is one stratagem of power and how it retains and enlarges itself and its influence over a society. This is not a rule. This is an observation. Those in power must remain vigilant because many factors are unanticipated in such cycles of decline. That is why those who remain in power have many plans to retain and gain power, not simply one. And all of those plans are convoluted and not easily understood. That is why distraction is so important. Even if the populace understands one plan from studying history, there is always another unknown to them.
That is where the bread and circuses line truly works its brilliance. It is repeatedly taught throughout the education system that Rome fell because of decadence, that the people were distracted by sport and food. While that is a reductionist point and not fully accurate it serves a useful purpose. It creates a pattern or a heuristic for the populace. It creates the illusion that they can see through the plan of control. But as demonstrated above there are other plans that have never been taught or articulated in the education system of control. Distraction like power is not a rule set in stone but a fluid and protean movement that requires constant maintenance to maintain long term goals.
Many believe they know the patterns of control, but in reality they know nothing. Many believe they truly understand how societies and power and history work but in reality they understand very little. Distraction is not simply bread and circuses. Distraction is everything and nothing, it is ideological movements, it is reactionary movements, it is sport, it is the illusion of being sport, it is entertainment, it is the illusion that entertainment is a form of control. The masses do not fail to see power because it is hidden. They fail because present necessity has always been more important to them. This is why power seems inscrutable because most people never even understand where to start looking.
Excellent perspective. Additionally, I would say that bread and circuses are effective not because people love pleasure, but because they relieve people of the burden of thinking. The real danger may not be entertainment itself, but the gradual loss of the desire to wrestle with difficult questions when distraction is always available.