Bread and Circuses

Today's the big day!  The Super Bowl!  A titanic struggle of champions for glory and the adoration and adulation of the masses.  A test of skill, teamwork, and spirit to determine once and for all, or at least a year, who is the greatest of them all.  That is the premise of the event.  But we all know that the Super Bowl is really about the commercials.  It is the one time of year where we actually WANT to watch the commercials, maybe more than the actual event.  This time, the companies make it their special mission to entertain us as much as market to us.  This day we forget our troubles.  This day we gather and consume, and revel in team spirit and merchandising.  

In the days of Imperial Rome, the ways the upper class (Patricians) kept the lower classes (Plebians) in check was a system known as "bread and circuses." By giving them enough to not starve to death, and something to keep them entertained, they largely prevented the masses from rising up to overthrow their oppressive overlords.  "Circuses" in those days, by and large, meant gladiatorial combat.  Throughout history, even today, nations have provided "circuses" as means for people to let off steam, so they forget they are under control.  At no time is the parallel more apparent than in a game of football, and none more so than the Super Bowl.  A team of men charging at each other in mock military patterns, slamming violently into one another, often resulting in injury, these are America's gladiators.  

The problem is, that by going along with this, we are playing into the hands of a system meant to keep us in check.  The corporations who own this country are especially strong today, and will make us love them, if only for a day, and convince us to keep consuming.  Buy buy buy, spend money you don't have on shit you don't need.  It's something you've been conditioned to do, and we're made to love the occasions that reinforce this behavior the most.  

I'm sure this message will be upsetting to many people, because you may love the super bowl.  You may love the game, or just the commercials.  And that's actually ok.  Enjoy the game.  But be aware of its roll.  Why is it this such a big deal?  Because it gives you something to rally behind instead of a real cause.  It gives you a distraction, a place to spend your emotions, so that you continue to be apathetic to the way the corporations and the government are screwing you over.  We all need distractions now and then, or else we'd go mad.  Just make sure you don't forget what you're being distracted from.