PANIS ET CIRCENSIS

Future historians observing late 20th century American television might note the prevalence of sensationalistic news reporting, tabloid programming, and sleazy daytime talk shows. Television promotional announcements promise the joys of watching emergency room trauma victims, high speed automobile chases, and battles between police officers and gang members. The classical Romans had a phrase for this sort of entertainment: Panis et Circensis -- Bread and Circuses.

The "bread" in Bread and Circuses was the free grain the Roman government handed out to feed the urban masses. The circuses were the gladiator games and other spectacles designed to keep the masses distracted. Todayıs bread is in the social welfare programs. These include everything from food stamps to farm subsidies to interest free college loans to corporate bailouts (the majority of "welfare" in the United States actually goes to the middle class). These handily buy the votes which keep the politicians in power. As for "circuses," this is where television comes in.

Consider this: Americans know who Nancy Kerrigan, Lorena Bobbit, and Tony Harding are. But how many people have heard of the Kerrey Commission? As in first century BC Rome, today in America different factions struggle for power. These factions, whether left or right, moderate or extremist, have stated their goal as control of the state apparatus, whether to reallocate national wealth or to implement their version of morality. And while they are fighting it out, they keep the people distracted via the modern media.

Every night, Americans hunker down in front of their television sets and watch their "reality" programs in which violent confrontations take place, citizens are hauled off by the forces of law and order, and emergency rooms explode with blood and sobbing relatives. Even the police are not immune from this process; when an officer is shot, the camera is there too, broadcasting his/her last moments, intercut among the laxative and feminine hygiene commercials. People can transfer their frustrations about their jobs, the declining economy, and bureaucratic abuses into vicarious violence against ³the criminals.² Better that than having people join unions, go to protest demonstrations, or actually think about what is being done to them!

A case in point are the programs in which viewers participate in the search for wanted criminals. "Become part of the lynch mob," is their appeal, and do it from the safety of your living room. Superficially, these programs would seem to empower people by removing feelings of helplessness in the face of crime. In reality, they are simply another way of enlisting people in the service of the state. Everyone becomes part of the secret police, watching for signs of unorthodoxy in their neighbors, whether the commission of violent crimes, the possession of drugs or firearms, or the participation is some form of unapproved sexuality.

At the same time, the viewer becomes the viewed. Fear is generated that all oneıs actions will be scrutinized by the ubiquitous eye of the state and its minions in the media. This creates a general sense of paranoia among the citizenry, which the government happily exploits.

Despite all the "information" which Americas are supposedly exposed to, it is amazing the amount of ignorance in this country on critical issues. One of the most common phrases today is "you see it every day on television." The mere fact that people have viewed (or thought they have viewed) something on a cathode ray tube makes it real to them. People no longer question what they are told in the media. This is even when stereotypes, distorted facts, or downright falsehoods are broadcast.

For example, gangs commit a very small proportion of violence in this country. According to U.S. Department of Justice statistics, less than 3 percent of all murders are committed by urban youth gangs. Despite this fact, the media has whipped up hysteria about gang related violence such that millions of Americans now think that assualt-rifle-armed-drug-dealing-youngsters are a major threat to national security. The end result is a public demand for a "war on crime" which is nothing more than an excuse for the government canceling the Bill of Rights.

The focus of national attention these days seems to be unwed teenage transvestite lesbian strippers. Programs like Donahue used to debate serious political issues such as nuclear weapons and U.S. foreign policy. Now they are an increasingly vulgar exposition of peoples' private lives on the sleaziest subjects imaginable.

Television promises us knowledge of secrets which the government has been keeping hidden from the public. But rather than exposing real coverups (such as illegal nuclear testing, or the involvement of senior government officials in Iran-Contra), television instead fills up broadcast hours with programming on UFOs and supposed psychic phenomenon. People are kept in a state of confusion in which reality and fantasy intermingle, and official corruption goes by the boards.

The endless coverage of the O.J. Simpson trial is symptomatic of this process. O.J. becomes a modern gladiator. To some, he is the condemned criminal who must be thrown to the lions in order to expiate societyıs evil. To others, he is the champion of the people defying the impersonal state. The O.J. trial is symbolic of greater issues. It could be you too, lying murdered in a pool of blood -- or framed by corrupt cops. Take your pick, join your faction, and get your seat in the Circus Maximus.

Meanwhile, the real villains are ignored. Rarely, if ever, do we see the videocamera intruding into the preserves of power. There are no "cop" type programs which show the indiscretions of police officers. Can you imagine an ³Americaıs Most Wanted² which targeted, say, law enforcement officers who had been responsible for the wrongful deaths of citizens?

Nor do we see the television cameras in the executive board rooms or the offices of the bureaucracy. Why not have a program exposing violations of the Constitution by government officials? Or showing fraud perpetuated by corporate executives, like the Savings & Loan scandal? More people are killed in this country because of violations of occupational safety standards than due to street gang shootings, but this is not something you would realize by watching television.

Consider the real problems this nation faces:

These issues are studiously ignored in the mainstream media. But in the long run the realities of the economy will catch up with this country, and widespread collapse will be the result. And then what will be the alternative other than to surrender all power to the state? This is precisely what happened in the Roman Republican the 1st century BC, leading to the establishment of the Empire. But who cares, as long as we can tune in our television sets and watch a teenage prostitute being hauled off by the forces of law and order? Obviously, everything is all right in America!

Still, there is an alternative. Right now an alternative media is developing, that based on cybertechnology. It is important that people take advantage of it and disseminate the truth. If not, well, then save me a box seat at the Coliseum.