bread & circuses

let’s call it what it is - a distraction

Let me start this off how I started every high school essay: with a definition.

Merriam Webster defines “bread and circuses” as “a palliative offered especially to avert potential discontent.”¹ The term originates from Roman satirical poet Juvenal, who critiqued the provisions of wheat & costly public games to the Annona (Roman citizens) as a means of gaining tyrannical political power.

... Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses.

—Juvenal, Satire 10.77–81

This concept came to mind a few weeks ago after the new season of Love Island USA premiered, when I told a friend that this is my chosen form of B&C. The show’s near-daily airing schedule results in 2+ hours of my day spent consuming the show itself, THEN consuming meta commentary via TikToks and gossip articles and podcasts and texts from friends.

You've just cajoled the last lo mein noodle out of a takeout container and narrowly avoided choking on it, thanks to the dangerously hilarious comedy special you're watching. Then, just as soon as you've begun to recover, that friend starts texting -- railing against the inadequacies and inequities of local government. Instead of replying, though, you put your phone on vibrate and turn back to the entertainment at hand. It's just too difficult to get upset when your belly is full and your mind is distracted.

- Laurie Dove, How Stuff Works

That this is happening against the backdrop of continued deportations and ICE raids, erasure of trans rights, oh yeah and “bunker busting” (?!) bombs dropped on a foreign country without legislative approval is not lost on me. Roman-era bread and circuses are today’s “little treats” and “no thoughts, just vibes” forms of entertainment. And yet, I would rather talk about Huda & Jeremiah’s trauma responses. I would rather watch parodies of Nick saying “Mamacita.” And I feel absurdly grateful that, despite the horrors persisting, an iced oat milk cardamom latte can still turn my day around.

If I have to take what I can get, I will gladly take this. But let’s call it what it is - a distraction.

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good things on the internet

• HAIM covers Addison Rae’s “Headphones On” (their new album slaps btw)🎸

• play Seattle Public Library (or your own local library’s) book bingo with me 📚

And a good thing in real life: this incredible barista SpongeBob art at my local Diva Espresso ☕

currently reading

• Pirates of the Ayahuasca by Sarah Miller: A different take on the white-woman-goes-to-South-America-for-ayahuasca beat that I really enjoyed.

• Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab: Three lesbian vampires whose paths cross over multiple centuries - the perfect beach read for pride month.

this week’s jam

photo of my cats

Image description: Kerouac lounges in the sun, licking his paw as he lays splayed on his back in the grass. We all love summer sunshine.

1. The Latin term for bread is “panem” - I will let you Hunger Games fans do with that what you will.