Blogs Week 2

I found the comparison between ancient Rome and our mass entertainment society very interesting because one could argue the same thing is happening with our government trying to keep the general public entertained with certain events. While the Roman governments built the Coliseum to entertain the masses, our governments build things like arenas and stadiums to house sporting events and concerts. The term bread and circuses was used to explain the act of the government trying to distract the masses by giving away free food and entertainment as to not make trouble for the upper class. Now people assume they have the right to have accessible entertainment facilities and put pressure on politicians to make it happen. In Canada many small towns and communities have hockey arenas even though they are rarely used during the weekdays. While a lot of money comes from sponsorship, fundraising and admission costs the “city” is often responsible for the upkeep. Government built entertainment facilities like arenas could be considered our governments “bread and circus” on today’s societies. The difference between the two ages bread and circuses act is that today it is much more profit based while in Roman times it was to keep the mob occupied while important decisions were made by the upper class. By building the Coliseum the Emperors of Rome made their citizens believe that they were cared for by the upper class while also showing how powerful he was by erecting a giant facility for entertainment.