Reality TV Gladiators

In my quiet time I have felt that we are no different that any other people throughout history. If we pay attention we will see an ever repeating pattern of behaviors by people as a whole. The same issues haunt societies. Race, sex, gender, morality the list of common themes in our lives were the same prevailing moral issues of our predecessor’s time.

The bread and circus that I mention in “The Gorilla and The Bathroom- Consumption. Bread & A Circus” continue to an even greater effect thanks to our ever evolving technology. The circus of the Roman’s were their bloody gladiator fights. Slaves would be thrown into a coliseum with hungry lions and bears and left to run for their lives. Literally, except few every made it. Sometimes they would put slave against slave with the people deciding if the loser would live or die that very moment. With the kings approval the slave was often beheaded, the others would be eaten by their animal.

Imagine if you will, a coliseum with elaborate decor. The carpets are plush and the costumes are gaudy. Theere are men, women and children of every race and origin in the ring where the slaves usually are. They all appear to be doing separate things in groups but it all works together to entertain a large group of diverse people, even people that you would not normally think there. In the audience is doctors, lawyers, esteemed professors and clergy even. They gather at their allotted viewing times and surrender to the entertainers, until they tire of it and the entertainers disappear, some never to be seen or heard from again.

The entertainers didn’t feel they were slaves. They were compensated well for their services and time. The abuse that they took from the public was made light. They were trained that anyone who didn’t agree with them was a threat and to be attacked. They were given a venue to seek justice for their anger and vengeance for their pain.

The others who decided to be entertained by these were fooled into believing their life was not enough unless it looked like these entertainers. The young and old viewer alike began to think that since everyone was watching these that they were the ones with the answers to all their problems. They even became regarded as experts in field which they ought not.

No matter how many of these entertainers in the past had committed suicide, or died from a drug overdose, or lost their family and friends the others still fiend to belong. These entertainers would often face great shame and humiliation from the others, sometimes through no fault of their own. Right or wrong no one deserved to be ridiculed the way the others would taunt and ridicule the entertainers.

Why do the entertainers stay? Why put up with the shame and the ridicule?

The very people who claim to hate the entertainers make it possible for them to stay where they are. In some cases, the entertainers money has held him hostage. For other people they have no knowledge of another way of life. They’ve been an entertainer from birth, this is all they know.

Just like the Romans and their gladiators we decided everyday if a group of people live or die. We cheer or boo until the powers that be either prod them further down the hole of indecency and shame or throw them to the side like so much trash. They are left to deal with national attention on the secret parts of their lives. Some are never seen or heard from again and have to cope with the withdrawals from fame broken and alone.

What’s the answer? How do we free the entertainer if they don’t realize they need help? Truthfully, we can only free ourselves and by doing so give others the impetus or the courage to free themselves.