Sta Hungry Stay Foolish

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

A blog by Leon Oudejans

Bread and circuses in 2020

About 1900 years ago, the Roman poet Juvenal wrote several satirical poems, including Satire X. This poem contains the famous line” ” [] everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses“. In Latin, these 3 words translate as: panem et circenses.

In those days, many Romans had little interest in politics and lots of interest in food (eg, bread) and entertainment (eg, games). Politicians bought votes from the many poor people by giving bread and organising expensive entertainment in stadiums. In that poem, Juvenal showed “his contempt for the declining heroism of contemporary Romans” (Wiki).

In 2020, there is a remarkable similarity: today, people also have little interest in politics and lots of interest in food (eg, bars, restaurants) and entertainment (eg, concerts, football, soccer).

There is, however, a big difference with 1900 years ago: today, politicians are restricting voters from accessing restaurants and entertainment (eg, concerts, football, soccer). These restrictions are causing civic unrest in many countries as these restrictions are not accepted.

The rigid beliefs of some politicians has caused a remarkable initiative: the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs prepared a memorandum indicating that opening restaurants would cause less Covid-19 contaminations than dining at home. Actually, a no-brainer. Obviously, this memo was then leaked to the press just before another Covid-19 press conference by the Dutch PM.

One of the main supporters of Dutch corona restrictions resigned as party leader, the very next day. Clearly, the (opposing) pragmatists in the Dutch government are gathering influence over the (ruling) ideologists. Despite a Dutch General Election in 3 months, there’s still little choice.

More and more, I’m convinced that Ideology vs Pragmatism is becoming the new Great Divide in our societies, following Labour / Left vs Conservatives / Right (1900-1980), and Globalism vs Nationalism (1950-today). This new Great Divide is already visible in China (pragmatism) versus USA (ideology). Many EU decisions also qualify as pragmatic rather than ideological.

Before this blog, I had assumed that societies have three collective development stages: Needs, Wants & Beliefs (my blogs). The 4th stage, an Awakening (my blogs), seemed only reserved for individuals following an individual life-altering moment. Now, I finally realise that a (“collective”) pandemic qualifies as a collective life-altering moment.

Hence, pragmatism is a logical consequence of such an Awakening. A pandemic teaches us that ideological beliefs are not very helpful in dire times.

Money for Nothing (1985) by Dire Straits (featuring Sting on background vocals)

artists, artist, lyrics, video, Wiki-1, Wiki-2, Wiki-3

That ain’t workin’ 

That’s the way you do it 

Money for nothin’, and your chicks for free

Note: all markings (bolditalicunderlining) by LO unless stated otherwise.

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