Yeah, well the world is burning, the bread is stale, the circus is a dud, and people still aren't doing a damn thing.
The bread and circus thing only applies to high trust society where people identify with the State. They aren't even really a distraction, rather they're a reassurance that, even though things look fucked, the State is able to feed and entertain everyone. They're a reassurance that things will be okay if you just keep plugging along.
What does it mean when the State is not the one putting on the circus? Then it really is a distraction; the whole point is then to have people make peace with their predicament (by, for example, viewing yourself as the "enlightened centrist" who has it all figured out), rather than reassure them things are under control.
Therefore, nothing is getting worse because everything always sucked. Star Wars is a movie about space wizards with glowsticks, not a moral story about redemption, sacrifice, faith, or loyalty. James Bond and Indianna Jones are goofy, aging, bozos, not embodiments of the masculine hyper-competence needed to face the evil plotting to destroy the world. Oh, and Animal Farm is a generic kids story about funny talking farm animals, not an iconic, scathing critique of a totally failed ideological system (that is rearing it's ugly head in popular discourse yet again).
But under all of that surface level stuff is the message that the State is pathetic, corrupt, and incompetent by it's very nature. You would be a fool to sacrifice even your spare change because they'd only use it to replace you. When people lose faith in the State, even if they're correct, polities die.
Yeah, well the world is burning, the bread is stale, the circus is a dud, and people still aren't doing a damn thing.
The bread and circus thing only applies to high trust society where people identify with the State. They aren't even really a distraction, rather they're a reassurance that, even though things look fucked, the State is able to feed and entertain everyone. They're a reassurance that things will be okay if you just keep plugging along.
What does it mean when the State is not the one putting on the circus? Then it really is a distraction; the whole point is then to have people make peace with their predicament (by, for example, viewing yourself as the "enlightened centrist" who has it all figured out), rather than reassure them things are under control.
Therefore, nothing is getting worse because everything always sucked. Star Wars is a movie about space wizards with glowsticks, not a moral story about redemption, sacrifice, faith, or loyalty. James Bond and Indianna Jones are goofy, aging, bozos, not embodiments of the masculine hyper-competence needed to face the evil plotting to destroy the world. Oh, and Animal Farm is a generic kids story about funny talking farm animals, not an iconic, scathing critique of a totally failed ideological system (that is rearing it's ugly head in popular discourse yet again).
But under all of that surface level stuff is the message that the State is pathetic, corrupt, and incompetent by it's very nature. You would be a fool to sacrifice even your spare change because they'd only use it to replace you. When people lose faith in the State, even if they're correct, polities die.
That's the goal.