Juvenal here looked at the human being merely externally -- which is in fact evident in both "bread" (bodily, earthly life) and "circus" (entertainment; inner life of an outer sort). and kin to choosing between Barabbas and Jesus before Pilate, the crowd condemned Sejanus, but might have praised him. the crowd are fickle. but there seems to be no deeper psychology here. and, reflecting on this, I recognized that it would be possible to describe the majorities of human -- including those I will see in Moscow as I go about my way today -- in deeper and broader ways. Paul's men of sarc, psyche, pneuma; Plato's cavemen; the decisions witnessed by Er, et al; Pythagoras' levels of mankind -- eg not those who love wisdom; the Purusha-Sukta; Steiner's levels of soul; Thoreau's descriptions related to those of "quiet desperation"; even Dostoevsky's Grand Inquisitor's sociology; et al. several of these are more insightful, even "cosmic", in their meaning, to mere "bread and circus" (which is perhaps also not unrelated to Skinner's positive and negative reinforcement, though that reduces men to dogs and mice, which even Juvenal does not seem to have done.)
one can be outraged if one believes the majorities might en masse be much more (which I now do not), or one can just recognize that this is how most people are...be they inwardly or outwardly delighted -- looking somewhat historically -- with circuses, church services, or consumerism.
and though I can still feel daily in Moscow an aspersive attitude to the majority, history shows that this is a permanent fact(or) in the human world.
probably better to understand and accept it -- practical (and theoretical) anthropology -- than condemn and challenge it.
nb. Hesse's Steppenwolf gives a clear(er) 20th century critique of what Brantlinger's book shows has been found for two centuries by serious thinkers, philosophers, social critics, et al in Juvenal's "bread and circus".
nb. Hesse's Steppenwolf gives a clear(er) 20th century critique of what Brantlinger's book shows has been found for two centuries by serious thinkers, philosophers, social critics, et al in Juvenal's "bread and circus".
april 10, 2012
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