Toxic Bread and Circus

References:
• Native American Protest
• Jeremiah 23:9-20 NAS
• Micah 6:1-8 NAS
• Fox News Search
• CNN News Search
• Google search on “Native American Protest”

Oh, the joys of having a puppy… I was woken up by our ‘big pup,’ a black and tan coon dog, at about 0130 hours (1:30 AM) this morning. After taking her out so that she could use the bathroom, I tried to get back to bed. But, like so often is the case, my mind would not let me fall back to sleep. Instead, my mind kept running in circles about how frustrating my life often is right now and the fact that I am very unsatisfied with quite a few things. Though my mind was focusing more on my current career, a broader sense of frustration with the ‘status quo’ came to mind. To those of us who are extremely sensitive to injustices and ‘doing the right thing,’ a focus on a ‘status quo’ that focuses on blaming others, talking around issues, and penalizing (even criminalizing) those are trying to create positive change, really irks us. It is a real ‘toxic bread and circus’ for all of us, but some of us see it more easily.

Some of you might not be familiar with the phrase ‘bread and circus.’ It comes from the Latin phrase ‘panis et cirenses’ and was coined by the Roman satirist, Juvenal. In a nutshell, he was criticizing the Roman government and populace. He criticized the government because they were giving out free food (panis or bread) and lots of public entertainment (circenses or ‘circus’) so that peoples’ attention was diverted from important issues of the time. And he was criticizing the people because they were so willing to chase after the free food and entertainment instead of being concerned about the many issues at stake with the country of Rome. (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/bread-and-circuses)
For me, there are many things that come to my mind when I think of a ‘toxic bread and circus.’ Some issues that affect me personally is the number of issues with the Nebraska Department of Corrections, safety for all involved (Inmates, staff, and the public at large), pay, and discipline. Because of how things are being handled at the prison where I work and the State of Nebraska, effective change is not happening. Another example that I often see happens in churches and denomination. Many say that they want effective growth and change. However, many within the local church and the denomination as a whole would rather talk about change as a big group, but push a small group (often the local pastor) to ‘effectively deal with the problem.’ For example, I have often lead small group studies to help other followers to learn and grow as fellow disciples so that they, in turn, could go out and be facilitators of change. Such Bible Studies were very poorly attended, if at all.

Although those examples are meaningful to me, they deserve blog entries of their own. For me right now, the most telling example has to do with the Native Americans actively protesting the gross disregard for their customs and beliefs. Although this is nothing new, there is a current issue that is really emphasizing this. It has to do with plowing through a Native American sacred land, including burial grounds, in the Lake Oahe area. During a recent protest by many Native Americans from the US and Canada, many of them to harassed and assaulted with ‘attack dogs’ and pepper.
Is this news to you? I spent a little time looking up the issue on the two main news agencies, Fox News and CNN. The main page and the US sub-area did not have any news about this issues. When I did a search for “Native American Protest” on both sites, I got the results that I referenced above. When I Googled the same broad topic, the first page of results included either specialty news sources (earthables.com), ABC.com, foreign news sources (BBC.com), or some newspaper articles (like www.huffingtonpost.com and www.washingtonpost.com). That’s pretty telling… My wife pointed the www.returntonow.net article only because someone has posted it on her Facebook page. Since she is a dedicated Libertarian, she often sees news articles that the main news sources do not touch.

What is the ‘big news’ right now? Some NFL player ‘protesting’ racial issues by sitting down during the National Anthem, Hilary and Trump (pretty much nothing on the Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson), the 15 year 9/11 ‘anniversary’ (little if any real change has happened with that), etc. Though some of those things are important (Presidential election and fighting terrorism is important), a lot of important national issues are being ‘swept under the rug.’ Do you not find this disturbing? I do!

Just like Rome during Juvenal’s time (?60-?140 AD) (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/juvenal), our current culture is obsessed with ‘bread and circus.’ We would rather be entertained by tv shows, movies, sports, etc., and get as much as our ‘food’ (here I am referring to news and politics) to be handed to us from the primary ‘trusted’ sources. If something isn’t just ‘handed to us’ or tickles our fancy, many today have no interest or stomach for it. And, unless more of us ‘wake up and smell the coffee’ to what is happening around us, this toxic status quo will continue to push us to destruction. Though the destruction might feel like it is ‘just happening to someone else, far away,’ eventually it will be felt by you and me. What is your choice?

In all honesty, it is very easy to get focused on ‘trivial things.’ I have been on vacation (more of a ‘stay-cation) since September 3rd. But, between trying to take care of issues with my back, spend some time with my family, and relax, I have not been very production a lot of the time. Instead, I have been ‘surfing’ Facebook, watching TV shows, or reading ‘trivial articles’ on the Internet about movies, comic book characters, etc. All of us need quiet time to relax, recharge, and get refocused, but we can’t focus on that all of the time. But, that has to be balanced with being aware with things around us, taking care of errands/home duties, etc. It requires effort, and sometimes a lot of it. But, I believe that it is worth it.