Quotes / Bread and Circuses

Fan Works

"Do you know what happens when the people don't have something to focus on? They think. Think about what they don't have, what others do have, their station of life and how isn't good enough... and soon those thoughts turn into 'What can I do to get more?'"

— Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish, A Man of Iron

Film — Animation

"Let's all remember to follow the instructions (quietly into the microphone) oryoullbeputtosleep. And don't forget about Taco Tuesday this week!"

— President Business, The LEGO Movie The LEGO Movie

Film — Live-Action

"If you want to people in front of the televisions instead of rioting in the streets, you can't do it with reruns of Gilligan's Island. (beat) You know...Gilligan's Island? (hums theme tune) Yeah, the one with the boat."

— Killian, The Running Man

Literature

The [Shifting] Revel was a citywide debauch, a rowdy public service the duke was happy to underwrite from his treasury. There were few things like a good Revel to pull the fangs from any unrest before it had any time to fester.

—The Lies of Locke Lamora

“The key to the Empire maintaining control over the lands it conquered isn’t fear, my dear, it’s apathy. As long as the common people can go about their business and live their lives mostly untroubled, what do they care who their taxes go to?”

— The Black Knight, A Practical Guide to Evil

Live-Action TV

Kalik: Amusement is prohibited. It's purposeless.
Pletrac: Zarb is considering lifting that restriction. The latest thinking is that the latest outbreak of violence among the functionaries is caused through lack of amusement.

—Doctor Who ("Carnival of Monsters")

"The people are hungry for more than just food; they crave distractions, and if we don't provide them, they will create their own. And their distractions are likely to end with us being torn to pieces. A royal wedding would be much safer, wouldn't you say?"

— Lady Olenna Tyrell, Game of Thrones ("Kissed By Fire")

Music

I'm so happy and you're so kind
You want more money, of course I don't mind
To buy nuclear textbooks for atomic crimes
And the public gets what the public wants

—"Going Underground", The Jam

This is the future
of an illusion,
aggressive culture
of despotism.
Living fantasy
of an immortal;
the reality
of an animal.

—"Contronatura", Stereolab

I've never seen a diamond in the flesh
I cut my teeth on wedding rings in the movies
And I'm not proud of my address,
In a torn-up town, no postcode envy
But every song's like gold teeth, grey goose, trippin' in the bathroom
Blood stains, ball gowns, trashin' the hotel room,
We don't care, we're driving Cadillacs in our dreams
But everybody's like Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your timepiece

—"Royals", Lorde

So you'll keep on craving the circus
Until all your knowledge is lost
Disabled by poisonous comforts
A slave to the grind at any cost
One by one we'll lay siege to all freedoms
And finally to liberty's walls
You'll shed no tears when they crumble
No, you'll be demanding they fall

—"Blood Red Dawn", 'Keldian

Take what small comfort there may be left
Seize what you love and damn all the rest
Panem, circenses, credulous descent
A Gadarene charge into endarkenment

—"Endarkenment", Anaal Nathrakh

Stand-Up Comedy

"Go back to bed, America. Your government has figured out how it all transpired. Go back to bed, America. Your government is in control again. Here. Here's American Gladiators. Watch this, shut up. Go back to bed, America. Here is American Gladiators. Here is 56 channels of it! Watch these pituitary retards bang their fucking skulls together and congratulate you on living in the land of freedom. Here you go, America! You are free to do as we tell you!"

—Bill Hicks

"I think Bush sent that girl to Kobe’s room. Bush sent that girl to Kobe’s room, Bush sent that little boy to Michael Jackson’s house, Bush killed Laci Peterson. Bush was fucking Paris Hilton in that video. All to get yo mind off the war."

— Chris Rock, Never Scared

Theatre

Fellow Ozians, as terrifying as terror is, let us put aside our panic for this one day... and celebrate.
Oh, what a celebration we'll have today / Thank goodness / Let's have a celebration the Glinda way! / Thank goodness!

— "Thank Goodness" song, Wicked

Video Games

"Cohen's not a musician. He's Ryan's stable boy. Ryan's corrupt policies crap all over the place, and Cohen flutters around clearing it up. But instead of using a shovel, like you would with a proper mule, Cohen tidies with a catchy melody and a clever turn of phrase. But no matter how nicely it sounds, he can't really do anything about the smell..."

— Anna Culpepper, Bioshock 1

Web Original

Thanks to a little thing called The Internet, finding out if you’re about to perform for a dictator-type has never been easier. For example, you could throw their name into a search engine with the words “is maybe a dictator?” and see what comes up. Or you could use email and see if you receive any concerned emails from human rights groups with the subject line: “So I heard you’re about to perform for a dictator…“. Or, if you’re Nicki Minaj, you say “Fuck it” and perform for the dictator anyway.

—DListed, "Today In Not-Great Decisions"

Every Pats fan derives SO MUCH of their own self-worth from the Patriots' perennial success. It's really a scourge too because you have all these shitheads who never left their own hometowns and who really ought to be thinking about self-betterment or at the VERY LEAST coming to the realization that they're worthless just straight sitting on top of the fucking world. Like life is just perfect when you set aside those two divorces and looming foreclosure, tie on a nice 7-beer buzz at 8am and swerve down Route 1 to Patriot Place!

—Deadspin, "Why Your Team Sucks 2014!: New England Patriots"

Every NFL season now is just America waiting for the Chargers to stop existing. They already have vacated this plane of reality in terms of fans, sponsors, playoff presence, cultural relevance...And yet, they remain. Think of the professional devastation you’ve witnessed over the course of this year. Entire segments of industry have been annihilated. Your favorite restaurant probably isn’t coming back. Your schools may never open again. Every gym and amusement park is now an unofficial biohazard. All that shit is gone. And THIS is what gets to remain? This fucking team? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? This is so fucked I’m gonna start hyperventilating into a paper bag.

—Drew Magary, "Why Your Team Sucks 2020: Los Angeles Chargers"

As you may already know, Qatar's World Cup infrastructure is being built using Moses-era slavery practices. One of the stadia will probably be in the shape of a lion with Sepp Blatter's head.

—Drew Magary, "The USMNT Should Boycott The 2022 World Cup"

Some people think the media business is tough, but think of it like teaching preschool. There's a whole range of strategies, but one of them, guaranteed to work, is walking into class every morning and handing out giant tubs of ice cream. The Fox lineup is the media equivalent of this: a giant pile of tits, explosions and football.

—Matt Taibbi

Real Life

Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses.

— Juvenal, Satire 10.77-81

Liberty of any kind is never lost all at once.

—David Hume

Today the tyrant rules not by club or fist, but disguised as a market researcher, he shepherds his flocks in the ways of utility and comfort.

—Marshal McLuhran

The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.

—Frank Zappa

...the rich grow more arrogant, the poor more desperate, all while the ubiquitous television set keeps showing consumers without cash how well the few live, not a wise thing to do.

—Gore Vidal, Palimpsest

"For instance, take this supposed big phenomenon that swept the country in the 1970s, the 'Culture of Narcissism', and the 'Me Generation' and so on. I'm just convinced that that whole thing was crafted by the public relations industry to tell mainly young people, 'Look, this is who you are—you don't care about all this solidarity and sympathy and helping people...You don't want to achieve anything, all you want to do is consume more."

—Noam Chomsky, Understanding Power

BTW, two wars are in an endless state of sorrow. Egypt about burned to the ground, and all you people care about is my bullsh*t?

— Charlie Sheen

150 people died yesterday and what the news is reporting is a kid leaving a band. What has the world come to?

— Chloë Grace Moretz, March 26, 2015

If the Nazis had won, of course, things on the surface would eventually have settled down to an appearance of normality. The milkman would deliver his milk in the morning, the policeman would enforce the law, the doctor would cure the sick, people would still worry about their jobs, fight with their wives, save for a new car. But they would be living in a nightmare, buried in a graveyard of human hope and dignity, trapped in a hell they would never recognize, much less question. The long dark night would have begun, and finally man would not even remember the light.

—Albert Speer, in a 1971 interview with Playboy

---