In a political context, the phrase means to generate public approval, not by excellence in public service or public policy, but by diversion, distraction, or by satisfying the most immediate or base requirements of a populace […]
Honestly that’s a thing today as well. Though funny enough the current US admin is trying it’s best to remove the bread part of that and only keep the circus. Hopefully they find out the hard way why both are needed.
I mean, they’re definitely not providing the circus.
The phrase literally refers to giving people loaves of bread and a more frequent holding of games and public entertainment to keep people happy, not the notion of just distracted.
The current admin is making it harder for people to meet basic needs, and not doing anything to pump approval ratings.
A more modern sense would be to look for ways to make life easier that doesn’t fix anything, and to make life better that doesn’t improve anything, but has the perk of being explicitly because of the admin. A check for $500 and a set of movie tickets.
The romans figured that shit out a while ago already: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_circuses
Honestly that’s a thing today as well. Though funny enough the current US admin is trying it’s best to remove the bread part of that and only keep the circus. Hopefully they find out the hard way why both are needed.
I mean, they’re definitely not providing the circus.
The phrase literally refers to giving people loaves of bread and a more frequent holding of games and public entertainment to keep people happy, not the notion of just distracted.
The current admin is making it harder for people to meet basic needs, and not doing anything to pump approval ratings.
A more modern sense would be to look for ways to make life easier that doesn’t fix anything, and to make life better that doesn’t improve anything, but has the perk of being explicitly because of the admin. A check for $500 and a set of movie tickets.
Oh they’re providing a circus. They’re all three rings.
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