Emotional Gladiators
by Kazarian
"Television…thrives on unreason, and unreason thrives on television…. [Television] strikes at the emotions rather than the intellect."
-Robin Day, British broadcaster
I am constantly amazed at the worthlessness of network television. I make a point of watching as little television as I possibly can, but when I recently visited a family friend I got an eyeful of something awful. After surviving the doping draw of weekday serial soap-operas, I became hypnotized by the violent din of a live studio-audience and fell victim to viewing a day-time TV talk show. It was a wonderful reminder to me that before there was nationalism, commercialism, tourism, and consumerism, there was sensationalism.
The ancient Romans enjoyed the shocking spectacle of violent bloodshed. Huge arenas and amphitheaters were built to host the thrilling games where the lives of beasts and men were on the line. Wild animals were brought from around the vast Roman empire only to meet their demise in front of thousands of screaming citizens soliciting blood and destruction. One five-day event in 55 B.C. boasted the death of 18 elephants, 410 leopards, and 500 lions, all slaughtered by Roman archers and javelin throwers.1 The massacre of wild animals was often just an opening-act that preceded the public executions and main event of the day, the games of death.
The gladiators were slaves and prisoners of war who were trained to fight for the entertainment of the Roman masses. Although low in the strata of social classes, many gladiators became well-known in their day and gained celebrity status. Usually two gladiators were pitted against each other in a fight to the death. The crowds cheered the fighting parties on as the two gladiators literally hacked each other to pieces.
Today many comparisons have been made to professional sports and the violent entertainment of ancient Rome. Certainly wrestling and boxing display striking similarities in their physical contact and brutal aggression, but seldom have lives been lost in the ring of an arena. The gladiators of today are not the muscle men of fighting fame who entertain the masses with matches of strength and agility. Neither are they the teams of basketball and football stars who compete for bowls and cups and sponsorships. The gladiators of today can still be seen hacking each other to pieces, but now the fighting parties are cheered on by the crowds of a live studio-audience. Today’s gladiators are pitted against each other in emotional battles on day-time TV talk shows.
I find it sad that so many talk shows take advantage of the dire situations that people find themselves in. Single mothers who don’t know who the fathers of their children are. Lost adolescents, struggling to find their identity. People who are coaxed into thinking they need an emergency makeover. Fifteen-year-old girls desperately trying to get themselves pregnant. Any and all combinations of men and women in sexually complex relationships. These real people have been reduced to foolish tools of daytime entertainment. These emotional gladiators give their lives away to maniacal throngs who howl and curse at their attempts to cope with life on a marred and imperfect world.
Television is a powerful tool. Put into the hands of those whose intents are founded upon goodness, brother-/sisterhood, and true progress, it can be used to promote truth, beauty, and goodness. Put into the hands of those who seek only profit, power, and self-aggrandizement, it is used to project negative ideas and concepts which titillate the lower animal nature of the audience. Before you decide to watch another trite and inane program, think about what it says and the ideals that it portrays. Remember that behind every sensationalistic television show is a “sensational” team of producers trying to make more money and acquire more sponsors. Broadcasting will change when we change. "We" are the viewers; "we" are the producers; "we" are the directors; "we" are the actors/actresses; "we" are the network executives. It is our responsibility to reject demeaning programming and demand that high-quality products be broadcast. Until the shows improve, "we the viewers" can at least turn off our TVs—for what we don’t watch, can’t hurt us.
"…Duas tantum res anxius optat, Panem et circenses."
Only two things does he [the modern citizen] anxiously wish for—bread and circuses.
-Juvenal, 1st century Roman satirist
1 Pictorial History of the American Circus, by John Durant