Tuesday, October 15, 2013

"Ensuring That Popular Entertainment is Available to One and All"

Good Day Critical Thinkers!  This critical thinker (me) is reading two fascinating and outstanding books simultaneously about Jesus. Both books are filled with thought provoking history and are excellent reads. The first is The Politics of Jesus: Rediscovering the True Revolutionary Nature of Jesus' Teachings and How They Have Been Corrupted by Obery Hendricks with the second being Killing Jesus by authors Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard.

As I was reading this morning I came across the following excerpt in Killing Jesus that I thought I would share in this post; in fact the excerpt is the post. At this juncture in the book Killing Jesus, O'Reilly and Dugard are providing an historical view of Julius Caesar.

"The citizens of Rome have enjoyed a republic ever since Lucius Tarquinius Superbus was overthrown in 509 B.C., and they are so averse to the idea of an absolute ruler that the Latin word for "king," rex, is considered repugnant. But as Caesar draws closer and closer to his meeting with the Senate, he is sure that the people feel differently about him. He has long been devoted to keeping the masses happy. One way to do this is by ensuring that popular entertainment is available to one and all, distracting them from any issues they might have about their government."

What leaped off of the page at me was the last line of the passage,  "One way to do this is by ensuring that popular entertainment is available to one and all, distracting them from any issues they might have about their government."  Sound familiar?   Something to critically to think about. I invite you to share your thoughts in the commentary section of the blog and to follow The Critical Thinker on Twitter @thinkcritical01.

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