11-21-2011, 09:10 PM

Originally Posted by Dysfunction

Welcome to the death of the republic. It always goes out with a whimper, and people are rarely cognizant of their contributions to the demise.

Would anyone even notice? If history has taught us anything, the transition from republic to something else can be quite subtle, without any definitive shift and in many respects, welcomed (*cough* Rome *cough*).

I have no idea what that has to do anything.

11-21-2011, 09:12 PM

Originally Posted by vansmith

Would anyone even notice? If history has taught us anything, the transition from republic to something else can be quite subtle, without any definitive shift and in many respects, welcomed (*cough* Rome *cough*).

I have no idea what that has to do anything.

Yea, it's almost always welcomed, and generally under the guise of stability. Most people don't even notice the difference, nor would they care. Truth absolute there.

Well, at least we can always look forward to tremendous amounts of money and effort spent on entertaining the masses to quell uprisings.


BTW, we've (that is the United States in specific, but western 'democracies' in general) been an oligarchy for quite some time.

11-21-2011, 09:20 PM

Originally Posted by Dysfunction

BTW, we've (that is the United States in specific, but western 'democracies' in general) been an oligarchy for quite some time.

Actually, I think we're more of a collective anarchy. Oligarchies at least seem to be able to take care of the business at hand . . . ..

11-21-2011, 09:22 PM

Gradual change never gets challenged. Only when you punctuate the everyday with drastic changes do you see resistance.

The time of mindless entertainment is here - we've all come to embody the idea of "cultural dope".

11-21-2011, 09:27 PM

FWIW you can keep the circuses, and I'll take my bread in the form of pizza.

11-21-2011, 09:33 PM

Originally Posted by Razormac

FWIW you can keep the circuses, and I'll take my vegetables in the form of pizza.

Fixed that for you.

11-21-2011, 09:37 PM

Originally Posted by Razormac

FWIW you can keep the circuses, and I'll take my bread in the form of pizza.

Forget the pizza, I just want my Soma

11-21-2011, 09:39 PM

Originally Posted by vansmith

Fixed that for you.

Thanks, but vegetables and circuses (vegetabilis et circenses) just doesn't have the same ring as bread and circuses (panem et circenses).

11-21-2011, 09:42 PM

Originally Posted by Dysfunction

Forget the pizza, I just want my Soma

I'm drawing a blank on that one . . . carisoprodol?

11-21-2011, 09:47 PM

Meda Pharmaceuticals, worst trade name EVER!


Soma was the fictional drug used to control the masses in Aldus Huxley's dystopian classic A Brave New World

11-21-2011, 09:53 PM

Originally Posted by Dysfunction

Meda Pharmaceuticals, worst trade name EVER!


Soma was the fictional drug used to control the masses in Aldus Huxley's dystopian classic A Brave New World

Aaah!
I remember now. It has been too long since I read it, and I once had a prescription for Soma (back injury as I recall).

EDIT: thinking back it has to be 40 years or more; I read it in high school. Seriously need to reread Brave New World.
EDIT2: Okay downloaded from Amazon Kindle Store

11-22-2011, 12:28 AM

Originally Posted by vansmith

Only when you punctuate the everyday with drastic changes do you see resistance.

Even then, there are times in history when the majority of a given people don't care. When we get to the point where most people are willing to blame somegroup to stop the hurt, we have a new dynamic. All you need then is some unifying factor that the majority shares, but the other does not, and you can institute pretty much whatever radical changes you want. When righteous anger is validated and institutionalized... well... queue the populist community organizer from Austria packaging blame as unity and rage as empathy.