tardy

I know its already old news (like, it happened over a week ago, oh my god), but I was just reflecting on how angry/sad/disappointed I was that we (as Americans) put up with parading a four star general, David Petraeus, out before the Super Bowl to FLIP A COIN.

They said nice things about him for about 10 seconds, had him flip the coin, and then the referee quickly shoved him out of the way to get down to the really important war, The Super Bowl.

In my mind, that image brought about this conversation snippet:
"We really appreciate your sacrifice, and by extension, every other military man's hard work. So much so that we would love for you to do the monkey job of flipping the coin before the Super Bowl. Does that pander enough to Americans' feigned sense of pride and interest in our military? It does?! Great! Now get out of the way."

Panem et circensus - bread and circus. This was once a criticism of Roman society, how it had detioraited to point where the government only sought to keep the masses appeased.

This Super Bowl "moment", along with the famously vast quantities of food and beverages consumed during the game, made we wonder if perhaps the United States are not more like the Roman Empire than we would think. Rome ruled its world for a time, then fell apart due to internal economic woes (e.g. the gap between rich and poor) and external wars that strained the economy. Is the American Empire in it's decline as well?