From Bread and Circuses of the Romans to the World Cup of the Globalists: A Saga of Hegemony
Photograph Source: Javier Perez Montes – CC BY-SA 4.0
What has changed since the times of the Romans when coliseums were built for entertainment and amusement? The answer: only the architecture. The objectives live on, but on a much grander scale.
“Bread and circuses” is a term that came from the Latin panem et circenses, coined around 100 AD by the Roman poet Juvenal. Despite what has reached us about Juvenal, his intentions and his political savvy and vision, the coinage was a brilliant realization that the Roman Empire’s construction of coliseums was used to divert their non-slave subjects from participating in political and economic discourse that would have chipped from the privileges of the courtiers and nobilities of the Empire. Without food, the population would revolt since death and hunger are impossible to accept. However, the challenge that tyrant regimes are faced with (tyrants, by definition, are cruel, oppressive and unjust) is ensuring filling the two intake cavities in the human being that matter the most to the ruling elite—the stomach and the brain. The coliseums of the Roman Empire can be found across its expansive domain, and considering the significant expense of building such structures, the Romans must have understood their immense value in distracting and “entertaining” their subjects.
Historically, and for most people, filling the stomach related to alleviating hunger. Juvenal’s coinage could have implied that “circuses” captured the intricate system that we now call entertainment in all its aspects. Psychologists and linguists have a range of definitions for the word “entertainment”. Since entertainment may lead to addiction, yet another plausible definition for entertainment is sedation. Since modern definitions of entertainment can be expansive, possibly divergent, and at times contradictory, the contextualization of “circuses” as a form of entertainment may not be helpful here. Nevertheless, the definition of a circus should be broadened to include any activity that has an objective like that of the Roman circuses. These definitions largely converge to imply a process that leads to elation or emotional fluctuation which may take different and sometimes opposite manifestations. One may be entertained by a movie that is full of drama and sadness or may be entertained by a movie that induces laughter and joy. Yet, others may be entertained by sheer violence, from the soft type to the extreme.
Circuses or their modern connotation of entertainment are activities that are mostly gutted of any value to the human being. They can be considered as distractions or diversions that occupy one’s time that otherwise would be occupied by carrying out a value-based activity. Recreation is often conflated with entertainment, but the two are distinctly different. Watching a football match for two hours adds no value to a human being but largely adds significant value to sponsors of the match which caters its commercials to manipulate the brains of the viewers to buy their products, some of which can be very harmful.
Then comes the grand circus of them all, i.e., The World Cup. An international circus of a grand magnitude. Unlike those of the Roman Empire, this circus is managed entirely by a globalist organization with far reaching influence and power, primarily because of a budget larger than that of several countries combined, harbored by classic Swiss secrecy that provides fertile grounds for high corruption. But this circus has a much more devastating effects than the diversion and distraction that the Roman’s circus was intended for. The globalists behind this global circus are creating a global impact, a very negative one indeed. An impact that cuts across social life, political life, economics, and the environment.
The Economic and Environmental Impact
Industry experts estimate that between 18 to 23 million official World Cup jerseys (licensed) will be sold netting three major sport equipment/apparel companies an estimated 2.4 billion USD. This is aside from the non-licensed jerseys whose number is estimated to range from 30% to 70% of the licensed ones, which would equal an additional 6 to 14 million jerseys. Thus, a conservative estimate is that approximately 30 million jerseys were made. These jerseys are made of polyester and nylon, materials that are non-biodegradable and can persist in the environment for hundreds of years. The psychology behind a chid in a “third or fourth world country” yearning to spends more than US$120 to wear a shirt sporting the number of Messi, Ronaldo or the flag of a certain country is complex but is effective and brings huge financial gains for clubs, players and sports apparel hegemons. This phenomenon is pronounced in economically challenged countries but not in technologically advanced and economically prosperous countries. One would typically sport a symbol that carries deep personal attachment or inspires a feeling of strong loyalty, but the marketing psychology is based on suppressed identity syndrome rather than nationalism and loyalty. For instance, Moroccan kids love to sport their country’s jersey yet are willing to sacrifice their life crossing the sea to Spain, a football rival. Saudi fans are known for being fanatical in support of their country and sporting its team’s jerseys, yet no one turned out to greet their defeated World Cup team. Identifying with a “champ” or an individual that bears no resemblance to one’s real identity, wellbeing, home, country, culture, politics, religion, etc., is a phenomenon that reflects a subverted identify that the World Cup stakeholders have exploited brutally and brilliantly.
While shuttling between matches, the private jet of the president of FIFA, a globalist organization that is the epitome of corruption, generated over 500 tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent. When adding the travel of fans from around the world to attend the matches which were spread over the expanse of North America, the Time Magazine estimated that the 2026 FIFA World Cup generated 7.8 to 9 million metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent. This carbon footprint is more than double the emissions of the 2022 World Cup tournament in Qatar.
“Unite the World”
With unlimited cash, FIFA must have hired the most brilliant marketing firms to create and market a grand illusion that would strengthen the appeal of this major circus and make it palatable socially and politically. With vast marketing budget, harmful products can be turned into “cool” and “hip” products. (World Cup is typically sponsored by “soft drinks” producers.) That is why marketing is all about psychology. “Unite the World” was the catch phrase FIFA adopted for its 2026 grand circus. This theme was featured prominently in commercials showing a group of friends lounging together in a home to watch the game and cheer their teams, while enjoying drinks and food. But this World Cup signature commercial is deeply flawed: one would only invite close friends to one’s home. It is highly unlikely that an Argentine would invite an English to watch the Argentina-England match, let alone to cuddle together and enjoy food and drinks in a loving and congenial atmosphere while cheering the two teams! Such commercials while imbecilic and deeply deceptive, claim that the match will unite the world. The reality is that the World Cup is divisive politically and culturally. Whether originated out of benign or sinister intentions, the World Cup has roots in France, a country that is arguably the birthplace of modern nationalism and all its divisive and jingoistic manifestations.
Arab countries while heavily reeling from the colonial enterprise that divided their domain into colonial political states (rather than nation states), approached the World Cup with even higher divisive attitude. The infamous Sykes-Picot plot, which started as a sinister colonially mischievous scheme to fragment the Arabs into colonial political fiefdoms, has been solidified with a booster dose every four years. Jordanians, Iraqis, Saudis, Kuwaitis, etc. believed themselves that they represent different nations simply because the Europeans composed the nation’s template for them and left them with the freedom (as “independent” and “sovereign” nations) to fill the boxes of the template with a flag, national anthem, national bird, etc. This is like the prisoners when given an hour to walk in the prison courtyard. The guards don’t stipulate the path the prisoner take leaving the choice to the “independence” and “freedom” of the prisoners.
The semi-final match between Argentina and England brought old hatreds and political rivalries between the two nations to the forefront. Argentines took advantage of their defeat of England to rehash the Falkland war hostilities. The feud between these two nations was put on display for all the world to see, even for those who had no clue what the Falklands war was about.
Cultural Diversity or Cultural Hegemony
The half-time show, which was unconventionally stretched À la American style, featured Madonna, Shakira, BTS and Justin Bieber, all of whom are singers and performers whose life, manners, values, shows, and behavior on-and-off stage are divergent to those of most people of planet earth. Football superstars who do not represent any specific culture but only the sport of football, were brought in to provide an international appeal, but also to spice up the half-time show escorting Madonna and her cast of demons into the pitch. If the Times of India estimates are good, then the eyes of the 1.75 billion audience were most likely fixated on Madonna’s pornographic-style dress, legs, body and gestures. While some cultures may view certain dances as full of intense artistic expressions and rhythms, the vast majority may view them as sexually provocative and outright vulgar and dirty.
Only few years ago, Shakira’s belly dance including her costume was viewed by the host country as “dirty dance”. Now it is hailed as an artistic expression demonstrating cultural diversity and embracement. Let us remember that the football match is supposed to be rated G (general audience) not NC-17 (adults only). Unless the NC-17 rating has become more palatable in recent years to make watching pornographic gestures a daytime family experience.
Cultures, by definition, are different from each other, otherwise, it is a singular culture. When one narrow culture that can only be found in Hollywood and Bollywood movies supported by globalists the likes of FIFA attempts to impose values on the majority, it is no longer entertainment, artistic expressions, or instruments to “unite the world”, but pure cultural hegemony, if outright cultural decimation. Those performers reflect cultural norms acceptable only in the pockets of the West and possibly partly by its cultural sphere (such as pockets in South Korea, India and Thailand, to name only few examples). The penetration of the half-time show with hedonistic and satanic expressions, and vulgarity infused with extreme sexual and pornographic expressions was alarming and could have never been planned in the spirit of the all-too familiar and ostentatious ruse of collectivism that allegedly defines world bodies such as FIFA. To veneer the half-time culturally disruptive show with benignity, goodwill, charitable spirit, and philanthropy, FIFA brought in no other but children, especially from Africa, to sinisterly decorate their pitch with. Afterall, who doesn’t like children? The whole sale satanic vulgarity was packaged as if it was done for the children of the world. Here is FIFA’s statement: “The FIFA World Cup 2026™ Topps Final Halftime Show will support the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund to expand access to quality education and football opportunities for children worldwide.” This is straight out of the Rockefellerian playbook to cover a mischievous financial enterprises with a philanthropic gloss.
The irony is that this grand FIFA circus is taking place while the host country is an accomplice to the genocide in Gaza that cut severely the lives of more than 20,000 Palestinian children and malnourished hundreds of thousands of other children. One can imagine Fascist Italy hosting a grand global circus while carrying out the genocide in Libya that resulted in the death of 50,000 to 70,000 Libyan civilians during the Italian concentration-death camps in the 1930s that created the template for the follow up Nazi concentration camps in Europe.
Whereas the Romans were concerned with feeding the stomachs of their subjects, the globalists, or the true modern borderless empire, focuses on controlling their subjects. The “bread” has become associated with vulgar and satanic profit and hegemony rather than satisfying instinctive hunger. The mounting pressure on most people around the globe to make a liveable wage exacerbates the mental anguish and social pressure that makes the multitude gravitate towards a more distractive sedating experience, the grandest of which is the World Cup. So, not to offend other entertainers who may provide genuine artistic expressions to improve our lives, the World Cup can be classified as sedative-entertainment.
The World Cup has become a grand circus with severe negative impact on everything humans care for.
