In Roman times the circus existed to bring entrainment to the people. Thousands of people would attend the circus to shout with bloodthirsty vigour as they watched people killing each other, being ripped apart and eaten alive by lions. To be a gladiator was to know certain death, to be a criminal was to know certain death. The public loved the kill and the circus was the only place to get that thrill without killing people yourself. (and ending up in the circus yourself for the crime).
 
Society today looks back on the olden day circus as barbaric, violent, disgusting and unbelievable. Certainly, their were people against the circus in those times and some even lead armies against Rome. In AD 325, Constantine put a brief stop to the circus, though it was overruled three years later. With Christianity becoming an official religion in AD 393, a ban was placed on putting Christians in the arena, but non-Christians still suffered and died in large numbers. It was only the lack of funding that eventually started to put an end to the circus.
 
In today's modern and supposedly 'civilised' world, the idea is shocking, and yet I don't think we have really changed one bit. The only difference between then and now is the circus is a place of family fun entertainment. But people still relish the the suffering of others. Both consciously and unconsciously. These days it generally does not involve blood, but I think its just as bad.
 
The most obvious way to see this is of cause from films and TV. We all know that violent films with lots of action sell better than one the promotes love and understanding. We also know that newspapers sell better when they are jam packed with bad news rather than good news. We as humans love disaster. There are still people who run dog fights, we see in Iraq how western forces degraded and tortured captured people.
 
A look at TV also shows us that people love programs where other people get hurt. Just take a look those programs that so called 'funny' clips from people. How many of those clips are about someone hurting them selves with canned laughter just to make sure you know when to laugh. We love reality shows that involve people getting into fights and arguments and if a fist fight happens then all the better - ratings up. We even love watching people being told to eat disgusting things and to terrible things in reality shows.
 
Then there are the hundreds of games that promote the idea of killing. I going into a computer game shop and being stunned at the number of games that involved killing and then seeing the small shelf that have non-violent games.
 
Are we really any different to the public that loved the games in Rome?
 
I think a classic example of going for the kill was the whole Jade Goodie, Shilpa Shetty debacle. I think we can all agree that her behaviour was not the best and that the really should not have said (in anger) what she did. But what is amazing is that the public and the media went in for the kill in a far more vicious and longer attack than Jade was ever guilty of. It struck me that the photos that where splashed all over the papers of Jade with some terrible expression on her face would have taken the media people very conscious and specific effort to go through the footage frame by frame to find the picture that made Jade look the worst. The public bought newspapers ten to the dozen, people wrote hate letters and death threats. All in all, I think that what the public and the newspapers did to Jade Goody was tantamount to throwing her in arena with the lions. In fact that might have been kinder than the pain that she suffered and is still suffering.
 
So no, I don't think that we are any different or more civilised than the Romans who relished in the games.
 
I think that when we start to take a step back and have a really honest, good look at ourselves and our actions, we might begin to see that actually we have a long way to go before we can call ourselves civilised. Only when we start to really act with compassion and understanding can be begin to put out our love for the kill.
 
But until then, we are nothing but the crowd loving the blood at the circus.

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