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speaking of entertainment, why do you think the theater of war is so popular on the news?Wow, at 72 and with all those years of gardening experience, you would have thought he would have seen one before now. Most Americans don't want news anymore, they expect entertainment 24/7.
"Bread and Circuses" (from Latin: panem et circenses) is a metaphor for a superficial means of appeasement. In the case of politics, the phrase is used to describe the creation of public approval, not through exemplary or excellent public service or public policy, but through the mere satisfaction of the immediate, shallow requirements of a populace. The phrase also implies the erosion or ignorance of civic duty amongst the concerns of the common man (l'homme moyen sensuel).
In modern usage, the phrase has become an adjective to describe a populace that no longer values civic virtues and the public life. To many across the political spectrum, left and right, it connotes the triviality and frivolity that characterized the Roman Empire prior to its decline.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/juvenalpersius-intro.asp