Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Obama as Roman emperor -- the rise and fall of the propaganda master

Very interesting:

Obama as Roman emperor -- the rise and fall of the propaganda master - CSMonitor.com: "To understand Obama's fall, we must understand his rise; and to do that, we must look to ancient history. It was neither for his resume nor his policies that America fell in love with him. In fact, Obama's policy priorities have turned out to be quite unpopular.

It was instead by following the lead of Rome's greatest emperors that Obama won (temporarily) America's awe and devotion. This sort of ruler cult begins to crumble, of course, when the ruler is required to make decisions and take positions under unprecedented media scrutiny."

2 comments:

Brandon B. said...

I agree with you here Ron. The media was waaaay to sympathetic with him during the campaign and he follow the rule of most Roman emperors by promising to give everything to the people. You should look into the social polcies of the later empire. They're social programs became so large it ended up bankrupty the economy and allowing Hannibal to invade with very little resistance.

Ron Ballew said...

Good points. As I remember the circus and the gladiatorial battles were also used to pacify the populace. Bread was also given to control the crowds.

Food and entertainment this ended up being the dole. Hmm. Sounds familiar down't it?