Although I appreciate a good sports event, mostly for the sportsmanship, commercial football and the SuperBowl are spectacles of excess and distraction.
Gladiatorial games were also given by the emperor and other aristocrats to distract the general population. By entertaining them, the shows kept the population in good humor and well-disposed to its rulers, as well as prevented their interest and consequent interference in politics. This was indeed very successful as reflected by Juvenals famous complaint: "The people which once bestowed imperium, fasces, legions, everything, now foregoes such activities and has but two passionate desires: bread and circus games." (X.78-81). -- http://janusquirinus.org/essays/Arena.html
As of late I like to put my activities in perspective, and make sure I can personally accept consequences for my family, in whatever activity we join in.
Full Body scanners will be used at the Super Bowl, adding X-ray pollution and cancer causing appliances to anyone subjected. Even Congress has asked for an inquiry into the health effects of these radiation scanning machines. They will also be employing psychological screening trucks, in which patrons have to walk through and be questioned, assuming to be interrogated as to whether they are terrorists or not.
“There will be a security perimeter around the stadium through which all fans must pass before entering the gate,” reports Yahoo Sports, adding that fans should not feel “self-conscious about getting patted down” because “this is the world in which we live now.”
I’m sorry, “the world in which we live”? Raising potential Boy Scouts who represent the country in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and of whom we have talked about our God-given rights, and who carry our colors, should understand that the Republic in which we live is acting like an Empire of old.
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