The constant strife and hurly-burly in the public forum and on social media suggests we are suffering from a collective Histrionic Personality Disorder.
John Leake- Alexander von Wagner’s 1882 imaginative painting of the Circus Maximus
Give them bread and circuses and they will never revolt.
—Decimus Junius Juvenalis, know in English as Juvenal
As
readers of my recent columns know, I’ve lately been thinking about the
fall of the Roman Republic and its replacement by dynastic emperors
invested with direct command over the army. One thing that both
Republican consuls and emperors all understood was the enormous power of
gladiatorial games to distract and preoccupy the people. “Curse
tablets” (sheets of lead inscribed by a stylus) have survived that
record the passionate desire to see certain charioteers in the Circus
Maximus vanquished. Some notable ones read:
I adjure
you, demon whoever you are, and I demand of you from this hour, from
this day, from this moment, that you torture and kill the horses of the
Greens and Whites and that you kill in a crash their drivers...and leave
not a breath in their bodies.
I conjure you up, holy beings and
holy names, join in aiding this spell, and bind, enchant, thwart,
strike, overturn, conspire against, destroy, kill, break Eucherius, the
charioteer, and all his horses tomorrow in the circus at Rome. May he
not leave the barriers well; may he not be quick in contest; may he not
outstrip anyone; may he not make the turns well; may he not win any
prizes...
Bind every limb, every sinew, the shoulders, the ankles
and the elbows of...the charioteers of the Reds. Torment their minds,
their intelligence and their senses so that they may not know what they
are doing, and knock out their eyes so that they may not see where they
are going—neither they nor the horses they are going to drive.
Are
human beings addicted to conflict, as well as violent and dramatic
spectacles? Reviewing the history of American cinema strongly suggests
that we are. However, in recent years, millions of Americans have quit
going to the cinema and now spend hours watching competing political
factions duke it out on the internet.
I just asked AI with the question, Do some people seek drama and conflict for no particular end?
I found the response illuminating.
Yes, some people actively seek drama and conflict, not for a specific goal,
but because the chaos itself provides stimulation, feels familiar from
past experiences, fulfills a need for attention (especially with
conditions like Histrionic Personality Disorder), helps regulate intense
emotions, or offers a sense of importance, even if negative. This
behavior often stems from deeper psychological patterns, an inability to
cope with peace, or a subconscious draw to intense emotional states.