Frank Greenall: Monty Python's Dying Circus ...

Monty Python Argument Clinic sketch with Michael Palin (left) and John Cleese. Photo / File

There's obviously something in the old cliche, "bread and circuses", since it's been around for positively yonks.

A couple of thousand years, in fact: it's attributed to the Roman satirist chappie, Juvenal, who was on deck about the second century AD.

To quote: "Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses."

You'll note that Juvenal's chastising the populi – the people themselves – which may be a tad harsh. I'd always imagined it was a cunning ruling class ruse to divert the masses' attention away from the issues at hand, and it does indeed appear to be a bit of both.

The Roman politician, Gaius Gracchus, had introduced the Annona, or grain dole, in 123 AD as a public sweetener.

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Naturally the whole idea was for a sufficiently diverted public to forget to blame those responsible.

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Not surprisingly, the subsidised wheat proved popular. Further down the track, with the empire turning pear-shaped, it was made gratis, with freebee circuses dripping with blood and gore thrown in for good measure.

Naturally the whole idea was for a sufficiently diverted public to forget to blame those responsible.

A comparison sprang to mind the other day when I saw the online headline of a "most read" item – "Heartbreaking story behind the Wiggles' signature move." Now, I'm sure there was a truly heart-wrenching back-story to the wiggly signature move, but just as I was about to click, my eye caught an adjacent headline: "My wife is sending sexy texts to her boss."

Now shame on the naughty wife, and what gender is the boss? I was on the verge of getting to the bottom of it when my peripheral vision just happened on: "Personal trainer bans overweight sister from party." By Jingo, does fat-shaming know no bounds!

This needed more investigation. But wait! The headline below is screaming: "Man beaten by furious fans for spoiling Avengers film". OMG, perfidy is running riot. I'm feeling drained and weak. I need sustenance. I know, I'll just pop down to the supermarket for my $1 loaf of Budget bread. Not quite free, but getting close.
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It all seemed familiar territory - maybe because the Romans had been there, done that, re the bread and circuses. But there's no doubting there's a growing contagion of "issue fatigue" abroad, with many populi only too happy to dive into puff and fluff stuff for a good dose of denial.

No matter what the Romans, Gauls, Mongols, Huns, Goths, Visigoths, Vandals, Angles or Saxons got up to, while it may have left some painful bruises and a few severed heads, it wasn't likely to waste the whole planet.

Now, the stuff we wreak on our fellow persons and general habitat definitely can. It's a toxic scrum of competing abuses, aberrations and general assaults on the thin planetary skin that supports sentient life.

For those who think there are more pressing issues than whether or not their hair conditioner boasts fractionated protein, what certain MAFS twankers are having for breakfast, or how huge their next SUV can be, helping encourage the longer term perspective may seem a daunting mission. There's really no alternative but to hang in, but be sure to smell the remaining roses while ye may.

On our own patch, despite mosque massacres, gratuitous consumerism, exploitation and despoilation, we're still – miraculously – regarded as some sort of oasis of hope by the wider world.

We deserve no particular kudos for it – despite our own worst efforts, whatever's survived has mainly been by virtue of our isolation, abundant original natural resources, and our blessedly still modest population.

It all may not be a going concern for much longer. But at least we still have a modicum of choice as to whether or not that's going to be the case.