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Echoes of Rome: Erosion begins from within.
Flashmag! Issue 160 May 2025
Once upon a time, Rome was the paragon of republican virtue. A system of senates and assemblies, balanced powers, and the voice of the citizens that truly mattered. But as wealth accumulated in the hands of the patrician elite and the strongmen of the army, democracy crumbled. It did not fall in a day; it withered away, quietly and gradually from within. Political violence, consisting of dirty tricks and targeted assassinations, replaced debate. Popular assemblies became spectacles of manipulation of the most odious kind. In this power-hungry cacophony, figures such as Julius Caesar and Octavian rose not as tyrants but as necessary saviors— until they became emperors, of course. Corruption and social inequality led to political violence. The empire’ s economic expansion enriched the elites while marginalizing the lower classes, undermining faith in republican institutions and paving the way for a highly autocratic system. Dismantling democratic norms became a political program touted as necessary to break the deadlock of freedom, as elections and consensus-building generally devolved into factional conflicts and civil wars.
Two millennia later, the strategy has changed only in form, not in function. Where legions once enforced order, machine learning models now sort dissent from loyalty. Where grain and spectacle once pacified the masses, today’ s currency is endless scrolling, the flattery of economic profit, the self-centered gratification of influencers through public display on social media, and scripted outrage.
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