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Occupy your brain with nonsense - this loves politicians!
Bread and Circuses is a metaphor for a simplistic means of appeasement. In the case of politics, the phrase is used to describe the creation of public approval, not through exemplary or excellent public service or public policy, but through the mere satisfaction of the immediate, shallow requirements of a populace. The phrase also implies the erosion or ignorance of civic duty amongst the concerns of the common man.
In modern usage, the phrase has become an adjective to deride a populace that no longer values civic virtues and the public life. To many across the political spectrum, left and right, it connotes the triviality and frivolity that defined the Roman Empire prior to its DECLINE.
Panem et Circenses - When citizens sit around and watch mainstream TV, drink beer and watch endless games they are acting little different than the Roman citizens. We all know what happened to the Roman Empire.
