@ktdoggett @rbreich
When he originally coined the phrase (supposedly), Juvenal used 'panem et circenses' as a pejorative not just for the rich who used it to sedate the masses, but for the masses who demanded entertainment and bread instead of pursuing wider aims. Everyone loves a parade...

But overwork and stress have at least an equally soporific effect. A person forced to work 14 hours a day is not going to have the time or energy to fight a system which is very efficiently killing them.