Power

I said in the previous post that Hitler's shows were masochistic. It must be said that this is not new. In a poem by Belli's, the diaklectal poet of the XIXth century from Rome, there is the tale of a king that says to his people that he could kill them all, since they mean nothing to him, and the people said "how true, how true". Belli touches in this poem a deep chord in the nature of power - the people of Rome has a long experience in thsi field, first with the Empire and then with the Universal Church. What is new, precisesly from the '30s, is that radio, television, mass organization and other technological tools allow to see and listen the king. Teh fascination, that was largely mental and cultural, becomes almost real, almost physical. What will happen when we could smell and touch the disdainful king?