Bread and Circus

I can acknowledge when an entity who doesn't have one's best interests at heart nevertheless has something worth learning, even to consider some of its views as beneficial. I won't forget how that same entity has proven itself intolerant despite its claims to tolerance, in driving out any neighbor whose views do not align with their own. I won't forget how it's proven itself neglectful despite its claims to benevolence, in the condition of its infrastructure and of the members of its populace who choose to stay, to try and fix what they can of the problems around them despite the legal problems they face, or of the members of its populace who have no choice but to stay.

I won't forget that only a crisis has forced such an entity to face that the cuisine and entertainment it's known for, two facets whose decadence join historical examples of an empire in decline, are far less essential than once thought. I won't forget that it's aligned itself ideologically and financially with a nation-state whose government was a key factor in the start of this current crisis. And now that it's calling for (rhetorical) separation from the rest of its neighbors, calling for any like-minded allies to join it in disunity when the opposite is needed - when it comes to my sources of information, I won't forget the salt.