America and the Roman Colosseum

Every day, there's a new story like this. It's sickening.

RALEIGH, North Carolina (AP) — The warden of a North Carolina prison where inmates said they were forced to rub hot sauce on their genitals has been suspended pending the outcome of an investigation. 

Six inmates allege correctional officers forced them to perform numerous humiliating acts, including gulping hot sauce and slathering it on themselves, resulting in painful blisters. The male inmates also reported being forced to simulate sex acts for the entertainment of guards, as well as to capture and kiss wild snakes while working on a road crew. 

It's become America's hobby: enjoying the pain of others. We see it in this and similar stories. We see it on "reality" TV shows and on all those incarceration shows where viewers eat the inmates' misery like candy. Judging by the photos that came out of Abu Ghraib, we have a grand time torturing "terrorists" at our military prisons. And we actually have a major political party that holds rallies where supporters call for poor people to die without insurance.

America is becoming the Roman Colosseum, where people were killed for the entertainment of viewers. Murdering people on live TV is probably something America will do within a decade or so. Read the tea leaves. It's coming.

What has happened to the United States? And why is no one pointing a finger at our newfound hunger for the misfortune of others? Oh, that's right; I forgot. Americans like it.

Image: Wikimedia Commons