Actors’ Eligibility for Election

Julius Caesar was a commander and a politician in ancient Rome. When he was young, he thought he might be a playwright. He was a theatrical person.

However, when he held the actual power of Rome, he made an anti-theatrical decision. He banned actors from running in the election.

 Now, it is difficult to us to understand why he did that.

 In the modern world that we live in, theatrical actors are artists or strange people who live in an almost non-profitable world.

 But please try to picture the ancient world, without any Internet, TVs, movies, or radios. The literacy rate was very low. And there was no technology for publications. From that perspective, theater could be the most powerful “media.” We can’t even imagine how strong an influence it had.

 Theatrical actors were popular people in the “media.” Julius Caesar banned the popular people in the “media” from running in the election and becoming political leaders. It is possible that he decided this because he was a theatrical person.

Of course, in our society, no one is banned from running in elections because of their occupation. In modern history, we can find many politicians who are popular people in various forms of media, whether the popularity is good or bad.

 Or, maybe we are being challenged by the ancient hero.

 Should popular people in media be political leaders?

Was Julius Caesar right? Or are we right?

 

Photo by UMC