Dio Chrysostom on Burrito Prices, ~70AD
"For while the cost of grain has risen higher than what is customary here, it is not so high as to make you desperate."
Dio Chrysostom was a Greek orator, philosopher, and historian in the 1st-century Roman Empire. He is known for his Discourses, and it felt appropriate to compare last week’s timeline Discourse on the price of food (X/Twitter, of course, being the “global town square”) with a Discourse delivered by Dio in ~70AD about the high price of food to an angry mob in the town of Prusa (modern Bursa, Turkey).
In The Forty-sixth Discourse, a riot has taken place in the town over the high price of grain. An unruly mob, armed with torches and rocks, has descended upon Dio’s home and his neighbor’s home. It seems from context that the normies of the day believed Dio and the other “elites” were guilty of either raising grain prices to exploit them or failing to do enough to control costs. The mob stops short of killing Dio, turning away from his home after apparently being hesitant to enter a particularly narrow and steep alleyway to his door.
In an address to the mob the following day, Dio basically tells everyone to get a hold of themselves and act like adults. Chrysostom concedes that while it’s true food prices have gone up, they have not gone up enough to warrant panicking and chimping out, and that he has nothing to do with the price of grain either way. His oration is excellent, but like many a nuance-poster, he was later exiled.
Note that his exile was not until years later and was unrelated to the price of grain. Competing historical accounts attribute his exile to either a suspected connection to a plot against a member of the Imperial family or to his consistently outspoken criticism of the regime at the time. (Many such cases.)
Here’s the relevant excerpt (highlights mine) from The Forty-sixth Discourse:
Delivered in his Native City prior to his Philosophical Career
Besides, though the matter over which you have become incensed truly does require some attention, still it is not beyond repair or such as to make you act as you are acting. For while the cost of grain has risen higher than what is customary here, it is not so high as to make you desperate. Why, there are cities in which it always is at that price, when conditions are best! There you go, making a tumult once more, as if I were saying it ought to be that price at Prusa too, and never lower. But the point I am making is that, while it is necessary to take steps to make it cheaper, still it is not necessary to feel so bitter over what had happened or to lose your senses; for the way you have acted just now is not the conduct befitting such a matter, nay, if I had murdered your children and your wives you could not have behaved with greater savagery. For to be enraged at one's own fellow citizens — I care not whether justly or unjustly, but at all events at fellow citizens, citizens in good standing, yes, as good as anybody — and not to let them explain or to make an explanation to them, but without more ado to try to stone them and burn their houses, with a view to consuming in one conflagration, if possible, them and their children and their wives — what kind of human beings act that way? In my opinion, I swear by all that's holy, no matter if you will be angry to hear it, such conduct is not that of men in needy circumstances or lacking the necessaries of life. For need develops self-control.
I would encourage you to read the entire oration; you can do so [Here] if you wish.
I think my takeaway here is that while a mob sometimes overstates the severity of a problem, it’s not necessarily politically wise to ignore their concerns, to adopt a condescending tone, or to make them feel stupid or lazy for complaining. Guys like Ben Shapiro and CatTurd have done this, and I don’t think it helps.
I think politicians who want young voters to support them should say things like, “You’re right; thank you for bringing this to my attention. I’m doing what I can to reduce costs by [whatever] because you deserve cheap burritos, but I really need you to come out for midterms and vote for me, because [the other side] is [doing egregious behaviors] and I can’t deliver a win for you without your vote.”
It is of course possible that two things can be true at once — “For while the cost of grain has risen higher than what is customary here, it is not so high as to make you desperate” — it’s the job of a politician to spoil their supporters and the job of a father to instill discipline; a politician who tries to discipline his supporters is likely to find as much success as a father who spoils his children.
Let the zoomers complain about the burritos, man. Inflation and affordability remain very real problems for young Americans, and repeatedly telling them “you’re just stupid” will not win many friends. And if nothing else: the cost of just shutting up is still zero dollars, even adjusted for inflation.
-Lee