In an imperial capital city, expect to see the heads of conquered people on display.

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Second time in about a month, someone has suggested US professional football businesses’ ability to censor be modulated if they continue to act against the public interest. First, copyright and civic extortion, now trademark and display of the heads of conquered people.

The first is fantasy at this point. The second may well happen, and not soon enough.

That modulating pro sports businesses’ ability to censor is deemed a potentially powerful incentive to stop bad behavior highlights the role of copyright and trademark in fostering a culture of spectacle and inequality — without these rents, team owners’ wealth and power would decrease significantly.

If professional sport is one of the things that brings classes and cultures in a community together, let’s enhance that by allowing everyone to view, share, make, and vend bits and atoms featuring elements of this togetherness, in their own way, without legal threat from ultra rich business owners.

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Yes, let’s bring the heads down; that’ll get us some distance into modernity. But the empire, and its killing and torture, goes on. End that.