Don't let anyone turn you into a slave. You're a slave if you

When Ben Carson declared, “Don’t let anyone turn you into a slave. You’re a slave if you let the media tell you that sports and entertainment are more important than developing your brain,” he was not speaking of chains of iron, but of chains of the mind. His words strike like thunder, reminding us that slavery can come not only through force, but through distraction, through the surrender of thought to those who profit from our inattention. He warns us that the true battlefield is not only on the field or stage, but within the soul, where one must choose between fleeting amusement and the lasting strength of wisdom.

The ancients understood this danger. Rome, in its decline, fed the masses with “bread and circuses,” drowning the people in food and spectacle while the empire rotted from within. Gladiators bled in the arena, chariots thundered on the track, and the people cheered, blind to the corruption of their leaders and the collapse of their state. They were not chained with shackles, yet they were slaves, enslaved to distraction, enslaved to pleasure that numbed their minds. Carson’s words are a modern echo of that same warning: when you value spectacle above intellect, you surrender your freedom.

To call the media a master is not to exaggerate. It shapes what we desire, it tells us what is worthy, it whispers what we should love. When it tells us that sports and entertainment are greater than learning, when it convinces us that the applause of the crowd is worth more than the cultivation of the mind, then it forges invisible chains that bind us. The man or woman who accepts these chains may walk freely, but in truth, their destiny is no longer their own.

Consider the life of Frederick Douglass, who as a slave was forbidden to read or write. His masters knew that knowledge was freedom, that a sharpened mind could not be enslaved forever. He risked beatings and betrayal to learn letters in secret, and when he did, he declared that education was the pathway from slavery to freedom. Carson’s warning follows the same spirit: if you forsake your brain for amusement, you willingly place yourself back into chains that others once fought to break.

This does not mean that sports and entertainment are evil in themselves. They can inspire, uplift, and give joy. But when they are exalted above wisdom, when they become the masters of our time and thought, then they enslave rather than enrich. To play and laugh is human; to worship distraction while neglecting the mind is to waste the gift of life. The balance must always be kept: the body may run, the heart may sing, but the mind must never be starved.

The lesson is clear: guard your freedom by guarding your mind. Do not despise joy, but place learning above it. Read, question, seek, and grow. Refuse to let the world decide what matters most for you. Remember that every empire, every community, every family stands or falls not by its games or entertainments, but by the wisdom of its people. If you would be free, let your mind be your shield, your sword, and your crown.

Practically, this means setting aside time each day for thought and study, even amidst the noise of the world. It means teaching the young that their worth is not measured in applause or trophies, but in the strength of their character and the clarity of their reason. It means turning away, at times, from the endless stream of spectacle to sit in silence with a book, with reflection, with truth. For in those moments, chains fall away, and the soul remembers that it was made for freedom.

Thus, Ben Carson’s words endure as a call to vigilance: do not let distraction enslave you, and do not mistake entertainment for wisdom. For the body may be free and yet the mind enslaved—but the soul that guards its intellect can never be conquered. Choose, therefore, the higher path: delight in games and laughter, but crown your life with knowledge. In this way, you will walk as a free person, master of yourself, and heir to true greatness.