Sometimes, people make posts on Facebook with unintended consequences. Although the author probably does not mean it, a Facebook post can create negative perceptions.
This is the case with a recent post by Ho Ching on her Facebook on Caligula, an ancient Roman emperor notorious for his sadism, megalomania and sexual perversion.
The wife of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is a frequent poster on her Facebook, and from Dec 5 to 7, she made at least two posts related to Caligula.
On December 7, she posted on her Facebook a Smithsonian magazine article saying a mosaic from Caligula’s pleasure boat spent 45 years as a coffee table in New York City. The article described Caligula as a brutal Roman emperor who held lavish, decadent parties on his pleasure boats.
The extravagance of Caligula’s luxurious pleasure boats goes against the ethos of frugality laid down by Singapore’s late first Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, for his government.
Ho’s Facebook post on December 5 featured the bust of the Caligula with the caption, “In an ancient Roman oracle once prophesied that “Caligula had no more chance of becoming emperor than of riding a horse across the Bay of Baiae”. After becoming emperor, Caligula ordered ships to construct the largest pontoon bridge in history, and rode his horse across the Bay of Baiae.”
If that Facebook post was meant to convey the message of defying the naysayers to succeed, that is commendable. However, the accession of Caligula as Roman emperor was a disaster and tragedy.
This is illustrated by an incident on another bridge described in “The Twelve Caesars”, a history of 12 Roman emperors written by Suetonius, a Roman historian. When a bridge across the sea at Puteoli was being dedicated, Caligula invited some spectators onto the bridge, then abruptly tipped them into the water and left them to drown.
Gaius Caesar was born on 31 Aug AD 12 and later acquired the nickname Caligula by which he is popularly known. Upon the death of his father, Emperor Tiberius, on 16 March AD 37, he became emperor at the age of 24.
Initially, Caligula was popular among the Romans, and he was a good ruler who benefitted his people, according to historical accounts. Less than one year into his reign, he fell sick and recovered, but after that, his behaviour turned for the worse. It is widely believed that his illness changed his behaviour to unrestrained cruelty.
“So much for Gaius the Emperor; the rest of this history must needs deal with Gaius the Monster,” said “The Twelve Caesars”.
Suetonius’ book gives lurid details of his sexual behaviour. Caligula had incestuous sexual relations with all his three sisters, including one who was married. He had sex with both men and women.
Caligula once invited several married women with their husbands to dinner. He carefully and slowly examined each married woman as they passed his couch. Then he would send for the woman who pleased him most and left the dinner with her. Later, he returned to dinner and openly discussed that woman’s sexual performance in detail. Caligula opened a brothel staffed by married women and boys who functioned as prostitutes.
Caligula fed criminals to wild animals who performed in shows hosted by him, according to “The Twelve Caesars”. He frequently had trials by torture held in his presence while he was eating or otherwise enjoying himself, the book related. He had many people executed at a whim for minor offences, according to “The Twelve Caesars” and other historical accounts.
Caligula established a shrine with a. life-size golden statue, where he was worshipped as a god, wrote Suetonius. Previously, no living emperor was venerated as a god in Rome. In AD 40, Caligula announced plans to move from Rome to Alexandria, Egypt, where he hoped to be worshipped as a god, according to historical accounts. By then, many Romans had enough of him. In Jan AD 41, officers of his own bodyguard assassinated him, when he was 28 after reigning less than four years.
Caligula insisted a huge statue of himself be erected for worship in the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. The Jews, who were taught by their faith not to worship idols, strongly objected and prayed against it, according to “The Jewish War”, a book by Josephus, a Jewish historian. Caligula had the big statue of himself transported on a ship for Jerusalem, but he was assassinated while the ship was still at sea, so the statue never reached Jerusalem and the prayers of the Jews were answered, wrote Josephus. Caligula’s divine pretensions contrast with the Singapore government’s ethos of preserving religious harmony.
An erotic movie, “Caligula”, was made in 1979 on the debauchery of the Roman emperor, featuring nudity and explicit sex. One of the directors of this film was Bob Guccione, the late publisher of Penthouse, a pornographic magazine. Penthouse Pets acted as extras in some sex scenes in the movie, whose cast included stars like Dame Helen Mirren, Peter O’Toole and Sir John Gielgud.
Most likely, Ho is not aware of this sexually explicit movie. She should be given the benefit of doubt and should be presumed not to approve the cruelty and perversion of Caligula’s lifestyle. But Ho should pay more attention to possible unintended repercussions of her Facebook posts.
Ho may mean well with her Facebook posts, but sometimes they can be seen differently. Something similar has happened to me. During the 1980s, when I was studying at university in the US, my American Jewish roommate noticed I hung a Japanese lantern with a swastika in the dormitory room we shared. He objected to the swastika because it was the symbol of the Nazi regime, which killed millions of Jews and put his father in the concentration camp in Auschwitz. Although the swastika is an auspicious symbol in Buddhism and Indian culture, I removed it out of consideration for my American Jewish roommate.
Generally, I believe ordinary netizens should be free to express what they want on social media in most cases, because I support freedom of expression with some caveats. But Ho is no ordinary netizen. She is the wife of a national leader, and her frequent Facebook posts contribute to Singapore’s soft power.
Toh Han Shih is chief analyst of Headland Intelligence, a Hong Kong risk consultancy. The opinions expressed in this column are his own.