Every­one has only 24 hours in a day. In many coun­tries the sheer strug­gle to sur­vive occu­pies most wak­ing hours. In some oth­ers, any “free think­ing time” is care­ful­ly manip­u­lat­ed by state direct­ed activ­i­ties, pro­pa­gan­da and cen­sor­ship. A pos­si­ble third mod­el is that rul­ing elites and gov­ern­ments may pre­vent crit­i­cism by dis­tract­ing the main pop­u­la­tion with sports, enter­tain­ment and end­less triv­ial ‘news’.