In the latter years of the Roman Republic, landowners amassed unprecedented riches while plebeians floundered, spawning resentment that infected many corners of society.
—
Anand Gopal,
New Yorker,
28 Feb. 2026
How could the bookseller trust two random plebeians off the street?
In the fairytale, the princess flees to another kingdom for a while to get away from the misery brought on by her father, finding work as a commoner to conceal her identity.
—
Josh Slater-Williams,
IndieWire,
7 Aug. 2026
And the story was about King George IV of England, then the Prince of Wales, and his deep infatuation with a Catholic commoner, Maria Fitzherbert.
Just as with the Romans, we peasants are treated to a spectacle to distract us from the reality of the abject impoverishment of the social safety net and the abandonment of the poor.
—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
15 Aug. 2026
Long before the official ban on private farming was lifted in 1982, peasants across China spontaneously reintroduced private ownership in defiance of socialist doctrine.
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