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"One
may safely say that it would be no sin if statesmen learned enough of history
to realise that no system, which implies control of
society by privilege seekers, has ever ended in any other way than
collapse."
William E. Dodd, US Ambassador, Address to the American Chamber of
Commerce in Berlin, 1933
"America's corporate and political
elites now form a regime of their own and they're privatizing democracy. All
the benefits, the tax cuts, policies and rewards, flow in one direction:
up."
Bill Moyers
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Spokesmodel for the 1 Percent Interviews Our Heroine
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If you wish to see a vision of the future of America you may want to
read the book that many of your brighter 'young adults' are reading, The Hunger Games, in which an almost frivolous, certainly decadent, and highly
predatory elite located in the Rocky Mountains (Aspen?) rules the 13
districts of North America through its heavily armed squads of Peacekeepers.
Poverty and privation is the rule in most of the districts as the economy is largely
extractive rather than productive. For whatever reasons, most districts seem
rather lightly populated and underdeveloped. I suspect it is a nod to
neo-feudalism where efficiency and productivity take a back seat to control.
I started reading the first book because I like to keep a finger on the pulse
of what the kids are reading. It gives us something to talk about, in
addition to hearing the names and habits of these fellows in One Direction.
I ended up reading all three books. They are easily read and quite
entertaining as a story, with decent character and plot development for a
young adult book. They have a huge following judging by the backlogs for them
at the public libraries. I am sure that many teens have not read them, or
read them with understanding, in the same way that most adults are similarly
unaware of what is happening around them.
But there are certain pivotal books that capture the thinking minds of the
young, and give us a cultural indication of what they are thinking and where
they may be heading. In my own generation, The
Catcher in the Rye was one such book.
On one level beneath the drama and entertainment, The Hunger Games is a
disingenuously brilliant political satire about today.
Is this the future? No one can say. But for the moment at least, that is the
direction in which we are heading. All that may be lacking is a war or
natural catastrophe.
But certainly something is in the wind, if one only looks at the recent
proliferation of dystopian essays and novels, which seem to spring up during
periods pregnant with change. And this is certainly a recurrent theme even in
important scholarly works as cited in Inequality Matters: Why Nations
Fail.
Here is a recent video discussion with Alex Jones and Chris Hedges that
piqued my interest, even though I am not a regular listener to Mr. Jones. But
it reminded me that I wanted to write a brief piece about the substory in The Hunger Games.
And below that is one of the better maps of Panem which I have found,
showing the Capitol and the Thirteen Districts, with a brief description of
what they supply to their parasitic elites. Spoiler Alert. A rebellion occurs, triggered
by a seemingly trivial act of defiance and individualism by the heroine. Much
of it is powered by those hardy souls in District 13.
I have seen the first movie based on book one, and it does not quite capture
the depth and detail of the book, given the limitations of the time and the
medium. But it is well done for what it is, but it is a supplement, not a
substitute.
Watch the entire interview here.
"And may the odds be ever in your
favor."
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