Monkeybench’s Comments (group member since Dec 16, 2013)

Monkeybench’s comments from the On Tyrants & Tributes : Real World Lessons From The Hunger Games group.

Kelli wrote: "Cinna is one of the first and most influential of the rebels, he just uses a different medium to express himself."
Watching Cinna in Catching Fire reminded me of Andrew Breitbart's philosophy of politics being downstream from culture. Cinna created an icon in Katniss. The books show this in the popularity of her mockingjay pin. I like that the film took this a step further with the revelation that the Capitol children wear their hair like Katniss.

The Games serve 2 purposes.

1) A punishment to keep the Districts in line. You'd either have to convince the Capitol residents that they should forgive the Districts after 75 years or else come up with some other means of punishment. 75 years might be enough to keep the current population in line but you've got to give the future population something to fear as well.

2) Entertainment. This is the easier one to address. Come up with something more compelling than the Games to watch.

Great points by Greg.

Looking at it generationally, absolutely we've changed our behavior. My mother's generation wouldn't announce a pregnancy until after the first trimester in case they miscarried. Now people are announcing within the first month, complete with photo of their peed-on test stick. Don't get me started on the miscarriage imagery. I wonder if the next generation will even understand the concept of privacy? Their lives have been documented online since they were still in the womb. Because of this trend to overshare, a lot of people adopt the mindset that it's ok for our government to collect that information because they have nothing to hide.

I like what Nietzsche had to say on the matter. “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And when you look long into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you.”

The longer you spend fighting something, the easier it is to justify acting like your enemy. Maybe you lost friends, maybe you've had your own near-death experiences, or maybe you feel that you're being held back by your own morality.

SPOILER: As Ruth pointed out above, we see Katniss slipping in Mockingjay. I think Prim was what kept her anchored to her morals. Her vote for a final Hunger Games was telling. If the war had gone on longer, we might have seen her at Gale's level.

Tate wrote: I also considered use of drones to double tap targets (and consequently injure first responders) to be a relevant issue in the story. Does anyone know if Suzanne Collins was trying to say something specifically about drones?
The use of secondary devices is a pretty standard counterterrorism consideration. If she was inspired by the Iraq war, she might be thinking about IEDs.

SPOILERS AHOY!

She is someone who was just trying to survive and make a better life for her sister. Is that enough for heroics? I think it's a matter of perspective. It certainly would be were I Prim. We'd also have to take her age and experiences into account. How does she come out of everything she's been through to have something resembling a normal life? Is conquering the demons within considered heroic?

I agree she was manipulated for most of the series. To answer the question Haymitch posed, the memorable moments are when she goes off the script. Rage-shooting the apple during evaluation was off-script. The nightlock berries were off-script. Actual combat was off-script. Executing Coin was definitely not part of the plan. I think she shows bravery and strength, both traits I'd associate with heroism despite all her shortcomings.

Danielgraf wrote: "After reading this article I think people give up their life's and turn to those who have power over them to make their choices for them. Its okay when you turned to the right person but when you g..."

I agree plenty of people are turning to others (i.e. government) to make their decisions for them. I don't see it as an issue of right people versus wrong people though. Dependence is dependence regardless of whether a person's intents are good or bad. I'd prefer to look at the larger question of whether it's better to be autonomous or dependent.

I'm a biochemistry PhD drop out who went into law enforcement for several years. Eventually I combined the two backgrounds for a career in forensic science.

I swore it would be a cold day in hell before I set foot in a university again but I'm having fun with online courses at my own pace (i.e. glacial). This is my 3rd Learn Liberty class.

Favorite movie scene: Peeta's interview with Caesar Flickerman in Catching Fire.

SPOILER ALERT Favorite book scene: "Thirteen's alive and well and so am I" It was the one lie she couldn't pull off.

Mockingjay spoiler ahead: I like the exploration of too much government. There's an overarching theme that the government from the Capitol is bad. I think we can agree that Snow's administration is malevolent. Katniss criticizes District 13's level of government as well, even though we're supposed to see Coin's administration as benevolent. I don't know if it was something Collins intended...