Disclaimer - I have not read the Hunger Games; I only
know the very basics of the plot. Unless
you are living in a mine, you know the gist of the story as well: kids forced to kill kids in a game or sport
run by the government. The child
participants are chosen by lottery. The
citizens of the country in the book are generally entertained by all this,
almost American Idol style.
I
recently quoted blogger Joy Miladin on my Facebook page:
“The
Hunger Games is not an alarming prospect of what our nation could become; it is
a piercing reflection of the current state of our society.”
Some
people “liked” my status, even though a few of them would not agree with all of
my reasons for seeing the parallel between the HG world and our own. Regardless of why anyone sees truth in
Miladin’s statement, I think all of us who “like” the quote agree acknowledging
we are the same people as those in the Hunger Games is important. We are not so much more educated and evolved
than the people who make up the society in that story, and the country we
inhabit is not a gaping chasm away from the one they inhabit. In fact, currently, the two worlds are juxtaposed
one on top of the other. Someday in the
future, near or far, if the light switch is flicked and we ARE literally
killing each other in government-sponsored games for sport it will be obvious
that was the case.
One
person did respond incredulously to Miladin’s quote in my Facebook status,
though. What in the world did I mean by
posting that statement? I am sure there
were also others on FB who shared the incredulity but did not comment, so the
following is my answer to anyone who is interested. It turned out to be a little too long for a
Facebook comment, so here I am blogging about the Hunger Games instead of what
I had planned (fish tanks of all things):
Whenever
I read a fictional work about a dystopian future, I always ponder how this
happens. How do these societies get
there. More importantly, how have things
like these happened in reality, in our world’s history? How dystopian was rich and educated Rome
before it fell? Ask the babies they
would throw off cliffs for being the wrong sex or too disabled or too
inconvenient. Ask the gladiators who
were killed surrounded by cheering crowds.
Wasn’t Nazi Germany –not even a mere 80 years ago-- a dystopia if ever
there was one? Could many Germans a few
decades before the ovens and gas chambers have possibly imagined themselves and
their country taking part in something so monstrous as the extermination of
millions of innocent people? The type of
dystopia depicted in the Hunger Games would not be so horrifying if it were not
possible, if it did not in fact happen over and over again in reality. It’s horrifying because it rings true.
It
seems to me in most if not all cases these historical dystopias do not simply
appear like a thief in the night; they are gradually ushered in –welcomed, even—by
almost everyone without us truly being aware of the consequences of starting
our society along a certain path. The
process speeds up rapidly at some point and becomes obvious, but only after
much has been willingly given up by a complacent citizenry: acknowledgement of various natural,
unchangeable human rights; belief in universal truths; empathy; personal
responsibility, etc. The relinquishment of
these things happens over time either out of a decadent and misguided desire
for yet more license (i.e. false freedom) or out of the desperation that can be
generated by hard economic times which can spur people to give up rights and
power to a central government in hopes of being saved. Often, I think, it’s a combination of those
reasons, not just one or the other.
Those on the top want to do whatever feels right to them at any time
(please note: “on the top” in America is
just about everybody –certainly all of us reading a blog!-- considering even
those at America’s poverty level have far more material wealth than those at
poverty level in any other country); meanwhile, those on the bottom of the
financial rungs want simply to give whoever is in power more power in hopes
that powerful people will rid them of their financial nightmares so their
struggles can end. (Note, too: struggling never ends.) Whichever reason for society’s steps in that
direction, they all lead to the same destination. And, here we are.
I
recently read an article by Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal that sheds yet more light on where we are as a nation in our dystopia. It takes many small, willing steps over time on
the part of a society to get to a place where it is acceptable to a segment of the citizenry to watch a person get beaten, stripped and robbed as we stand
around laughing and recording it rather than helping, as in this article. Yet, that is a fairly regular type of occurrence
and a more common attitude now. Scenarios
like the ones mentioned in the article are not simply more and more reported these
days; they are more frequent. Our pop
culture revels in it, in fact, all the way down to something as “benign” as
reality TV. We even enjoy doling out ridicule
at the stars of those shows; it’s what we do. It’s “harmless.” Does anyone really think Snooki is cool? No, everyone is simply laughing at her. And she is laughing at us, too, all the way
to the bank, all the while living the new American dream of unlimited license. A 19-year-old shoots and kills nine people
(including himself) at the Westroads Mall while people are Christmas shopping. Instead of a mournful song about it, we get a
peppy little ditty called "Pumped Up Kicks" that some middle school kids can’t get
enough of at their school functions where they pornfully dance as chaperones look the other way. The responsibilities
we give up, the heart we give up, are a void passed down to the next generation
and the next. The members of those
generations are left with empty space where virtue and love should have been, Lewis's "men without chests."
You
may say to yourself, “Well, in Hunger Games, the government is forcing the kids
to take part in this carnage. At least
we are not at that point.” To which I
would say: isn’t that just about the scariest
prospect? You have kids shooting other
kids in school of their own volition.
Isn’t that worse than being forced into it? “Well, at least the government hasn’t made a
game show where people laugh at and mock those who are being beaten and robbed.” No, we’re choosing to do that all on our own on YouTube! “Well, at least the government isn’t
sanctioning looting of American businesses.”
No, we’re choosing to flash mob all on our own! “Well, at least the government isn’t drugging
us to make us docile.” No, we’re
choosing to do that all on our own with one of the most popular college majors being
Getting As Close As Possible to Alcohol Poisoning Each Week Without Quite
Dying. “Well, at least this isn’t like
China, where women are forced to abort their babies because of the one child
rule.” No, we’re choosing to abort them
all on our own! We, the people!
Simultaneously
with individual and societal declines and shallowings, there is of course a
slow and seemingly inexorable march towards a totalitarian state, like the world of the Hunger Games. As we continue to march, we will simply be
passing more and more of the “burden” of some of these choices to central
government officials. But to me that’s far
less of a big deal than the fact that we’re making those choices at all in the
first place, calling evil actions tolerable or even good. In large part, we get the
government we ask for; an actual totalitarian government forcing its choices on
us would not be a newsflash. This is:
The
Hunger Games are here and now. And we’re
too proud and sophisticated to care.
