Blog post # 5

Recently, I've read the Hunger Games series, by Suzanne Collins. The main idea that exsists in these books is that a long time ago, the world used to look like it does today, until a battle broke out. To show that the Government was completely in control, they seperated the land into thirteen districts, and Panem, where the Government, and the wealthy lived. Panem is a place much like today, in spots with no poverty; where as districts one to thirteen our places in the state of poverty, where food, shelter, work, water, and health care are scarce. To prove the Government, known as the Capitol, was in total control they bombed District 13 to show to the other disticts what the Capitol was capable of doing to the citizens if they stepped out of line. To also prove their strength, the Capitol hosts The Hunger Games each year. Basically, the Hunger Games is a tournament with two chosen children from each district, boy and girl, that go in a areana with all the other contestants and fight until death.
The evil power and authority the Capitol shows over their districts reminds me of the stories we here today in the news about third world countries and the unfair Government systems they possess. In the Hunger Games series, the Capitol kills children for entertainment, which can be very similar to unsettling stories we here about in different places around the world. Personally, I think that Canada's Government tries its best to make sure all citizens are safe, educated, fed, and housed. In some places in the world though, this is not the case. If Government is supposed to do all of these things, why are some government systems treating people so unfairly? People should be able to rely on their Government. For example, the Government in Afganistan has proved in the past to be a lot different from our Canadian Government. How do we know this? Well, there must be some differences as to how they are treating their people if Canadian troops have had to go in and take control over the country. So as you can see, the Government in this book isn't too far off from some of the ones we have in our World today. Or, I've just read from Amnesty International about child rights in Somalia, which reminded me of these books too. in the article it says,

"As a child in Somalia, you risk death all the time: you can be killed, recruited and sent to the frontline, punished by al-Shabab because you are caught listening to music or 'wearing the wrong clothes', be forced to fend for yourself because you have lost your parents or even die because you don’t have access to adequate medical care." (http://www.amnestyusa.org/research/reports/children-in-somalia-facing-war-crimes)

This sounds entirely like The Hunger Games series and the world they live in. The world can be a terrible place depending on its rulers, so its are job to strive for a better one.

`