Propaganda Straight from the Hunger Games

Last month I wrote about Americans’ fascination with The Hunger Games and the cognitive dissonance between their love of the freedom fighting heroin in the book and their adoration of authority in real life.

Now after reading Glen Greenwald’s recent “Leon Panetta: macho Renaisance man” on 60Minutes‘ full-on propaganda campaign in favor of the White House’s war machine disguised as journalism, I was immediately reminded again of The Hunger Games. How can Americans, so enamored with Ms. Katniss, watch that 60Minutes segment and not immediately see clear as day that their beloved trilogy is a direct criticism of the times we are living in today. Pelley is playing the role of Caesar Flickerman in pure, unapologetic and unfettered government propaganda.

And here we are all licking it up. We get to believe we love freedom and hate totalitarianism, all while worshiping our pseudo-soldier-rulers at the same time.