The Scapegoat games

The Hunger Games saga is one of the most famous books and movies that made us think about the future of politics, society, and economics that may come. It’s the result of a post-apocalyptic world where nations unite to defend themselves from a dangerous past, and the way to avoid it is through a yearly ritual that reminds younger generations the harm and risks that may come if they rebel.

Every year there is a «reaping» where the government makes a ritual out of it by picking a boy and a girl from each district to play in the Hunger Games. With that selection each contestant must fight for his/her life to win the game. That atrocious idea of kids killing each other may come as a shock, but the main point of it is to remember not to rebel against the Capitol.

René Girard, a french philosopher, studied cultures and their behavior and realized that throughout history mankind has taken a scapegoat to be blamed for every wrong thing that has ever happened to towns. And so together they conspire against him or her to kill him or her and finish with their misery. With that, a sacrifice is made and peace comes once again to restore order.

We may think it is quite excessive, but the fact is that in our way to survive in the world as a society we tend to blame others for our problems intead of focusing on us to make a change.

It’s not like we are there but without a true identity we may become lost in our ideas and accept others that don’t seem right. We must learn to listen to find a common place instead of acting without reason and not seeing the main problem: what we are doing for a change…