With great power comes great responsibility. “Power is the ability to influence or control people and events (2013, p. 248)." Power exists in all relationships and interactions. For example, a teacher has the power to send a student to the principal’s office or to tell the class to do their homework. A boss has the power to fire an employee if they feel the person is being insubordinate in their work. A mother has the power to ground her daughter for a month if the daughter took the car without asking. There are many more examples, but the gist of it is the person who has the power is in control.
When I think of the word power, I think of the song “The Power” by Snap! (Video Below) It’s a great workout song and it seems to play in gyms everywhere. It helps you feel very motivated to lose those pounds. YOU got the power. I imagine President Obama listening to this song on his iPhone before going into a meeting with the Cabinet. They can advise him on all the issues of the world and argue to no avail, but in the end Obama has the power to decide. He is the President of the United States of America!
The people who have power are the one’s most judged when it comes to decisions. President Obama, Congress, the United Nations. Anything they do is a mistake to someone in America. What if the government finally had enough and the American people had enough and the second civil war began. What would inevitably occur? Ruin. The government would spring up anew, but it wouldn’t be a democratic society. It would be a dictatorship. A dictatorship consists of rule by one person or a group of people. The dictator may be one person, such as Castro in Cuba or Hitler in Germany, or a group of people, such as the Communist Party in China. Or perhaps, it would be President Coriolanus Snow of Panem.
Many a geek has read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I read the trilogy in four days. 1,115 pages in all. I was addicted to the story of the heroine Katniss Everdeen. The Hunger Games is set in a dystopian society called Panem organized into 12 districts. Panem was once North America, but after a horrific civil war, Panem rose out of the ashes and a new era was born. “It was decreed by the new government (The Capitol) that each year the districts of Panem would offer tributes. One young man and woman to fight to the death in a pageant of honor, courage, and sacrifice. The lone victor would serve as a reminder of the capitol’s generosity and forgiveness (Lawrence & Jacobson, 2012, scene 5).”
The leader of Panem is President Coriolanus Snow. He rose to power at a young age through deception, poisoning his enemies and the allies he knew would rise above him, and by drinking out of the same cup to deflect suspicion. President Snow preserved his power ruthlessly and heartlessly in the totalitarian tradition. President Snow uses his power to strike fear into the nation of Panem until Katniss Everdeen rejected that norm. After winning the Hunger Games with Peeta Mellark, Snow pays her a visit. He uses a type of power called coercive to sway her to his way of thinking. Coercive power is the ability to force someone to follow an order by threatening the person with punishment if they do not comply. President Snow’s punishment for Katniss would be killing her entire family.
Even though The Hunger Games is a fictional book and movie series, many aspects of the novel speak true in society today. The Hunger Games paints an eerily apt picture of the world’s reality. All these leaders in America have power in their grasp, but choose to do nothing with it except argue. “Politics. Who is right? Democrats or Republicans. Obama is wrong. Obama is doing a great job. Equality for all.” I’m not saying politics are a bad thing, but when poverty is at a low, war is about to break out overseas, and there is rioting in the streets of Ferguson, MO…TALKING about it is not going to do anything. These leaders have the power to do something. To change things and we will be in a stand still until they stop being prideful. Until someone like Katniss Everdeen stands up to the norm and fight the powers that be.
References:
Hunger Games Script
Reflect & Relate by Steven McCornack
Image courtesy of HelloGiggles.com
When I think of the word power, I think of the song “The Power” by Snap! (Video Below) It’s a great workout song and it seems to play in gyms everywhere. It helps you feel very motivated to lose those pounds. YOU got the power. I imagine President Obama listening to this song on his iPhone before going into a meeting with the Cabinet. They can advise him on all the issues of the world and argue to no avail, but in the end Obama has the power to decide. He is the President of the United States of America!
The people who have power are the one’s most judged when it comes to decisions. President Obama, Congress, the United Nations. Anything they do is a mistake to someone in America. What if the government finally had enough and the American people had enough and the second civil war began. What would inevitably occur? Ruin. The government would spring up anew, but it wouldn’t be a democratic society. It would be a dictatorship. A dictatorship consists of rule by one person or a group of people. The dictator may be one person, such as Castro in Cuba or Hitler in Germany, or a group of people, such as the Communist Party in China. Or perhaps, it would be President Coriolanus Snow of Panem.
Many a geek has read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I read the trilogy in four days. 1,115 pages in all. I was addicted to the story of the heroine Katniss Everdeen. The Hunger Games is set in a dystopian society called Panem organized into 12 districts. Panem was once North America, but after a horrific civil war, Panem rose out of the ashes and a new era was born. “It was decreed by the new government (The Capitol) that each year the districts of Panem would offer tributes. One young man and woman to fight to the death in a pageant of honor, courage, and sacrifice. The lone victor would serve as a reminder of the capitol’s generosity and forgiveness (Lawrence & Jacobson, 2012, scene 5).”
The leader of Panem is President Coriolanus Snow. He rose to power at a young age through deception, poisoning his enemies and the allies he knew would rise above him, and by drinking out of the same cup to deflect suspicion. President Snow preserved his power ruthlessly and heartlessly in the totalitarian tradition. President Snow uses his power to strike fear into the nation of Panem until Katniss Everdeen rejected that norm. After winning the Hunger Games with Peeta Mellark, Snow pays her a visit. He uses a type of power called coercive to sway her to his way of thinking. Coercive power is the ability to force someone to follow an order by threatening the person with punishment if they do not comply. President Snow’s punishment for Katniss would be killing her entire family.
Even though The Hunger Games is a fictional book and movie series, many aspects of the novel speak true in society today. The Hunger Games paints an eerily apt picture of the world’s reality. All these leaders in America have power in their grasp, but choose to do nothing with it except argue. “Politics. Who is right? Democrats or Republicans. Obama is wrong. Obama is doing a great job. Equality for all.” I’m not saying politics are a bad thing, but when poverty is at a low, war is about to break out overseas, and there is rioting in the streets of Ferguson, MO…TALKING about it is not going to do anything. These leaders have the power to do something. To change things and we will be in a stand still until they stop being prideful. Until someone like Katniss Everdeen stands up to the norm and fight the powers that be.
References:
Hunger Games Script
Reflect & Relate by Steven McCornack
Image courtesy of HelloGiggles.com
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