Real or not real?

kanyejolras:

raptorific:

Also, I still occasionally see posts that are like “The Hunger Games fandom makes Gale out to be a monster but then acts like Cato is a-okay”

Don’t get me wrong, they’re both terrible human beings who willingly both attempted and succeeded in committing murder

Except Cato was manipulated, lied to, coerced, and brainwashed from birth into committing his crimes

Whereas Gale’s crimes were all committed of his own free will and under no outside duress

Like, I get where his anger comes from, and his emotions are totally valid and justified, but the way he acted on those emotions in a situation where he was not being manipulated and was free to react as he chose can only be described as “monsterly.”

It’s incredibly difficult for me to address Gale hate posts made in such a vein because I usually go into a boiling rage over them. But I’m going to address this anyway because it’s fucking disgusting and deserves to be called out.

First of all, who the fuck compares Gale to Cato and comes out deciding that Cato is the morally superior one in this situation? Cato had immense privilege in comparison to Gale. Cato grew up in a Career district and benefited from both white and class privilege. He was doubtlessly a victim of manipulation as a minor coerced into the Hunger Games, but he has tremendous privilege over Gale, a man of color from one of the poorest districts in Panem.

And then there’s this bullshit statement

Whereas Gale’s crimes were all committed of his own free will and under no outside duress

Oh, I’m sorry. Is the bombing of your home and district not outside duress? Is the premature death of your father in a system that kills and oppresses the men of the Seam not outside duress? Is starving and living in crippling poverty not outside duress? Is having to support your siblings and entire family as a minor not outside duress? Is suffering racism and constant dehumanization at the hands of the merchants not outside duress? Is acting on the belief that you never want to go through that ever fucking again not outside duress? because I sure as fuck think it is.

And I think that Gale’s position as a revolutionary of color coming from an impoverished background is more relevant to the oppression narrative than any shit Cato’s dealt with, particularly when Cato is an individual of privilege whose weaponization was designed to victimize underprivileged participants of the Games and uphold their function. Gale, meanwhile? Gale’s the polar opposite, a man of color from a poor district taking agency into his hands and liberating his people. 

Thing is, THG fandom is scared of Gale. Collins herself was scared of Gale and that’s why he received the bullshit treatment and explicit vilification in the narrative. Why are they scared of Gale? Why are you scared of Gale? It’s because he’s an angry man of color. He’s a revolutionary who claims agency and doesn’t balk at making the decision of bombing the Nut, a weapons syndicate that bombed his home and is capable of bombing other anti-Capitol districts, whose destruction will prove essential to the war that liberates him. Did you ever think of that? That this isn’t Gale indulging his petty revenge, but actively contributing to his liberation? Making decisions that ensure never again? 

He’s an angry man of color who fights against the Capitol. Indeed, he fights against the Capitol. I’m sorry (not sorry), he doesn’t engage in nonviolent dissent. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi aren’t the only freedom fighters out there whose method of protest is valid. Violent protest in a state suffering from colonization or dictatorship is entirely valid. Frantz Fanon, David Walker, Malcolm X, and Muhammad Iqbal were all theorists of color who advocated violence for self-liberation. Are they fucking monsters for wanting to be free? Are they monsters for wanting colonized, enslaved and/or oppressed peoples to attain agency and freedom through violence? 

What’s sad is that this isn’t applicable only to individual scholars. Let’s consider your bullshit in regards to larger organizations and rebellions. Were the sepoys in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 monsters for killing their white oppressors? Are people of the Syrian opposition in favor of violence monsters? Are Nat Turner and Gabriel Prosser and participants of the Stono Rebellion monsters for leading a slave rebellion and slaughtering whites? 

The conclusion I’ve reached? You as a white man are threatened by Gale, an angry man of color willing to dismantle oppressive government via violence.

As a woman of color from a postcolonial nation who has been to Pakistan many times while it was under dictatorship, I’m frankly sickened by your assessment of Gale and the people who unconditionally support it. Your privilege throughout your posts is not only apparent, but blatant. It’s apparent that you’ve never had to live under dictatorship and thus aren’t familiar with the necessities demanded in claiming freedom. I say all this without even touching on the blatant dehumanization of terming a man of color a monster, thus insinuating that he is subhuman for being who he is. 

(via katnissisoliveskinneddealwithit)

notkatniss:

Let’s be real I think we can all agree Katniss and Johanna experimented in district 13

(via hotpielookedlikehotpie)

jennylala:

reasons why madge undersee is actually important

• shows that katniss has friends other than gale
• shows that despite the town/seam difference there are people that stand against it
• the moCKINGJAY PIN
• haymitch, despite katniss’ bamf everything (score, outfit, w/e), was most likely swayed into helping her by the SIGHT OF THE MOCKINGJAY PIN which was MAYSILEE’S which was HAYMITCH’S ALLY IN THE 50TH GAMES
• brings gale the morphling (???? IMPORTANT HE WOULD’VE DIED)
• “they’re just songbirds, right?” rebel in disguise 
• gives katniss something to do other than sitting around aka madge teaches her piano and katniss TAKES THE MAYOR’S DAUGHTER IN THE WOODS (importANT becAUSE IT SHOWS D12’S REBELLIOUS ACTS) and teachers her to shoot
• important

(via hotpielookedlikehotpie)