Donald Sutherland: 'I want Hunger Games to stir up a revolution'

[Ichingcarpenter]

Donald Sutherland wants to stir revolt. A real revolt. A youth-led uprising against injustice that will overturn the US as we know it and usher in a kinder, better way. "I hope that they will take action because it's getting drastic in this country." Drone strikes. Corporate tax dodging. Racism. The Keystone oil pipeline. Denying food stamps to "starving Americans". It's all going to pot. "It's not right. It's not right."

Millennials need awakening from slumber. "You know the young people of this society have not moved in the last 30 years." With the exception of Occupy, a minority movement, passivity reigns. "They have been consumed with telephones." The voice hardens. "Tweeting."

We are high up in a Four Seasons hotel overlooking Beverly Hills, sunlight glinting off mansions and boutiques below, an unlikely cradle of revolution. Sutherland, resplendent in a dark suit and red tie, is pushing 80. But he is quite serious about the call to arms. "We did it in '68."

The Canadian actor has a venerable record of leftwing activism dating back to support for the Black Panthers and opposition to the Vietnam war, but this latest foray into subversion dovetails with promoting The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, the second instalment in a series of four films based on Suzanne Collins's bestselling novels for young adults. It takes forward the story of Katniss, played by Jennifer Lawrence, who must fight other oppressed proles to the death as part of a tyrannical government's strategy of rule through fear. The dystopia, called Panem, is built on the ashes of the US, and Sutherland wants young audiences to respond to the allegory. "Hopefully they will see this film and the next film and the next film and then maybe organise. Stand up."



http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/nov/19/donald-sutherland-hunger-games-catching-fire

[Ichingcarpenter]

1. I wonder which districts are

the UKraine, Egypt, Thailand etc that are being treated to a shock doctrine by the Panem?

Of course the US is district number one.......

[winter is coming]

2. There's a moment in the movie of Catching Fire where Katniss glances out the train window

and sees "The odds are NEVER in our favor" spray-painted on a passing car. Although it's appropriate for the movie, I immediately thought of it as a statement that the 1% would not be comfortable seeing on walls and subway cars.

[PowerToThePeople]

3. I agree, but

It is his generation that ushered in Reaganomics, Free-trade, Media consolidation, etc, etc. Thanks for dumping your shit onto future generations...

I did not get a chance to vote for a Carter second term as I was only in Elementary school.

[catbyte]

4. Those of us who are really tried like hell to re-elect him

We really did. I knew that Jolly Maniac Reagan was going to be a clusterfuck and he most certainly was. The seeds of most of our current ills were sown by him. I am sorry.

[PowerToThePeople]

5. Also..

All of us (my generation) grew up under Reagan. We were indoctrinated Republicans from early on. Once I got out into the real world, I saw the errors of the "bootstraps" and trickle-down thinking, but many did not come to see it the same. They still follow the same Republican "religion" that they grew up with.

[Iggo]

11. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and your generation voted in dubya. Twice!

And, since I live in California, I'm responsible for Proposition 8.

See how that works? We're all fucking scum.

[PowerToThePeople]

12. Uh, NO

First time SCOTUS placed him. We voted in Gore.

Second time we voted in Kerry, it was stolen.

[LanternWaste]

56. You're merely rationalizing the sins of this generation at this point, holding it to a lesser standa

I think you're merely rationalizing the sins of this generation at this point while indicting those of the past generations, holding it to a lesser standard than you hold previous generations.

This is no one generation in the post-industrial age that is wholly innocent or wholly guilty.

[PowerToThePeople]

57. That is true

What I was trying to show here (though it appears to have not been successful) is a counter-view to these statements in OP.

Millennials need awakening from slumber. "You know the young people of this society have not moved in the last 30 years." With the exception of Occupy, a minority movement, passivity reigns. "They have been consumed with telephones." The voice hardens. "Tweeting."

I think I am going to leave it at that. I have no animosity against any particular generation. That was not my intent.

[dreamnightwind]

71. Youth has always been the catalyst for change

That's where the energy is, it's been that way forever. Sutherland is correct that consumer electronics (games, social media) have played a role in keeping youth happy enough and distracted enough to keep them out of the streets.

No need for any generational arguments about this, and I didn't get that from Sutherland's statements. He knows where the energy and fire is, it's in the young people. Those of us who have been around longer and have lived more of the history of this country will stand with them. If we were old and comfortable that might not be the case but we're old and hurting. Let's do this together, nonviolently, resolutely.

It will be incredibly difficult so we'll need every segment of society as much as possible, we'll have to be very wary of divide and conquer strategies such as generational finger-pointing.

And the social media that serves as a distraction can also serve as an organizing tool. Though of course such things are closely monitored.

[hunter]

45. I worked for Carter.

Reagan was a puppet.

How did people not see that???

[CBGLuthier]

6. Don't Blame the Canadian.

As a Canadian citizen Mr. Sutherland, proudly, I would imagine, is not to blame for what happened in the USA. He has always stood for left causes. WTF do you think he deserves criticism on this issue?

[PowerToThePeople]

7. It is not personally directed towards him

Hollywood is USA. Many of the production studios he gets employment with are US entities. These entities do help to shape the narrative of our country. He may not be a citizen, but he does play a non-minor part in the entertainment industry.

[notemason]

9. This site amazes me;

I'm slandered for being from the South, slandered for reading the Bible, slandered for being a white male, and now slandered for being of the age to vote for Reagan. Hell I voted for Carter twice, campaigned for him, wrote him personal letters. But my “generation” voted for Reagan so again, screw us. How are we going to solve racism when we can't get past our own prejudices. Point your finger of hate and look at the three pointing back at you. nt.

[PowerToThePeople]

10. So you are saying

Reagan was not elected and support of trickle-down, bootstraps, Cadillac welfare queens, etc. were not the majority opinions of the time by those of age to do something?

edit - my "big" issue here is he "hopes it starts a revolution." A revolution that other generations play out. Well Mr. Sutherland, jump right into the revolution yourself if you are that eager to see it occur. It comes across chickenhawkish to me.

[2banon]

15. Apparently you are aware of how dubya was placed at the helm..

and you're aware of how Kerry's election was stolen away from him.

Is it so hard for you to understand how the 'election' of Reagan was also engineered, vis a vis the "Iran Hostage Crises" ... ...

it's a rabbit hole to be sure, but an eye opener which exposes/reveals/explains a lot.

[prairierose]

23. Exactly, and the corporate media spent a lot of air time...

bemoaning the plight of the hostages and that Carter was ineffective getting them out.

[2banon]

24. A whole lot more to the back story than what we were perceiving vis a vis the media. n/t

[Enthusiast]

90. Iran-Contra.

With media complicity all the way.

[Armstead]

34. You dumbshit, why don't you learn about what he did?

Sutherland was out there fighting the VN War and putting his ass on the line in many ways -- including some that were career suicide material, if not worse.

[PowerToThePeople]

37. Hey Buttlick. If you could fucking read, it was not a personal attack against Sutherland.

Much of what he said I am in complete agreement with.

[Armstead]

40. Sorry about the gratutious insult. I should have been more tactful

I got a little hot under the collar, and shouldn't have been personally insulting like that.

I was responding to this:
my "big" issue here is he "hopes it starts a revolution." A revolution that other generations play out. Well Mr. Sutherland, jump right into the revolution yourself if you are that eager to see it occur. It comes across chickenhawkish to me.

I got mad because Sutherland has been anything but chickenhawkish.....He was putting himself on the line many years ago, so the assumption implied in your statement that he is the equivalent of a chickenhawk rubbed me the wrong way, and I typed my response with the emotion of the moment.

[PowerToThePeople]

41. Thanks

Apology accepted

[demwing]

61. Perhaps you are just ignorant of his activist history? /nt

[PowerToThePeople]

62. I knew he was an activist

After this thread, I researched more. Now I know more of his history. He definitely has my respect (and honestly always has).

I honestly do not know any more. I have been on the defensive so much in this thread, I have lost focus on my intent. My intent was to stand up for the Millennials that it appeared he was calling to task to revoit against ills that have been a long time in the making.

[2banon]

14. I'm sorry, but that's jus not fair. MY generation FOUGHT HARD against all of this, and continue to.

And the struggle continues, the baton is being passed on to your generation because the fight has not been won yet, and it will not be won for a long time. But don't fucking dump on the generation that took the fight on in the first place.

[Scruffy Rumbler]

16. And his generation ushered in a new eara

of civil rights ending Jim Crow. And the generation before that fought something horible carried over from prior generations....And so it goes.

I wonder what future generations will be thanking you for?

[pnwmom]

19. He can't be blamed for the actions of his whole generation. nt

[riqster]

20. That is one helluva broad brush you're painting with.

All of those older than you are responsible for the Reaganistas and what came after? Regardless of what we actually did, stand for, and fought for as individuals?

Bullshit.

[Skittles]

26. will you stop blaming ME?

I did not vote for that piece of SHIT Reagan

I also do not blame a GENERATION for voting for that piece of SHIT Duyba. I blame THE PEOPLE STUPID ENOUGH TO VOTE FOR HIM.

[Armstead]

31. That's a fairly broad and totally unfair generalizaton

Yes some did usher in those things. Others (including Sutherland) tried like hell to stop them.

[PowerToThePeople]

36. ^^ A reply to all above

When my son is of age, he may bring up "W", Illegal war in Iraq, etc. etc. He will not be wrong to say that his father's generation allowed these things to occur. We did. Did I support them? Not one bit, I raised my voice loudly against them, voted against them as I could, and took part how I could in protesting them. But our generations, including my generation, did in fact allow these things to occur. He will just live in a world downstream from those things.

edit - and how will he respond if I go and tell him he needs to get off his lazy ass that has not done anything for 30 years and fix all the shit that we (not him) allowed to happen?

[tkmorris]

46. Here's the thing: NO one said that to you

No one here has, and while I know you imagine that is what Mr. Sutherland was saying, it isn't. You are just wrong, and furthermore you are being rather rude. You can deal with that however you wish, but be aware I will blame everyone I see under 45 for your actions.

[PowerToThePeople]

47. Hmm.

Millennials need awakening from slumber. "You know the young people of this society have not moved in the last 30 years." With the exception of Occupy, a minority movement, passivity reigns. "They have been consumed with telephones." The voice hardens. "Tweeting."

Can you give me your interpretation of this statement that differs from mine?

[tkmorris]

63. Yes I can

But it seems to me that the value you place in your own opinion outpaced what you actually know quite a ways back. There is usually little value trying to have a useful discussion with such people.

Here's something for you though. You think he wants YOUR gen to fix what HIS gen broke. That's bullshit. He has been working to fix what's broken since pretty much before you were born and he isn't suggesting that it's his gen's turn to sits on it's ass now while you pull the weight. You wanna help? Stop pointing ill-informed fingers at everyone but yourself and go do it. Either way Sutherland will keep on doing his thing.

[PowerToThePeople]

65. And here is what NONE of you seem to get

You wanna help? Stop pointing ill-informed fingers at everyone but yourself and go do it.

I did not point the first finger here. I was responding to a quote from the OP that said

Millennials need awakening from slumber. "You know the young people of this society have not moved in the last 30 years."

[Jesus Malverde]

77. Not only did we participate, we are all complicit with the lack of justice in the years since power

was take from the bush regime.

Ironic how many of the so called banana republics of south america have held their leaders to account while we have not.

We look forward and not back, and build up mythology around our failures.

[nadinbrzezinski]

49. Where were you when Occupy started

that was a chance. I was there. How about you?

I am sick and tired of this, but your generation did this and that.

There is more, many of the Occupiers were the same people you blame for the ills. Where were you?

[PowerToThePeople]

50. Occupy is great

They are also the same people that Sutherland is claiming have been in a slumber for 30 years. Ocuppy is Millennials, X, Boomer, and Greatest. I will accept fault in my statements if my responders here will accept the same fault in Sutherland's statements.

[nadinbrzezinski]

51. In other words you were sitting at home

I thought so.

Have a good day, and by the way, your handle is irony on steroids.

[PowerToThePeople]

53. Be careful what you judge

You do NOT know my history, what I have or have not done. You do not know what my situation in winter 2011/2012 was.

[nadinbrzezinski]

54. I am not judging, at least not anymore than you are.

I asked a simple question, you answered it. That is all there is to it.

[PowerToThePeople]

55. True

And, as I posted above in another sub-thread, I am at fault for the current goings on. The fact that I have not done enough is one of the reasons it is still continuing. It is sometimes a very hard pill to swallow.

I appreciate your posts here, so do not care to be at odds with you.

[nadinbrzezinski]

58. That's ok, my serious posts are done off site anymore

but I will tell you a lesson from reading a lot of history. Each generation has it's moment of truth, In fact several moments.

You are telling us that a man who actually risked career is wrong in asking where were the youth? My very limited view of ONLY ONE Occupy camp tells me that some were there. But many of the leaders were the exact same people you are bemoaning. They took that step. Some were grandmas, on walkers mind you. Some have been active all their lives. They started by burning draft cards by the way.

Robert Reich has a far better view of WHY the kids were not there. We have enslaved them, we as in our culture. Not you, not me. So be careful about pointing fingers. You might very well be talking to people who actually took to the streets. They will take it personally. And for the record, so should Mr. Sutherland.

Oh and by the way, occupy is far from dead, locally they are very active. They are just not doing it under the banner of Occupy

[PowerToThePeople]

59. I know

I do not think I claimed they were dead. Our local Occupy is working to amend the Constitution for Citizens United, Washington I-1329.

[Jesus Malverde]

75. ^^^^^This^^^^^

Revolution...yeah...Nixon won in a close election on November 5, 1968

Hey youngsters throw yourselves at the police state we created.

The prison industrial complex we enabled needs more money.

[Jackpine Radical]

78. Just exactly who are you lashing out at here?

I'm 69. I was involved with the civil rights movement in the early 60's and a commune in '66. I'm a VN vet who started protesting the war after returning to the States & still in the Army (google Oleo Strut and Fatigue Press to get some idea of what was going on among returned GI's back then). I got back into school at Madison, where I immediately got associated with the antiwar movement. I worked my ass off for MGovern in '72 and every Dem Presidential candidate since then. Yeah, I worked & voted for Carter both times & watched in dismay as Teddy tried to pull him down in '80.

I kinda resent being tarred with that generational brush, and equally resent seeing Sutherland also being tarred.

I know some activist & aware kids, and some who are not. I suspect that the latter group is pretty heavily burdened with learned hopelessness, and I don't pick on them for their response to this harsh nation or this downright nasty world. I would, however, like to infuse a little hope among them. I think the Hunger Games is one small stride in that direction, and applaud Sutherland for still standing at the barricades and waving his red flag.

And "the odds are NEVER in our favor."

[Enthusiast]

89. Millions of us were against Reagan, free trade, media consolidation and the rest.

All generations have right wing assholes. I voted against Reagan twice. He cost me my job.

You have to understand what we were up against. Liberal ideals were being undermined from all sides and a huge new propaganda effort was underway. This right wing extremism continues today.

[Le Taz Hot]

100. Wow!

To hold an entire generation responsible for Ronald Reagan while ignoring the Civil Rights Movement, the Women's Rights Movement, anti-military anti-draft, student rights, environmentalism and a general "brotherhood of man" movement. Do the TeaKlanners know about you? You could be useful the way you just simplified all the complex machinations of 30 years into one statement: "It's the Boomers' Fault."

I also wasn't aware that Reagan was elected by unanimous vote. The things you learn on this board.

[Baitball Blogger]

8. Erm...what kind of revolution?

I give nothing but applause to Jennifer Lawrence's interpretation of Katniss, but in the book Katniss had olive skin. Just saying, the next revolution in America will probably not feature a Joan of Arc type cast.

[pnwmom]

21. In the book her sister and mother had fair skin and hair. So the fact that her skin was olive

just made them a typical white family. I have a sister with olive skin and I burn like crazy, but we've got the same two white parents.

[Baitball Blogger]

27. I guess we'll never know what the author intended because, unlike Stephenie Meyer, she didn't

play a central role in the movies.

I just hope to God they change the plot of the last book. They are planning to turn it into two movies and it had just awful plot points.

[pnwmom]

28. The director says the author was present at all the auditions and approved the choice of Lawrence.

http://movieline.com/2011/03/17/gary-ross-defends-jennifer-lawrence-casting-says-hunger-games-author-approves/

"To Suzanne, Jen is the perfect realization of the character who is in her head," Ross said, telling EW that Collins was present at every single audition for the role of Katniss Everdeen in the 2012 franchise-starter. (Which included an audition by Nikita star Lyndsy Fonseca, who admitted that she'd read for Ross and Tweeted her congrats to Lawrence.)

SNIP

Asked about the apparent ethnic elements in Collins' description of Katniss, Ross waved off the issue and suggested that, while supporting characters Rue and Thresh are clearly African-American according to Collins' original vision, Katniss is ambiguous. Just ambiguous enough to be played, conveniently enough, by a blond Caucasian woman.

"Suzanne and I talked about that as well. There are certain things that are very clear in the book. Rue is African-American. Thresh is African-American. Suzanne had no issues with Jen playing the role. And she thought there was a tremendous amount of flexibility. It wasn't doctrine to her. Jen will have dark hair in the role, but that's something movies can easily achieve."


ON EDIT:

From the author herself:

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/03/21/hunger-games-suzanne-collins-jennifer-lawrence/

As the author, I went into the casting process with a certain degree of trepidation. Believing your heroine can make the leap from the relative safety of the page to the flesh and bones reality of the screen is something of a creative act of faith. But after watching dozens of auditions by a group of very fine young actresses, I felt there was only one who truly captured the character I wrote in the book. And I’m thrilled to say that Jennifer Lawrence has accepted the role.

In her remarkable audition piece, I watched Jennifer embody every essential quality necessary to play Katniss. I saw a girl who has the potential rage to send an arrow into the Gamemakers and the protectiveness to make Rue her ally. Who has conquered both Peeta and Gale’s hearts even though she’s done her best to wall herself off emotionally from anything that would lead to romance. Most of all, I believed that this was a girl who could hold out that handful of berries and incite the beaten down districts of Panem to rebel. I think that was the essential question for me. Could she believably inspire a rebellion? Did she project the strength, defiance and intellect you would need to follow her into certain war? For me, she did.

[Baitball Blogger]

30. I stand corrected.

Touche.

[valerief]

13. X

[2banon]

18. Boy, that's it in a nutshell..

a lot is packed in that short clip. Seems like I'm always learning something new, that I didn't pick up in readings, viewings.

[grasswire]

35. aggghhhhhh

It's still a scab on top of a festering sore.

TRUTH! We need truth.

[NM_Birder]

17. I-Phone age has all but nutered the youth of today.

[Scootaloo]

32. Hardly

In fact these technologies have only spread and propagated revolution among hte youth the world over... Just... not in the US.

Why are we left out? What aspect of our protest culture is different from other parts of the world, and where does that come from?

Here's a hint - singing "Hey Hey LBJ" didn't stop a single fucking bomb. Nor did John and Yoko sitting in bed in their luxurious Manhattan apartment.

[NM_Birder]

42. unemployment is less than 7% true or false ?

You don't have to look hard, even on DU to find people that actually believe that it's less than 7%,....because they read it on their phone. Nobody cares what is true, just what can be splattered out first on a blog. The young people I'm around eat whatever is fed to them via their phone, and rarely question anything, so long as it comes from a source they are told is truthful.



You are suggesting that the protests of the 60's did not impact the evolution of the Vietnam War ? LOL !
I agree with your distaste for Lennon and ESPECIALLY Yoko, not for their political activism tho, for their music. I'm in the obvious minority, but I hate the Beatles music, and Yoko's music gives me diarrhea

[Scootaloo]

48. And there are people on DU who think middle class white kids with no shirts on ended the Vietnam war

Because they've said it to themselves so often they're sure it MUST be true. Can't possibly be that the war ended - after nine years and hundreds of thousands of lives - simply because the Vietnamese won the damn thing. Naw, it was, like, Woodstock, man, yeah, the power of music showed the War Pigs the right way, and it was all groovysville from there, man.

*cough*

American protest is garbage not because of eeeeevil terrible technology... but because of the principle of garbage in, garbage out. Unfortunately the American protest culture has been, for forty years, dominated by a bunch of relics of middle-class white suburbia who, because their parents had the spare money to send them to college, had some free time to imagine they were thinking about things, and stuff, and sometimes, like, y'know. While their hears were in the right place, a good many of them left their brains behind, and they confused counterculture with protest culture.

Back then if you had no shoes, a beard, and a sign, you were "part of the movement." Nowadays if you have dreds, a nose piercing, and a drum, you're "an activist." It's really no fucking different, it's just a style variant on the same smug, self-congratulating street theater bullshit that got its started when a bunch of people with no worries started feeling guilty about not having much to worry about.

The worst thing is how these jalopies are outliving actual protestors of the era (posing is way less work than doing, less strain on the heart, you know) and as each actual activist leaves, that's ten more yutzes who are claiming to have been "just as important." Because owning a fringed buckskin jacket and liking Cher totally puts your powdered donut-butt in the middle of AIM. While annoying on its own it's also damaging, as actual methods of protest are lost, and replaced with the same Abbie Hoffman Shit-That-Doesn't-Fucking-Work.

[NM_Birder]

66. I'm saving this.

It got even better the second time I read it,......

You don't see many all out anti-hippie rants on DU, you should blog this.

[Scootaloo]

83. I prefer to call it "perspective"

I'm one of those DU'ers who doesn't think the boomers are divine beings who need my constant praise. Since most DU'ers - just like most everything else - are boomers, there tends to be a lot of inane rambling about how fucking magnificent they are.

Vietnam kept going until someone won it. Nixon marched into office. Unions began their slow grinding death. And now because of the indolence of people who at first thought they could change the world with a wa-wa pedal and nowadays seek to strangle any forward movement that doesn't immediately fill the front ends of ther shit-chutes, we have to revisit shit from the nineteen tens.

Do you know what a fucking pain in the ass it is to come to Democratic Underground, of all the goddamn places, and get stuck explaining the basics of liberalism to people who very honestly don't give a shit and never will? Many of whom praise themselves for being "old hippies"?

[2banon]

97. We anti-war activists did NOT end the War in Viet Nam. It boggles my mind whenever I hear that meme

repeated over and over again. We tried like hell to end it... but we failed. The war ended because the Viet Cong won. That is a fact.

However, while your criticisms of middle class white privilege may have a certain level of merit, your cheap shots with regards to the counter-culture of the times irresponsibly disregards a great deal of honorable sincerity with those who actually put their bodies on the front lines of the Police State apparatus and paid a brutal price, sometimes with their lives.

You also repeat a false narrative, and a very demeaning one.

[2banon]

96. John Lennon's Music was revolutionary

One would have had to listen to his body of work to get that. Yoko, I personally never liked, could never get behind and quite obviously didn't appreciate. But that was my bias, at the same time I appreciate that John did "get" her work and why he did.

John was assassinated because he was re-engaging in revolutionary activism, by the way.

[nadinbrzezinski]

60. Student debt has a lot more to do with it than Iphones

it is those same Iphones and texting that were the backbone of the Arab Spring. So it is kind of counter intuitive huh? I am betting that people are using those same I devices in Ukraine. Hell, they were and are still used by activist just south of the US and the Student strikes in Canada.

So only the US youth texts to each other and that's it? I think it is more complex than just Iphones, don't you think?

[NM_Birder]

67. absolute it is more complex than I-phones,....

I would love to discuss further, but the full on anti hippie rant from the other poster was more entertaining than a discussion about the negative effect social media has, on the real world social skills of todays youth. I'm not even a hippie, although being BORN in 1969 does that make me a child of the 60's ? lol it was awesome...you should read it.

Social Media, and the utter dependence on it by the vast majority of today's youth, is crippling their ability function in an adult world, that still requires human face to face contact.

Student debt is a great example,.... how many kids go 60k or better into debt, BORROWING money to live on instead of working while going to school, only to graduate with a degree that only proves they attended college. Then are SHOCKED to find out what payments are on 60K ? They are not ALL attending law school or med school, the education system in pumping out social media experts with little or no ability to survive in an adult world. Graduates with a generic degree of accomplishment, and 30-40-60 or 100k in debt are cannon fodder in the real world, face booking and tweeting doesn't prepare them for life after the cord is cut. And 10 bucks an hour minimum wage isn't the answer, but most have been convinced it is.

I'm 45, worked my way up the food chain to PM a decade or so ago, fairly quick but not uncommon. I'm in the prime years of my career. For just a fleeting moment I was concerned about the younger bulls pushing me out the way over the next 10 years, ...... not so much anymore. The crop of "up and commers", have a severe lack of ability to control teams of people in the real world, if anything they are making my position even MORE secure, as the crop almost ready for harvest now is even LESS able to understand life "unplugged".

As for the Arab Spring, and Canadian student protest ? perfect examples of events that will empower the youth of today here in the States, ....... at least online. Meanwhile, my parking space is secure.

[nadinbrzezinski]

68. Gahs many of those kids WORK full time jobs

and still get 60K in debt.



I guess they are just lazy I tell yah!

After that, I think we can just walk away from each other. I will take the word on this from actual economists who have spoken of stupid shit like inflation in education, which is far above other rates (the other one is medical), than with a poster who obviously went to school when you could work and go to school and mostly avoid student debt.

After that, well, whatever, in the 20 something phrase that seems to apply here. WHAAAAAT----E----VER

[NM_Birder]

70. Who woulda thunk it ?

unemployment is under 7%....... minimum wage should be 10 no 15 bucks an hour that will solve the problem. POWER TO THE PEOPLE !

"many".... "many" do not work full time......would you call that truth ?

[nadinbrzezinski]

72. you said they were lazy. And did not work

aggghhhh

[NM_Birder]

73. No, I asked "How Many"... see how easy it is to not keep up ?

And then I went on to describe their ignorance of the real world and how it really works, and how social media ill-prepares them for real life challenges. And yes, I worked my ass off thru school....all the way back in to 90's.........when we lived in mud huts and traded beaver pelts for pencils and paper.

Read the blogs, unemployment is only 7% or less, right ? whats the employment problem / or is that number BS to gets some votes ? Come-on is it true or not ?

the "whatever" thing ?........priceless.........BRAVO !

[kcr]

85. Read the blogs?

Well, that explains a lot.

[NM_Birder]

103. meh...blogs whatever, inter google blah blah...notice how

not one person will answer the question ?

Is the unemployment rate less than 7%...or is that a bowl of horse shit ?
kind of a barbed question, if you believe it's less than 7% you'll believe anything you're told, if you don't you become a traitor to the Obama administration.....sucks huh ?

I'll bet your head would explode if I told you my Grandmother is to blame for me calling "Comet"..."Babbo"

[kcr]

109. Probably because it's irrelevant to your horseshit claims

because you read the blogs.

[NM_Birder]

110. specifically what "horseshit" claims.

Be specific which part of what I said was "horseshit".
Don't go limp, show me you are smart enough to discuss something.

You are clever enough to act superior, use some language and say something.

[NM_Birder]

74. Now I see...YOU called them lazy LOL

[nadinbrzezinski]

76. Enjoy your stay on DU

have a good day. (And yes, this libertarian claptrap you are espousing deserves the ignore list)

[NM_Birder]

80. Predictable.

shotgun some talking points, can't converse, a dusting of outrage and then the walk away.
take care.

[noiretextatique]

82. LMAO

that she even addressed your nonsense is shocking to me. not worth a second of her time

[NM_Birder]

104. no.. the honor is all mine....

I will cherish the honor of her sarcasm, her ignoring the point, her ignorance of the unemployment question and the little huff and puff with putting me on ignore...........for at least as long as I type this response to you.

[Eleanors38]

101. The way to use phones in a revolution will come from Tunisia rather than Silicon Valley.

[Dopers_Greed]

22. Ironic

Considering that entertainment is one of the main perpetrators of modern complacency. Bread and circuses. No one is going to put themselves on the line to make any meaningful change. If they do, they might not get to see the next football season...or...the next Hunger Games film.

[pamela]

25. That's what Hunger Games is about though.

The Capitol is called Panem, which means "bread." Suzanne Collins even discusses the "bread and circuses" connection in the books. She was inspired to write the series while flipping channels on her TV and seeing coverage of the Iraq war alongside coverage of the latest reality show.

[Scootaloo]

29. "You know the young people of this society have not moved in the last 30 years."

"They have been consumed with telephones." The voice hardens. "Tweeting."



"We did it in 68"



"Hopefully they will see this film and the next film and the next film and then maybe organise. Stand up."

Be sure to cash your checks first, Colonel Sanders.

[Enthusiast]

91. "Be sure to cash your checks first, Colonel Sanders."

What do you mean by this?

[dilby]

33. Ugh, there was really no side to pick in the Hunger Games.

When I read the books I was all for revolution till I got to District 13 and saw they were basically Nazi Germany.

[XemaSab]

69. What percent of "popular" revolutions are fascist revolutions?

That was my thought on reading this.

[hootinholler]

38. Enough with the negative waves man! n/t

[Ichingcarpenter]

39. That ain't my fault, Oddball,

That ain't my fault, Oddball, I've done nothing but have good thoughts about that damn bridge ever since we left!

[JoePhilly]

95. Woof woof!

[LongTomH]

43. Robert Reich's comments on "Why There's No Outcry"

It's not I-phones and computer games:

In prior decades students were a major force for social change. They played an active role in the Civil Rights movement, the Free Speech movement, and against the Vietnam War.

But today’s students don’t want to make a ruckus. They’re laden with debt. Since 1999, student debt has increased more than 500 percent, yet the average starting salary for graduates has dropped 10 percent, adjusted for inflation. Student debts can’t be cancelled in bankruptcy. A default brings penalties and ruins a credit rating.

To make matters worse, the job market for new graduates remains lousy. Which is why record numbers are still living at home.

He does go on to say:

At some point, working people, students, and the broad public will have had enough. They will reclaim our economy and our democracy. This has been the central lesson of American history.

Reform is less risky than revolution, but the longer we wait the more likely it will be the latter.

Read the rest here: http://robertreich.org/post/74519195381

[nadinbrzezinski]

52. And Reich is very correct

Kids are afraid of making a ruckus. But the longer this goes on, it will become innevitable

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

79. I don't really get this comment.

But today’s students don’t want to make a ruckus. They’re laden with debt. Since 1999, student debt has increased more than 500 percent, yet the average starting salary for graduates has dropped 10 percent, adjusted for inflation. Student debts can’t be cancelled in bankruptcy. A default brings penalties and ruins a credit rating.

I would seem that gives them even more reason to raise hell.

[okaawhatever]

88. Exactly. I don't think debt or money had anything to do with student led resistance in the past

nor is it what we see in other countries. Debt and poverty are what spur resistance movements.

[Puzzledtraveller]

105. Exactly

My feelings are that it is precisely the things that keep this group largely entertained 24/7, occupied and ignorant. It is an addiction to information(not to be confused with knowledge) i.e. internet, entertainment media and pop culture.

This is no accident. The opium of the masses is still strong today and very potent.

[Eleanors38]

102. The 2 foot-in-the-door issues: Living wage, debt.

We can't reduce our outlook to generational failings & success; it only results in a sojourn to a mystical land across an ocean of hypocrisy. The young face far greater economical problems than I faced. And they with the rest of us will have to up that struggle even as we re-fight the issues of a woman's right to choose, labor protections, and environmental degradation. Damn it, I want to work with young people, and I don't want them thinking I am some old "back in my day..." type who performs early-morning inspections of their souls. It has to start. It will start!

Go, Wendy Davis!

Go, Pussy Riot!

Go, Occupy!

[Fantastic Anarchist]

44. Love this guy! n/t

[JI7]

64. HAHHA, people don't even vote in local elections, there isn't going to be a revolution

[2banon]

98. "voting"

does not a revolution make, nor a democracy.

especially when elections are so obviously rigged.

[davidn3600]

81. You look at our society and you see a lot of the central themes of this story

The main point that is driven home many times in that series is wealth inequality. You have a rich, ruling class oppressing the poor. And you look at our society today and you see a lot of the same kind of thing. The rich keep getting richer at the expense of the poor. And frankly, I don't like where this is heading.

And I disagree with those here who think the youth don't care. I think they do. And in fact that's why they came out in large numbers to vote for Obama because they thought he was going to be different. He ended up being just like any other politician protecting the 1% and that's why those young voters are now disenchanted.

[MisterP]

84. Coin for President! she'll be a total 180!

[Warren DeMontague]

86. That's how I feel about The Lego Movie.

[jsr]

87. +1

[woo me with science]

92. K&R

[clarice]

94. Donald Sutherland's private beach house.

[link:http://ts4.mm.bing.net/th?id=HN.608042127917320623&pid=15.1&H=120&W=160|

[Matariki]

99. Hey The Guardian, why did you put "starving Americans" in scare quotes?

[Vashta Nerada]

106. Hunger Games stirring up a revolution?

Hahaha.

Right. Starting a revolution requires time and commitment. The young generation can't stop taking pictures of themselves to do anything in that magnitude.

[PowerToThePeople]

107. "The young generation can't stop taking pictures of themselves to do anything in that magnitude."

How many revolutions have YOU started?

[Vashta Nerada]

108. Yeah, because this is about me.