America: Your next dystopian movie
It's been a long day, you get home, chuck some popcorn in the microwave, hunker down on the couch with your beloved cozy blanket, and turn on your favorite movie. A dystopian, of course. Let me give you a quick synopsis of this movie. The main villain, like all dystopian movies, is a dictator of sorts, most of the time old and gives you a slightly uncanny feeling. Normally, surrounded by this villain are groups of people that follow this dictator religiously, sometimes out of pure fandom and sometimes out of unrelenting fear. Think Snow from The Hunger Games or Ava-Paige from The Maze Runner. Both villains suppress freedom of speech and prioritize their goals over human life.
Is this movie starting to sound familiar?
There's a very specific scene in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire that deeply relates to events happening in our world today. During Katniss and Peeta’s victory tour in District 11, Katniss Everdeen delivers a speech that honors Rue and Thresh when an older man in the crowd whistles Rue's four-note Mockingjay tune, which leads to the crowd showing their signs of respect. However, this led to the “peacekeepers” tackling the old man who started the whistle. They drag him to the front of the stage and execute him with a shot to the head.
This is where dystopian fiction stops being a form of escapism and instead starts becoming a mirror to our future. I remember watching these movies growing up. I always had this thought in the back of my mind where I'd imagine it being real, but then I’d conclude that there's no way this could ever happen in my reality.
Well, now I'm not so sure.
The scary part is these “peacekeepers” in Hunger Games aren't so different from ICE, and they aren't so different from Donald Trump and those by his side suppressing freedom of speech to continue their narratives.
A notable example would be when Karoline Leavitt, the White House Press Secretary, asked a reporter, “Why was Renee Good unfortunately and tragically killed?” to which the reporter answered, “Because an ICE agent acted recklessly and killed her unjustifiably." His answer was met with terms like “left-wing hack” and “ biased reporter with a left-wing opinion”. (Link to interview at the bottom)
The hypocrisy is truly outstanding, and the blatant lies spread by Trump's administration are unsettling but unfortunately no longer surprising. Renee Good WAS shot unjustifiably and approached by ICE agents without her consent, where one leaned into her car, and the other began to pull out his weapon as she reversed.
As I watch the footage, I struggle to see what the reporter said that was so blatantly biased. Going by the definition of the term bias, you would assume the reporter was spreading a lie about what had occurred to further his agenda. However, there is no bias; it is simply a matter of fact. The only bias I can see being dished out would be by Leavitt herself to paint anyone with a different opinion from the president and his lackeys as wrong.
I went to a networking night for university, it was a panel of MP’s and a couple of professors. One of them basically states, “ democracy is under threat and your time is now”. Obviously very ominous, however, that professor is not wrong. This is our time. America, a country built upon escaping the chains of British Imperialism and creating a new country shaped by democracy, equality, and freedom, has fallen down a dark hole of authoritarianism. And every country, whether we like to admit it or not, is experiencing the effects of an America turned dictatorship.
Coincidentally, I wrote this post before the recent events that occurred in Sydney regarding the protests against the arrival of Isaac Herzog and the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people. Anthony Albanese and his government are introducing laws that are a direct threat to democracy and our most fundamental rights to freedom of speech and open debate. Protesting is a right granted to citizens within a democratic country, and to attempt to strip us of that is simply unconscionable. So not only is America reducing freedom of speech by pinning journalists as left-wing hack when they rightfully address the murder of an American citizen by ICE brutality. Now Australia, under a political party that is supposed to be centre-left, is in the process of introducing draconian laws.
If we give in and allow western leaders who claim to uphold democracy pass laws undermining our rights, we will be swept away by the storms rising torrents and left to drown in its wake.
This isn't being said to spread fear, I'm writing this to inspire YOU. It's easy to be ignorant and pretend like it's not happening because, for some of us, it's not at our front door, using a 5-year-old boy to lure his dad out of the house, so an ICE agent can detain him. It is our time, be more aware of issues around the world, and speak up about injustices. Because eventually, you are going to open your front door, and the world you once understood was that of the past.
Press conference conducted by Karoline Leavitt
