Good People Are The Worst: On Moral Licensing
It's probably been a while since you thought about the Hunger Games. If you remember, Katniss gets a nasty little surprise at the end when the new leader, Coin, decides to keep everything just the same.
She even wants to reboot the games.
As it turns out, the district she fought for never gave a damn about human rights or justice. They were just pretending. Or maybe something even darker happens. Once anyone gains power, they're doomed to abuse it. Worse, they don't even see themselves turning into what they despise.
Nobody really stands up to Coin, and it's not just because they're afraid. They can't bring themselves to believe the leader they put all of their faith in would turn out to be just another version of Coriolanus Snow.
Katniss has to do the unthinkable.
She kills Coin.
Back then, I'm sure most of us didn't count on winding up in a situation that grim. Well, here we are. We're watching the same story play out in our real lives. It's hard to feel used, especially when the…