Of course Jason would have to do this. Of course he's got to go talk to children in the gigantic time-suck that is the youth program, which he supports in theory but doesn't actually want anything to do with in practice, because it sucks valuable time away from courting Sponsors, herding his Tributes and moping in his decaying house.
He strides in with the monkey, dressed in a more expensive suit than anything any of the Tributes are wearing, on his shoulder. He jams his hands in his pockets, because he isn't allowed to smoke in front of the kids (something about being a bad influence, which no amount of bickering about how no one actually considers him a role model is going to change), and starts on his schpiel.
"Now, I bet you've spent plenty of classes here with your guest speakers telling you a sob story about how hard the Districts work and how important each District is. What you've got to understand is that everyone in the Districts has a terrible education, so it's not their fault that they don't know how it all works. We can forgive them their patriotism if we have to, although some people-" Linden- "we don't need to waste our graciousness on."
He paces around a bit as he talks.
"Think of Panem like a body. The Districts are like limbs, or, well, fingers and ears if you need the right number, but the Capitol is the heart and lungs and brain. You can live without a finger or an ear, although you wouldn't want to, but without the vital organs at the center, you'd better have a down payment on some black clothes, I say.
See, the way it is is that the Districts couldn't manage not to collapse in on themselves without a guiding hand. You leave a bunch of Districts on their own, and they fall into ruin because they're all lazy and violent. They've done studies that it's in their blood, so it isn't entirely their fault. Anyway, that's why the Hunger Games don't need much to get Districters to kill each other. We spend more time trying to get you people to fight than we ever did with the animals out there.
"What the Capitol exports is organization, motivation, structure. No single District could manage not to eat itself alive without the Capitol's guiding hand. They need us to come in and redistribute their food so no one actually starves, no matter how much they bitch about it, and run their businesses so they don't go underwater. We're the ones sending the teachers and business leaders out there to untangle the balls of yarn that the Districts set us up with. We send out the supplies in rations so they can have everything in an orderly fashion. Like I says, we're the brain. Anything that involves counting higher than five has got to go to Capitolites, otherwise it's bound to get screwed up.
Re: Guest Speaker - Districts
He strides in with the monkey, dressed in a more expensive suit than anything any of the Tributes are wearing, on his shoulder. He jams his hands in his pockets, because he isn't allowed to smoke in front of the kids (something about being a bad influence, which no amount of bickering about how no one actually considers him a role model is going to change), and starts on his schpiel.
"Now, I bet you've spent plenty of classes here with your guest speakers telling you a sob story about how hard the Districts work and how important each District is. What you've got to understand is that everyone in the Districts has a terrible education, so it's not their fault that they don't know how it all works. We can forgive them their patriotism if we have to, although some people-" Linden- "we don't need to waste our graciousness on."
He paces around a bit as he talks.
"Think of Panem like a body. The Districts are like limbs, or, well, fingers and ears if you need the right number, but the Capitol is the heart and lungs and brain. You can live without a finger or an ear, although you wouldn't want to, but without the vital organs at the center, you'd better have a down payment on some black clothes, I say.
See, the way it is is that the Districts couldn't manage not to collapse in on themselves without a guiding hand. You leave a bunch of Districts on their own, and they fall into ruin because they're all lazy and violent. They've done studies that it's in their blood, so it isn't entirely their fault. Anyway, that's why the Hunger Games don't need much to get Districters to kill each other. We spend more time trying to get you people to fight than we ever did with the animals out there.
"What the Capitol exports is organization, motivation, structure. No single District could manage not to eat itself alive without the Capitol's guiding hand. They need us to come in and redistribute their food so no one actually starves, no matter how much they bitch about it, and run their businesses so they don't go underwater. We're the ones sending the teachers and business leaders out there to untangle the balls of yarn that the Districts set us up with. We send out the supplies in rations so they can have everything in an orderly fashion. Like I says, we're the brain. Anything that involves counting higher than five has got to go to Capitolites, otherwise it's bound to get screwed up.
"Alright, any questions?"