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I Am President Snow

2013-12-06 · Hank · watch on YouTube · Economics · reflection essay

Hank argues that, unlike in The Hunger Games, our deeply unequal society has no villain: inequality comes from psychology, sociology, math and complacency, which makes him a kind of President Snow; since it is the path of least resistance and bad for everyone, we need structures to fight it.

What is said

00:00:00 — The Hunger Games' inequitable society resembles ours; Suzanne Collins doesn't blame its participants (Katniss and Effie)

  • ★★★ Hank says the hardest thing to relate to in The Hunger Games is its unimaginably inequitable society, where some starve while others gorge and a table is worth more than a life, except we kind of live in that world. (hedged) — 00:00:13
  • ★★ Hank praises Suzanne Collins for showing a world much like ours and making us ask how anyone could live in it. — 00:00:36
  • ★★ Hank says Collins admirably doesn't blame the society's participants: Katniss and Effie are friends though Effie takes part in the culture of oppression, because Effie isn't evil. — 00:00:45

00:00:59 — No President Snow: inequality comes from human nature, psychology, sociology and math; the Netflix investment example

  • ★★★ Hank says our deeply unequal society is not the result of bad guys: there is no President Snow, or he is not a person; not corrupt politicians or psychopathic CEOs. — 00:01:03
  • ★★★ Hank says inequality is caused by human nature, psychology, sociology and math, and you can't fight math. — 00:01:25
  • ★★ Hank's example: a middle-class person invests $10,000 and a rich person $1,000,000 in Netflix; both double, so the rich person gains a million dollars, the other 10,000. (hypothetical) — 00:01:31

00:01:53 — Greed and societal structures also create inequality; not an easy problem

  • ★★ Hank says inequality is also created by greed and by societal structures: rich people helping and socializing with rich people makes them much richer than the poor. — 00:01:53

00:02:23 — Complacency, not animosity: Hank's fancy dinners make him President Snow; we need structures against inequality

  • ★★★ Hank says inequality is not the result of animosity but of the status quo: complacence, not evil, the simplest path. — 00:02:23
  • ★★★ Hank says he probably spent enough on fancy dinners with his wife this year to save other people's lives, but did the normal thing; not evil but complacent, that makes him President Snow. (hedged) — 00:02:28 · Katherine Green > «That makes me President Snow.»
  • ★★★ Like Katniss with Effie, Hank doesn't hate himself for it, but because inequality is the path of least resistance we need structures to fight against it. — 00:02:53

00:03:05 — Inequality is bad for the economy and happiness; recalibrate for equality personally and through government

  • ★★ Hank says inequality is bad not just for poor people but for the economy and for people's happiness. — 00:03:05
  • ★★ Hank says there is a very strong correlation between a society's equality and its people's happiness, the rich included. — 00:03:11
  • ★★★ Hank says we must fight inequality and recalibrate for equality, by helping people ourselves and by making the government do it. — 00:03:21

00:03:32 — Harry Potter Alliance's Odds in Our Favor campaign; think about P4A and Hank's how-to video; sign-off and P4A clip

  • ★★ Hank suggests starting by signing up for the Harry Potter Alliance's Odds in Our Favor campaign. — 00:03:32 · The Harry Potter Alliance
  • ★★ Hank says viewers should think about what they'll do for the Project for Awesome this year; he posted a video on how to make a great P4A video on the P4A YouTube channel. — 00:03:35 · Project for Awesome
  • ★ In a closing clip from his P4A video, Hank says the Project for Awesome is in just 10 days. — 00:03:53 · Project for Awesome

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