First World Problems

Today I finished reading the last book in the Hunger Games Trilogy. It may not be considered a literary classic or particularly sophisticated but it most certainly raises some interesting questions. Something which struck me early on was the disgust I felt for the people of the capitol. For the first few chapters the book describes abject poverty and some amount of injustice. When Peeta and Katniss visit the capitol, their evaluations of the people of the capitol struck me as familiar. Whether intended or not the comparison is very easy to apply to our world. If you look at the graph of inequality in a previous post, it becomes obvious that its the same as the world we live in. Although not any more through military might but by economic, developing countries are suppressed  as the developed nations thrash around to stay at the top. Katniss frequently speaks as the capitol people as weak and with high standards of living. Reminding me only of the first world problems meme. We live in a pretty tame part of the world, using our iPhones from District 3 where that particular factory's suicide rate, although shockingly high, is considered average. Furthermore wearing our Primark clothes from district 8 and having stockpiles of food so huge, that it rots rather than feeding the needy. Worst of all, I feel impotent, it seems no action I can take will help. If you don't buy from developing countries you starve them of all income movement in selfish nationalism and if you do you are lining the pockets of frankly horrible multinational corporations. Even aid or Fairtrade is often seen as counter-productive, catching the poor in cycles of dependence. Perhaps that's the real and only First World Problem.