Fight to the ‘Death’ and Go ‘Hungry’ at Hunger Games Camp

My son recently picked up the phrase, “I’m starving!” I have tried to patiently correct him and explain the difference between normal everyday hunger between meals and the reality of hunger and starvation for others… all without laying on the kind of guilt he’ll need therapy for later. This parenting business walks a fine line.

Well, apparently so do summer camps:

In the meantime, as these children were undergoing pretend suffering at summer camp, hunger striking inmates at Guantanamo Bay—off the coast of Florida—were experiencing very genuine suffering at the hands of the US government.

What does it mean to face hunger in a culture of spectacle? What does it mean to play at hunger at a summer camp?

Read more here: Fight to the ‘Death’ and Go ‘Hungry’ at Hunger Games Camp | Culture | Religion Dispatches.