#like at most without any career propaganda they'd just be weird obnoxious high schoolers that eventually grew out of it

[enobariasdistrict2]

the careers are so psychologically fascinating because, and i'm sure many career fans have pointed this out before, they are conditioned, from birth, with no other resources or conscience to guide them away from the harmful thinking, to believe that killing 23 innocent people, even children as small as rue, is a great honor and a completely justified way to rise to a higher standing. and they have complete blind faith in the adults they trust/the system in place because they have no experience to think otherwise or even think for themselves. it's why i'll never see them as villains and why even katniss could at most only dislike them for their personalities/directly hurting her and her allies while still seeing the humanity in them. they're being subjected to intense propaganda during crucial developmental years, and watching people die when they've been taught to be okay with that for their entire lives isn't going to suddenly awaken their internal moral compasses lol.