Sounds Familiar?

“In the game of thrones, in order to survive we all have to be a bit corrupt, a bit ruthless.That’s the system here. Thats just the reality of things. If you don’t bribe a bit and play to people’s prejudices, someone else who does will replace you. If you were thrown into this system you would do the same. Or Sink.”  -???, A Game of Thrones

To someone who is a big fan of George RR Martin and his A Song of Fire and Ice, when I read this it sounded like it came right out of the books. One of Cersei Lannister’s most famous quotes after all is: “When you play the game of thrones you win or you die. There is no middle ground.”

As it turns out, this quote is not from that series of books or the HBO show. In fact, it is taken directly from Jason Stearn’s book: Dancing in the Glory of Monsters:The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa. Just change the first line from “In the game of thrones” to “In the Congo”.

Thus far I’m only a couple dozen pages in but its shaping up to be an well written account of a war that is still going on today.

The world that a game of thrones is set in is a harsh one with rampant chaos, death and destruction on the lower levels of society, and cut-throat political maneuvers at the top. It is eyeopening that a book framed in medieval times can bear so much similarity to actual world events taking place now. Most people I know have probably never heard of the DRC or the Democratic Republic of Congo. Even less likely know that it is a failed state and in an ongoing armed conflict.

I will let you know my impressions on the whole situation after I finish reading the book. Its just interesting to see that situations from fantasy worlds might not actually be too different from real places in the world today.

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For those of you who have not seen the HBO show, I would definitely recommend that you get caught up on it. There are only two episodes left this season.