# data[].attributes.body
“Valuables. That was a hot one, Richards thought, unbuttoning his shirt. He had an empty wallet with a few pictures of Sheila and Cathy, a receipt for a shoe sole he had replaced at the local cobbler's six months ago, a keyring with no keys on it except for the doorkey, a baby sock that he did not remember putting in there, and the package of Blams he had gotten from the machine.”

This shows how he is not the richest man in the world and how he keeps the things he cares about close to him

# data[].attributes.body
“In the year 2025, the best men don't run for president, they run for their lives. . . .”

This shows very early in the novel some of the dystopian aspects of the novel and some of the plot

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.debt.org/jobs/unemployment/united-states/

# data[].attributes.body
“Richards unlocked his room and stepped in. There was a police bar on the inside.” Police are all throughout and they have been told to patrol very hard.

# data[].attributes.body
"It seemed like a very long evening."

This quote occurs when Ben is awaiting in the Games Network building. You can tell that he is nervous because he keeps thinking about various things.

# data[].attributes.body
Summary Response Artic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Those white lines in the sky trailing behind jet planes are puffy plumes of water vapour. But online, some have twisted them into evidence of a secret plot to control weather or poison the environment. Why are wild theories about contrails and other phenomena so persistent on social media?

Suzanne Maher doesn't like the term "conspiracy theory".

When I use it - on a phone call to arrange an interview - she tells me that it was invented by the CIA to discredit those who question the government.

But as the founder of Bye Bye Blue Sky - a group established to raise awareness of so-called "chemtrails" and what she claims is a massive, secret government conspiracy to control the weather - it's one the Canadian is used to hearing.

"I ask that we move beyond the notion that this is a conspiracy theory," she says. "Twenty to thirty years ago we never saw these trails. We had a beautiful blue sky."

More on online conspiracy theories

Suzanne is among a significant number of people using social media to spread this message.

"Chemtrail" conspiracy theorists vary in their claims. But some of the most popular include the belief that governments control the weather on a massive scale, that scientists carrying out legitimate research about how to counteract climate change through a process called geo-engineering are secretly poisoning us, or even that secret powerful groups are spraying us with chemicals to make us pliant and easy to control.

The trails she's talking about are those you'll have seen yourself - plumes of white that form behind aircraft. They are simply water vapour released from aircraft engines that condenses into ice crystals if the atmospheric conditions are right. Suzanne Maher isn't correct when she says they're a new phenomenon: you can see condensation trails left behind aircraft in images from the Battle of Britain during the Second World War.

But what most people call "contrails" Suzanne and other conspiracy theorists call "chemtrails" - and in them they see evidence of a clandestine globalist conspiracy involving a pick-and-mix selection of the UN, the military, national governments, the Rothschilds, climate scientists, pilots and big business.

Her beliefs don't exactly come from nowhere.

Weather modification - or at least attempting it - has a long history. The Leningrad Institute of Rainmaking was established in the Soviet Union in 1932. Chinese authorities used cloud seeding to ensure the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics wasn't washed out.

Geo-engineering - deliberate intervention in the Earth's natural systems to counteract climate change - is a newer field of research. While scientists have talked about it, there's been very little being physically done - most of the research in the field relies on computer modelling.

Professor David Keith of Harvard University, is among the most prominent scientists calling for further research. He told the New York Times he knows of only two instances where one of the most controversial proposals has been tested in the field. It's called solar geo-engineering and involves atmospheric aerosol injection of tiny reflective particles to reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the earth and thus cool the planet.

Similarly, successful weather modification efforts have been localised - and certainly not on the grand scale some conspiracy theorists claim.

Nonetheless, "chemtrail" and geo-engineering conspiracy theorists flood social media with speculation, questions and images of contrail cross-hatched skies. One international survey suggested almost 17% of respondents thought chemtrail conspiracy theories true or partly true.

Suzanne says she first became aware of the subject six years ago.

"I was actually on a website. It was a very young girl, she wasn't even ten years old. She talked about the spraying going on in our skies and the fact she was so sad because she didn't want to go outside and the skies were no longer blue and we were being sprayed. Why would such a young child be sharing this information if it wasn't truthful?

"Her words disturbed me and intrigued me so I began looking into this topic and doing extensive research. This awakening truly changed my life," she says.

That research led Suzanne to create Bye Bye Blue Sky. She runs a closed group on Facebook, where around 5,000 fellow believers can discuss the theory, as well as raising money to buy billboard advertising. She closely vets the group's members.

"We don't debate that it's happening in this group," she says. "We all realise that it is happening."

'Information bubbles'

Closed groups of like-minded people - the type common on social media and the internet - are one of the big reasons why conspiracy theories solidify online. Professor Karen Douglas, from the University of Kent, researches the psychology of conspiracy theories.

"People tend to share information but also consume information that's consistent with what they already believe," she says.

"People end up living in these information bubbles, or echo chambers, where they share ideas with other people who believe what they believe. And they read information which confirms what they believe.

"Information doesn't necessarily spread indiscriminately the way people think it does on the internet and social media. People tend to share it with people who kind of think the same way as they do about these issues in the first place," she says.

'I taste and smell it'

Russ Tanner runs what he claims is the largest "chemtrails" group on Facebook - Chemtrails Global Skywatch - which has more than 114,000 members. He calls so-called chemtrails "the largest crime against humanity in history".

In a post typical of the paranoia among conspiracy theorists, one of the memes he's posted in his group asks if chemtrails are "the modern implementation of eugenics and forced depopulation".

At his request, I contact Russ at 8am in the UK - 3am in Maine, where he lives.

"The main reason I wanted to do the interview at night is in our area we have an enormous amount of aerosol injection that takes place through the evening," he tells me.

"I can't sleep when the air is that concentrated with this fallout. It causes me physical symptoms. I taste and smell it. It burns my sinuses, causes inflammation, rises in blood pressure, stomach issues and headaches."

Both Russ and Suzanne claim to have conducted their own scientific tests. Suzanne says she even tested her dog.

"I had my soil tested. I had my hair tested," she says. "I was toxic in aluminium, barium, strontium, arsenic, manganese. And I live very healthily." She says her dog has been poisoned by a radioactive metal.

Russ claims he found six times the safe levels of aluminium in his rainwater, and both say the tests are solid proof of atmospheric spraying.

It's not known what's behind those test results - and they couldn't be independently verified. Scientists, of course, disagree that there is any large-scale plot by governments to spread chemicals around the globe.

A 2016 study by the Carnegie Institute for Science and the University of California Irvine surveyed 77 leading atmospheric scientists and geochemists. All but one, 98.7%, reported no evidence of a secret large-scale atmospheric spraying programme. The one scientist who dissented recorded unusually high levels of atmospheric barium in a remote area with low levels of barium in the soil. But to get from that one result to the idea that we're being secretly sprayed with chemicals requires a monumental leap of faith.

"Our goal is not to sway those already convinced that there is a secret, large-scale spraying programme - who often reject counter evidence as further proof of their theories - but rather to establish a source of objective science that can inform public discourse," the study's authors wrote.

The conspiracy theorists won't be swayed.

"We have a long history in all countries of scientists believing things that we later realise are false," Russ contends. "It takes a very rare and brave person who steps out and goes against the flow.

"Whether or not people listen, that's up to them. But as for me - this is happening."

The news of Russia's birth rate dropping by 10.6 per cent in 2017 to reach its lowest level in 10 years, despite government measures to boost fertility rate has prompted debate online. READ MORE

You can follow BBC Trending on Twitter @BBCtrending, and find us on Facebook. All our stories are at bbc.com/trending.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
'Chemtrail' conspiracy theorists: The people who think governments control the weather

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Those white lines in the sky trailing behind jet planes are puffy plumes of water vapour. But online, some have twisted them into evidence of a secret plot to control weather or poison the environment. Why are wild theories about contrails and other phenomena so persistent on social media?

# data[].attributes.body
Article for summary response.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
'It's showtime!' Movies in LA, CC BY-SA

Welcome to a world where fake news stories are used to manipulate public opinion. Dissent is no longer tolerated and all your communications are monitored; the economy is not functioning and reality TV is used to distract you from harsher realities. Welcome to 2017.

I don't mean our 2017 but an imagined one from 30 years ago. This was the setting for 1987 movie The Running Man, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. The bad news? Much of this action-adventure slugfest looks eerily prophetic now that we're here for real.

In the film, Schwarzenegger plays police helicopter pilot Ben Richards in a 2017 when many people are living on the streets and food, natural resources and oil are in short supply. The movie begins with him refusing to fire on a food riot from his helicopter because the people are unarmed, with women and children caught up in the protest. He gets overpowered by colleagues and the rioters are massacred, with footage of the incident edited to make him the perpetrator - and a useful scapegoat.

Imprisoned for life, Richards is offered the chance to win his freedom by competing in the most popular TV programme in history, Running Man. This state-sponsored show pits contestants against high-profile hunters with extreme weaponry. It's a Schwarzenegger vehicle from his 1980s heyday, so you can probably guess who wins.

The script by Steven E de Souza loosely adapts a 1982 novel of the same name by Richard Bachman, the pseudonym of horror author Stephen King. The source material is set in 2025 and far less heroic. It ends with Richards hijacking an aeroplane and flying it into the television company's skyscraper headquarters - stop me if this is sounding in any way familiar.

The film adaptation is a product of its time, with 1980s props that look out of place in the fictional 2017 setting. People carry clipboards instead of tablet computers, use analogue phones rather than mobiles, and store their music on cassette. The Running Man does feature smart home technology, like voice-controlled coffee makers, but the computers are primitive. It's the satirical touches that stand out most in this film, such as the president of the United States having his own theatrical agent.

When in Rome ...

The central conceit of both novel and film - that those in power use mass entertainment to distract the population from reality - is part of a long tradition. It dates all the way back to the Roman empire when the masses were appeased with free wheat and arena spectacles, a tactic described as panem et circenses - bread and circuses.

One of the first writers to transplant this notion to television was Quartermass creator Nigel Kneale in his 1968 play for BBC Two, The Year of the Sex Olympics. It envisaged a dystopian future where the elite maintains control over the people by broadcasting a constant stream of pornography and trash television.

Kneale effectively predicted the rise of reality TV programmes like Big Brother and I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here; and much other science fiction has drawn on the same theme. It appears, for example, in Doctor Who in the 1985 adventure Vengeance on Varos - set in a totalitarian world where torture and executions are televised to amuse and divert the masses - and more recently in The Hunger Games trilogy.

The additional element that makes The Running Man even more resonant right now is fake news. The fake footage of Richards' helicopter massacre is replayed to the live audience in the gameshow studio to coerce them into believing Schwarzenegger's character is a liar, a murderer and a threat to everyone. The programmers then do the same thing to his sidekick, Amber Mendez (Maria Conchita Alonso), before later faking their televised deaths during the game itself.

It's not unlike how social media and even some broadcasters have been guilty of distributing and promoting fake news in recent months, especially during the US presidential election. When psychotic Running Man host Damon Killian (Richard Dawson) interviews studio audience members in the movie, their simple-minded responses echo footage of real American voters dismissing reality for what they've been told on TV or via alt-right news sites.

Muscular politics

Meanwhile, The Running Man cast included not one but two men who would improbably become governors of American states. Jesse Ventura, then best known as a professional wrestler, appears as gameshow veteran Captain Freedom. In 1999, Ventura was elected governor of Minnesota, serving a full four-year term.

EPA

Schwarzenegger, a former bodybuilder, was then elected governor of California in 2003 and re-elected in 2006. And having starred in a movie about the potential dangers of reality TV, on January 2 he will become host of Celebrity Apprentice in the US. The person he replaces? A real estate tycoon called Donald Trump who will become the president of the United States in the coming days, despite losing the popular vote.

Trump has appointed as his chief strategist and senior counsellor Stephen Bannon. Until recently, Bannon was executive chair of Breitbart News, a right-wing website accused of massaging facts to promote its agenda and win the election for his new boss. And lest we forget, one key part of Trump's mandate is to revive an economy that has never recovered from the financial crisis of 2007-08.

Put it all together and the 2017 of The Running Man doesn't look very far away.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The violent, post-truth 2017 predicted in The Running Man? We're living in it

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Welcome to a world where fake news stories are used to manipulate public opinion. Dissent is no longer tolerated and all your communications are monitored; the economy is not functioning and reality TV is used to distract you from harsher realities. Welcome to 2017.

# data[].attributes.body
“My name is Amelia Williams. Benjamin Richards is holding me hostage. If you don’t give us safe conduct, he says he’ll kill me.”

Ben Richards is willing to do anything to win, even take a hostage

# data[].attributes.body
“Killing for pay. Ready to do anything for money. Wanting to overturn the country. Why don’t you find decent work?

A hunter telling Ben how he feels about the poor and how worthless they feel

# data[].attributes.body
“He was trying to get up, scrambling and dropping things.” This just shows how dangerous this game really is and the only people that really play are the people that need the money very bad.

# data[].attributes.body
“Get out you creep! Kill him!  This just shows us how violent the game really is.

# data[].attributes.body
This article is directly connected to the NFL which is exactly like our book.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
There's a reason why football is called America's pastime. Americans -if they watch the sport or not- are unconsciously paying for it. Controversy brought on by NFL star Colin Kaepernick taking a knee during the National Anthem last season, and subsequently looking for employment this season, has put the organization founded in 1920 under a microscope.

Heightening the issue, in a recent speech President Trump called those that are kneeling "son of bitches." Immediately, Kaepernick's protest about police brutality and systematic racism became about standing up against Trump -and while that was never the intent of the political gesture, if we are going to analyze the role of government in the NFL, we should break in down clearly.

Here are six ways the NFL and government are directly linked.

Million-Dollar Supporters.
It's been widely reported that seven NFL team owners donated to Donald Trump's inaugural committee. And it wasn't just small change- Dan Snyder of the Redskins, Shad Khan of the Jaguars, Bob McNair of the Texans, Robert Kraft of the Patriots, Woody Johnson of the Jets and Stan Kroenke of the Rams donated $1 million each. Also, the NFL's marketing division gave $100k to Trump.

The National Anthem.
In 2009 the government began having football players come out and stand for the National Anthem- as a way to market military recruitment. Previously, players were in the locker room during the National Anthem. Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake delved into this issue in a 2015 report that revealed the Department of Defense spent $6.8 million in advertising contracts with different sports teams since 2012 -with the majority going to the NFL.

Congressional Co-Sign.
The Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 is considered the first piece of legislation to allow financial carte blanche by the NFL. The amendment essentially allowed professional football teams to pool together when negotiating radio and television broadcasts rights -with CBS being the lead station. Signed by President John F. Kennedy, this law was the first action by the federal government that would spur the growth of a multi-billion-dollar enterprise.

Non-Profit Status.
Believe it or not, the NFL is non-profit. The IRS expanded Section 501(c)6 of the Internal Revenue Code, which "provides for the exemption of business leagues, chambers of commerce, real estate boards, boards of trade and professional football leagues, which are not organization." As noted by The Washington Post, this exception means the NFL's headquarters in New York led by Goodell is spared tax payments that some estimate to be $10 million annually- because the teams and not the NFL make money.

Tax-Payer's Stadiums.
Football is a recreational sport, and recreational sports are a tourist attraction. With that said, it should be noted that several football stadiums have been built with some or all-public financing, according to David Goodfriend. That public financing comes from taxpayers dollars that rack up to hundreds of millions of dollars for the building and maintence of these venues all over the country.

Corporate Ties.
You know those gorgeous suites for corporate employees and sponsor brands? As reported by CNN Money, NFL teams sell between $1.5 billion to $2 billion worth of luxury and high-end club seats a year, according to Bill Dorsey, the chairman of the Association of Luxury Suite Directors. A single suite can cost as much as $750,000 a season. Almost all suites and club tickets are bought by corporate clients, which write the cost off as a business entertainment expense.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Paid Patriotism: Six Ways The NFL Is Directly Connected To The Government

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
There's a reason why football is called America's pastime. Americans -if they watch the sport or not- are unconsciously paying for it. Controversy brought on by NFL star Colin Kaepernick taking a knee during the National Anthem last season, and subsequently looking for employment this season, has put the organization founded in 1920 under a microscope.

# data[].attributes.body
“Then they could discuss the possibilities of social inequity, the way your socks always fall down when you're wearing rubber boots, and the importance of being earnest.”
Society was not equal, they kept the poor where they were and the rich where they were.

# data[].attributes.body
"The elevator opened directly onto the street. A cop was standing by its frontage on Nixon Memorial Park, but he did not look at Richards as he stepped out; only tapped his move-along reflectively and stared into the soft drizzle that filled the air. "

Ben Richards is nervous, this is the beginning of the running man game.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
America's inequality problem is getting worse.

The richest 1% of families controlled a record-high 38.6% of the country's wealth in 2016, according to a Federal Reserve report published on Wednesday.

That's nearly twice as much as the bottom 90%, which has seen its slice of the pie continue to shrink.

The bottom 90% of families now hold just 22.8% of the wealth, down from about one-third in 1989 when the Fed started tracking this measure.

The numbers paint a stark picture of the inequality problems gripping the country and the ability of politicians, like President Donald Trump and Sen. Bernie Sanders, to attract voters by arguing that the system is "rigged" in favor of the rich.

Even the Fed acknowledged in the report that the distribution of wealth has "grown increasingly unequal in recent years."

Not only that, but the richest Americans are taking home an even bigger part of the nation's overall earnings.

The top 1% of families brought in a record-high 23.8% of the overall income in 2016, the Fed said. That's up from 20.3% in 2013 and about twice as high as the low point in 1992.

The bottom 90% of families now make less than half of the country's income. That figure slipped to 49.7% last year, down from more than 60% in 1992.

The good news is that the middle class just enjoyed its biggest two-year raise in decades. Median household income ticked up by 3.2% last year following a 5.2% jump in 2015, according to the Census Bureau.

Related: Middle class income tops $59,000

However, it's not just a stagnant wages problem. The booming stock market may also be contributing to America's inequality issues.

On the one hand, the Fed said that the value of stock portfolios rose "dramatically" over the past three years to an average of $344,500.

But millions of Americas can't feel the stock market boom because they're not invested or don't have much money in the market.

Overall, 51.9% of families owned stocks in 2016, up from 48.8% in 2013. Stock ownership is much less popular among less affluent people though.

Barely one-third of families in the bottom 50% of earners own stocks, either directly or indirectly. The average stock portfolio among this group is worth about $52,000. That's up significantly from 2010, but down from $55,300 in 2013.

By contrast, the Fed said 93.6% of the top income group owned stocks in 2016. Their average holdings stood at $1.4 million last year, up from $999,400 in 2013.

--CNNMoney's Tami Luhby contributed to this report.

CNNMoney (New York) First published September 27, 2017: 4:04 PM ET

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Record inequality: The top 1% controls 38.6% of America's wealth

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The richest 1% of families controlled a record-high 38.6% of the country's wealth in 2016, according to a Federal Reserve report published on Wednesday. That's nearly twice as much as the bottom 90%, which has seen its slice of the pie continue to shrink.

# data[].attributes.body
"He wolfed the meal; they all did"

This occurs when the men are given their first meal at the games building. This quote shows that they have not been fed well because they all ate their meals so fast. It also could mean that all of the men do not have a lot of money and can not to afford to eat regularly.

# data[].attributes.body
This article compares the book to what is going on in the world today. It explains how both the book and life today use entertainment to distract ourselves from reality. This is especially true in today's world because there are many ways that entertainment can distract from the real world (technology, vacations, other activities). It is also true in The Running Man because they use the "Free-Vee" to distract people from reality by playing the numerous game shows that provide entertainment.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
'It's showtime!' Movies in LA, CC BY-SA

Welcome to a world where fake news stories are used to manipulate public opinion. Dissent is no longer tolerated and all your communications are monitored; the economy is not functioning and reality TV is used to distract you from harsher realities. Welcome to 2017.

I don't mean our 2017 but an imagined one from 30 years ago. This was the setting for 1987 movie The Running Man, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. The bad news? Much of this action-adventure slugfest looks eerily prophetic now that we're here for real.

In the film, Schwarzenegger plays police helicopter pilot Ben Richards in a 2017 when many people are living on the streets and food, natural resources and oil are in short supply. The movie begins with him refusing to fire on a food riot from his helicopter because the people are unarmed, with women and children caught up in the protest. He gets overpowered by colleagues and the rioters are massacred, with footage of the incident edited to make him the perpetrator - and a useful scapegoat.

Imprisoned for life, Richards is offered the chance to win his freedom by competing in the most popular TV programme in history, Running Man. This state-sponsored show pits contestants against high-profile hunters with extreme weaponry. It's a Schwarzenegger vehicle from his 1980s heyday, so you can probably guess who wins.

The script by Steven E de Souza loosely adapts a 1982 novel of the same name by Richard Bachman, the pseudonym of horror author Stephen King. The source material is set in 2025 and far less heroic. It ends with Richards hijacking an aeroplane and flying it into the television company's skyscraper headquarters - stop me if this is sounding in any way familiar.

The film adaptation is a product of its time, with 1980s props that look out of place in the fictional 2017 setting. People carry clipboards instead of tablet computers, use analogue phones rather than mobiles, and store their music on cassette. The Running Man does feature smart home technology, like voice-controlled coffee makers, but the computers are primitive. It's the satirical touches that stand out most in this film, such as the president of the United States having his own theatrical agent.

When in Rome ...

The central conceit of both novel and film - that those in power use mass entertainment to distract the population from reality - is part of a long tradition. It dates all the way back to the Roman empire when the masses were appeased with free wheat and arena spectacles, a tactic described as panem et circenses - bread and circuses.

One of the first writers to transplant this notion to television was Quartermass creator Nigel Kneale in his 1968 play for BBC Two, The Year of the Sex Olympics. It envisaged a dystopian future where the elite maintains control over the people by broadcasting a constant stream of pornography and trash television.

Kneale effectively predicted the rise of reality TV programmes like Big Brother and I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here; and much other science fiction has drawn on the same theme. It appears, for example, in Doctor Who in the 1985 adventure Vengeance on Varos - set in a totalitarian world where torture and executions are televised to amuse and divert the masses - and more recently in The Hunger Games trilogy.

The additional element that makes The Running Man even more resonant right now is fake news. The fake footage of Richards' helicopter massacre is replayed to the live audience in the gameshow studio to coerce them into believing Schwarzenegger's character is a liar, a murderer and a threat to everyone. The programmers then do the same thing to his sidekick, Amber Mendez (Maria Conchita Alonso), before later faking their televised deaths during the game itself.

It's not unlike how social media and even some broadcasters have been guilty of distributing and promoting fake news in recent months, especially during the US presidential election. When psychotic Running Man host Damon Killian (Richard Dawson) interviews studio audience members in the movie, their simple-minded responses echo footage of real American voters dismissing reality for what they've been told on TV or via alt-right news sites.

Muscular politics

Meanwhile, The Running Man cast included not one but two men who would improbably become governors of American states. Jesse Ventura, then best known as a professional wrestler, appears as gameshow veteran Captain Freedom. In 1999, Ventura was elected governor of Minnesota, serving a full four-year term.

EPA

Schwarzenegger, a former bodybuilder, was then elected governor of California in 2003 and re-elected in 2006. And having starred in a movie about the potential dangers of reality TV, on January 2 he will become host of Celebrity Apprentice in the US. The person he replaces? A real estate tycoon called Donald Trump who will become the president of the United States in the coming days, despite losing the popular vote.

Trump has appointed as his chief strategist and senior counsellor Stephen Bannon. Until recently, Bannon was executive chair of Breitbart News, a right-wing website accused of massaging facts to promote its agenda and win the election for his new boss. And lest we forget, one key part of Trump's mandate is to revive an economy that has never recovered from the financial crisis of 2007-08.

Put it all together and the 2017 of The Running Man doesn't look very far away.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The violent, post-truth 2017 predicted in The Running Man? We're living in it

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Welcome to a world where fake news stories are used to manipulate public opinion. Dissent is no longer tolerated and all your communications are monitored; the economy is not functioning and reality TV is used to distract you from harsher realities. Welcome to 2017.

# data[].attributes.body
"They gave us the Free-Vee to
keep us off the streets so we can breathe ourselves to death without making any trouble. How do you like that?"

This is a conversation between Bradley and Mr. Richards and it shows how polluted the earth is and how it is affecting everyone living in it.

# data[].attributes.body
“In the year 2025, the best men don't run for president, they run for their lives. . . “

This quote shows that the society will completely change by the year 2025 and that society will be more dangerous.

# data[].attributes.body
http://theconversation.com/the-violent-post-truth-2017-predicted-in-the-running-man-were-living-in-it-70726

# data[].attributes.body
“This man is Benjamin Richards, age twenty-eight. Know the face well! In a half-hour, this man will be on the prowl. A verified sighting brings you one hundred New Dollars! A sighting which results in a kill results in one thousand New Dollars for you!”

This shows that anyone is able to kill Ben, and how hard it is to win the Running Man game.

# data[].attributes.body
Richards held his temper. “I want to call my wife. Our kid is sick. Put yourself in my place,
for Christ’s sake.”
Richards life seems tough as he all he wants to do is to be able to help his family

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Image: Sony/TriStar Pictures
This article is part of the Motherboard Guide to Cinema, a semi-regular column exploring foreign and obscure speculative films.

The Running Man, a 1987 sci-fi action film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, is having a brief resurgence of relevance this year-though not in the way its stars and writers ever really envisioned.

The film is replete with all the cheesy 80s music and smug, action-hero one liners that one might expect from a Schwarzenegger flick (yes, he even drops an "I'll be back"). But the movie about a dystopian America pacified by a deadly reality show in the then-futuristic year of 2017 is still incredibly unsettling to watch on the eve of President Donald Trump's inauguration on January 20, 2017.

At the time of its release, Schwarzenegger saw it as nothing more than fiction. "In the movie, civil liberties and civil rights are abandoned," Schwarzenegger said in a 1987 television interview with entertainment reporter Bobbie Wygant. "That's why it's a movie and not reality. It's just a story, you can never forget that."

Although the US Justice Department has yet to establish an 'Entertainment Division' for the transfer of convicted criminals to a game show, watching The Running Man's depiction of the hyper-militarization of America and the blending of reality television with reality hits a little too close to home today.

"Everyday this year, I turn around there's another example of how stuff in the movie is coming true," Steven de Souza, who wrote the screenplay for The Running Man, told Motherboard in a phone interview. "I just want to say, it's not my fault."

Set in Los Angeles circa 2019, The Running Man is based off of a 1982 novel of the same name written by Stephen King under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. It tells the story of America in the aftermath of an economic collapse that happened in 2017.

"Everyday this year, I turn around there's another example of how stuff in the movie is coming true. I just want to say, it's not my fault."

In this post-apocalyptic future, a huge class divide is maintained by military rule-the elite live in fancy, militarized high rises in Los Angeles while the poor are relegated to massive slums on the outskirts of the city, where they are slaughtered indiscriminately by the military. It's tough not to see some parallels here to the real-life economic disparities, gentrification, and near-record high income gap in the United States today.

After escaping from a labor camp where he had been imprisoned for refusing to fire on unarmed civilians, helicopter pilot Ben Richards (Schwarzenegger's character) briefly links up with members of a rebellion, before being recaptured by the police during an attempt to escape to Hawaii.

Instead of being sent back to the camps, Richards is offered a chance to compete on 'The Running Man,' America's most popular reality television show, which pits convicted criminals called 'runners' against roided-out mercenaries called 'stalkers' in a futuristic take on gladiator-style blood sports. If he wins by surviving and defeating all of the stalkers, Richards can choose one of three illustrious prizes: a trial by jury, a suspended sentence, or a full pardon-prizes that no contestant has ever won.

In the beginning of the film, Richards is hiding out from the law in a woman's apartment when a television broadcaster announces a "door-to-door" police manhunt for Richards. While knocking down every door in Los Angeles to find a criminal might've seemed over the top in 1987, watching the film again today, it's hard not to think of the aftermath of the Boston marathon bombing of 2013, after which, the entire city was shut down while SWAT teams entered neighborhood homes in pursuit of the suspects, all without a warrant.

Then there's the obvious connection between 'The Running Man's' theatrical, cold-blooded host Damon Killian and our president-elect Donald Trump, who hosted a competitive, though not nearly so deadly, reality show himself. In a weird twist, Schwarzenegger recently became the host of The Apprentice, and the two engaged in a Twitter spat after a seemingly possessive Trump suggested Schwarzenegger's debut saw less-than-stellar ratings.

Wow, the ratings are in and Arnold Schwarzenegger got
Donald J. Trump January 6, 2017

being a movie star-and that was season 1 compared to season 14. Now compare him to my season 1. But who cares, he supported Kasich & Hillary
Donald J. Trump January 6, 2017

There's nothing more important than the people's work, Arnold January 6, 2017

I wish you the best of luck and I hope you'll work for ALL of the American people as aggressively as you worked for your ratings.
Arnold January 6, 2017

In the film, Killian controls the destitute masses of America by concocting lies that suit his narrative, twisting reality to fit the demands of television ratings. In a particularly telling scene, Killian admits that it was all about the money, justifying himself by saying he was only giving the American people what they wanted-violence, action, spectacle.

Endless lies were something we'd all become familiar with over the course of the most recent election cycle, but ultimately the winning candidate was the one that knew how to turn American politics into a high stakes reality show in its own right. And so Americans are left with a situation that, at least on the surface, resembles the future as seen through The Running Man a little too closely for comfort: a populace enraptured by the mass media spectacles orchestrated by a game show host that has the power to decide between life and death.

"In real life, everyone goes right back to Facebook."

For all its bleakness, The Running Man ultimately ends on a relatively positive note. Although America remains in tatters economically, if Schwarzenegger teaches us anything over the course of an hour and a half of gratuitous violence, it's that the dogged pursuit of truth in the face of tyranny is worth it.

Yet for screenwriter de Souza, that doesn't necessarily mean a happy ending in real life. "The biggest downer of this movie is the idea that when the video tape surfaces showing that Killian has lied, everyone is instantly outraged and rises up," de Souza said. "Apparently, it doesn't work that way. We've heard the tapes and seen the tapes, and it's had no effect. In real life, everyone goes right back to Facebook."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
'The Running Man' Is the Perfect Dystopian Movie For Trump's Inauguration

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Image: Sony/TriStar Pictures This article is part of the Motherboard Guide to Cinema, a semi-regular column exploring foreign and obscure speculative films. The Running Man, a 1987 sci-fi action film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, is having a brief resurgence of relevance this year-though not in the way its stars and writers ever really envisioned.

# data[].attributes.body
"The taste of the claustrophobia became huge, gagging. Trapped, his mind babbled. Trapped in here, trapped, trapped"

This shows how serious the show is and what he is willing to put himself through in order to win the money for his family.

# data[].attributes.body
“Huge, rusted heating pipes festooned with cobwebs crawled crazily all over the ceiling. When the furnace kicked on suddenly, Richards almost screamed in terror. The surge of adrenaline to his limbs and heart was painful, for a moment almost incapacitating”

This shows how much the contest is affecting his life and how much adrenaline and fear he has at all times. He is unable to live stress free and I think we will slowly see how much it is going to change him.

# data[].attributes.body
"Richards spent Saturday living through a huge hangover. He was almost over it by Saturday evening, and ordered two more bottles of bourbon with supper."

This is when Ben is in hotel room before he has to go on the show. He most likely drinks to cope with the fact that he may be killed and that he may never see his wife or daughter again.

# data[].attributes.body
"Richards unlocked his room and stepped in. There was a police bar on the inside" Police are everywhere and police activity is so high its insane

# data[].attributes.body
"You bastard"... "Aren't you married yourself? Didn't you ever find yourself strapped and have to borrow, even if it tasted like sh** in your mouth?"

This interaction occurs when Ben Richards is talking to the cop. He does not have any money and wants to call his wife to see how she and his daughter are doing. He hasn't spoken to her in awhile because he is at the Games building. Eventually the cop gives him the money and now he is able to call his wife.

# data[].attributes.body
“How bad is it?” Ben wants to know the condition of his daughter and try and help her out. This is significant because this is why he decides to play the game.

# data[].attributes.body
I like that Ben is taking accountability for his family but he needs to worry about himself

# data[].attributes.body
" The program is one of the surest ways the Network has of getting rid of embryo troublemakers such as yourself, Mr. Richards. "

This interaction between Richards and Killian shows that the game is to kill off the lower class society.

# data[].attributes.body
I'm worried for Ben's safety as he participates in the show. He could possibly never see his wife or daughter again.

# data[].attributes.body
“Got a family? It could be you next week.” Richards fires back at a cop that is rude to him