What is it that binds us together as humans? Everyone from philosophers to scientists to poets have been trying to answer this question for ages, each arriving at different conclusions with wildly disparate views of the world. And while it seems that the more we grow as humans the more we grow divided, there are some things that connect us despite everything working against us. Such cultural moments of connectivity often arise from a trend in fashion, media, or literature. The specific moment we are referring to was the worldwide literary phenomenon known as The Hunger Games, written by Suzanne Collins, which sold more than 65 million copies in the U.S. alone and went on to be a major motion picture franchise.

But what are we left with from this moment of connectivity that took place almost a decade ago? Something ironic and undeniably human.

Meet Esther Frink, avid reader, blogger, and marketing manager for Goop. Esther was a huge fan of the Hunger Games series as a teen and even went to see the midnight premiers of the movies with her friends. What could she say? She was caught up in the moment like many of us were.

Although Esther hasn’t read a book or watched a movie from the series in years, she still carries around a Mockingjay pin (as worn by the protagonist, Katniss) in her daily life. Esther hopes that this piece of fiction she carries with her will remind her of a world she once loved and the lessons she learned from it.

All of this was well and good until the day last year that Esther decided to get on Twitter and voice her opinions for all to hear. A critical mistake.

It started with something simple, just a question: “If we want police to do a better job, shouldn’t we give them more money and not less?” Esther was clearly asking this question to the void of Twitter hoping for someone to agree with her. If she was actually looking for an answer, a quick Google would have saved her the anguish just around the corner.

Instead, she was met with a response from another user that had already explained this concept multiple times and was growing impatient. “We are talking about re-allocating funds that go to the police now and using them for better purposes like supporting mental health professionals and other city-run programs. The last thing they need is more money.”

Hoping to engage in a respectful conversation on Twitter (lol), Esther responded by asking, “Isn’t ‘Defund the Police’ too aggressive of a slogan then? I just worry it’s going to have people missing the point.”

The response was almost instantaneous, “And yet you missed the point by a mile. Defunding the police is already the compromise, you should be happy we aren’t demanding more.”

Offended by this stern response, Esther immediately screenshotted the entire conversation to send to her friends for validation. But just as she was about to send the text, she glanced down to see the Mockingjay pin staring back at up at her.

It was in that moment that she knew what she had to do.

So she got in her car, got some supplies at the store, and threw a molotov cocktail through her local police station window.