Originally posted by AuraAngel
Why would the government have sent those people to die if it could be avoided? Corrupt is different from stupid.
You mean why did the rich elite class of humans not want to have to share their living space with the poor?
Great question. Why didn't they want to do that? They were either corrupt or stupid.
Originally posted by AuraAngel
I disagree. Given the sheer size of the area encompassed by Wall Maria and the massive shifts in population that must have occurred I can definitely see it an uncomfortable deduction that their simply is not enough space and supplies to support everyone. The fall of Maria took a huge portion of the human territory(most likely a great deal of it set aside for plot production) and with it a good deal of supplies. Sure the government might have tweaked things but considering these characters live in a world where meat is a luxury the idea that each section is designed to support it's own population is pretty solid.
I disagree with your point, here. I think the space was more than enough and the supplies were more than enough.
I am contradicting the government in the manga. I say they lied. I say there were supplies. I say the land was enough (don't forget, the innermost district didn't' take in refugees).
If you look at the land, it is vast amounts of unframed land with densely populated districts. It is empty space, mostly: plenty of arable farmland.
1 year is more than enough to create vast amounts of farms, sew crops, and harvest them. They had 5 years. They decided to kill off half of those humans after 1 year:
http://www.mangahere.com/manga/shingeki_no_kyojin/c003/6.html
It was later stated to be to spare the other half (the half that contained the corrupt) from starvation. But it would have taken just 1 growing season to be able to feed all of the migrants. 😐
They shouldn't have been starving like it was claimed. Something is off about that offensive. IMO, that was what third party human military group was after: to get the government to reveal their despicable-ness.
Also, the author dropped a hint quite a bit ago about these walls:
http://www.mangahere.com/manga/shingeki_no_kyojin/c002/40.html
Also, I would say that this third party military group is probably a fanatic group that thinks humans should be turned into Titans to be saved since the Titans appear to be immortal.