Utopia vs dystopia
Utopia:
A popular term used in speculative fiction or science fiction novels,
defined as being
a perfect world, paradise
Eden, bliss, Heaven, ect.
There are absolutely
no problems such as
war, disease, poverty,
discrimination,
inequality, etc…
EVERYONE lives in
harmony and complete
happiness.
Classical Utopias:
We can find examples of perfection and
imagined ideal societies in classical or
biblical literature. Many of these worlds
are set before history in a “golden age”,
before time itself began or during
mythical eras. (Adam and Eve in the
Garden of Eden.)
The story of The Garden of Eden is
told at the beginning of the bible,
and it is one of the earliest
descriptions of a paradise. The
garden of Eden represents the
beginning of human time and
experience and therefore it portrays
images of a pure time and place by
unmarked by history.
One would think that because we live in a first world, it is a Utopia because we share very many
characteristics of the definition. With our advancing technology, democratic government, fair laws, equality,
free health care, welfare, clean living standards.. the list goes on. We seem like a Utopia because the
things I have just listed basically make our lives problem free.
I am going to emphasize on the advancement in technology, because it is the sole thing that is
developing the world. Our futures are projected to be dominated by technology in a positive way.
The spread of data, ease of communication, productivity, health and wellness and overall living
conditions will be improved by the development of technology.
But because our lives rely so much on technology, there’s a very high possibility that technology will lead to a dystopian
future. Machines will take jobs, outsmart humans or turn against us and be used for malicious purposes. Purposes such
as: data collection against human consent, constant monitoring of every move, or a computer uprising that could lead to
a general failure of all things technological (and all things will be technology based eventually).
In 1984, George Orwell demonstrated the malicious use of technology by inventing telescreens. Telescreens
are not any different than our phones. They both have cameras (constant monitoring) , speakers (to hear our
every move and sound), and access to our personal lives. The only difference is you knew you were being
watched by a telescreen, but we don’t know what our phones are truly capable of. Our phones can tell what
we are doing every minute of everyday, everything we type, say, look at and “password protect” can be viewed
and recorded. We just don’t know it. If anything, phones are worse than telescreens.. It’s as though Orwell
was giving us a subtle warning of the future. Technology advancement doesn’t sound so Utopian...
So... Let’s take a closer look at the word Utopia.
In 1516, Sir Thomas More wrote about the first ‘Utopia’. He pulled the word from
Greek ou-topos meaning “no place” or “nowhere”. The english homophone
“utopia” derived from the Greek word eu-topos means“good place”. The identical
pronunciation and almost identical words give rise to the thought that ou-topos
and eu-topos have a double meaning.“Utopia” is an example of doublethink. Just
like the slogan of the party (War is Peace, Freedom is slavery, Ignorance is
strength) the word Utopia simultaneously has two mutually contradictory
statements that work together as one to become a statement acceptable by
society (just like the party slogan). The two meanings in utopia relate because
they deal with a “place”. However it is contradictory because there is good place
but it is non-existent. This suggests that a good place can not exist. Therefore
Utopia does not exist.
But when the average person sees the word “Utopia”,
they’ll automatically be lead to thinking that it is a
positive word. Just like citizens of Oceania believe
“War is Peace” is true, it goes to show how easily
manipulated humans minds can be. The average
person does not know that Utopia actually means that
good places can not exist.
But if you think about it… Utopia can’t exist anywhere other than fiction. No matter what, someone will always pick out
the bad. It’s in human nature to have individual will and desires.
Finally! A
Utopia!
So if Utopia can not exist, then what kind of
world do we live in?
Dystopia
The greek word dis-topos (dis meaning bad, topos meaning place), generally defined as a society or place with
undesirable, miserable and inhumane living conditions. Elements of a dystopia include: world wars, control/oppression,
low living standards, class society, dictatorship, reservation of information, surveillance and no freedom of mind. The list
goes on and on.
Seeing as our world
is clearly not a Utopia, let’s
see if it could be a dystopia..
The most recognized INGSOC party
slogan of Oceania, “War is Peace,
Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is
Strength”.(George Orwell 1984) This
slogan sounds pretty vile, especially to us
in the real world. The goal of INGOC is to
achieve total control over people and more
importantly, their minds. So that way the
slogan is seen as a good thing rather than
completely corrupt.
“Reality control, they called it: In
Newspeak, “doublethink”. (Orwell 37)
Again, doublethink is the act
of simultaneously accepting two mutually
contradictory beliefs as correct and
therefore accepted by citizens. The party
totally achieved that goal by creating this
slogan.
Even though there is constant war in
Oceania, people are acting like there’s
nothing wrong and the world is at
peace (that sounds familiar… maybe
the war in Middle -East that everyone is
brushing off their shoulders.. we know
it’s going on but we aren’t going to do
anything about it).
So what I’m really trying to say is that,
even in a Parliamentary Democracy like
ours, and not a Dictatorship like in
1984, it’s hard to believe that
paradoxes like “War is peace, freedom
is slavery, ignorance is strength” could
make sense in our world. But they do!
Let’s break down the slogan.
The “War is peace” concept is actually used today by NATO . (North Atlantic Treaty Organization; A “peacekeeping” group
Canada is a part of). There are “two basic points” within NATO. Number one, Political tactic: Being diplomatic with the
threatening country and/or area. NATO uses methods of discussment various conflicts in attempt to solve problems verbally
and without violence.
Then there’s number two, the Military tactic. If the political/diplomatic efforts fail, then NATO will take action by using military
force and eliminating the threat. This is known as a primitive war. It’s basically saying killing = peace because the threat will be
gone. We as citizens are believed into thinking that it’s not a real war because it’s a “Primitive War”. That word itself is a
paradox because you can’t start a war in order to prevent it.
Just like in Oceania,
we too believe that war
accomplishes peace.
Nobody questions the
government while at
war because we are
on the same side as
them.
“Freedom is Slavery”
In the book, this part of the slogan acts as a
subconscious reminder to discourage anyone
who might consider freedom. If Winston were
to be free, he would be allowed to express
ideas contrary to The Party doctrine. Therefore
Winston would be made weak. He would be a
slave to his own ideas and beliefs as oppose
to being strong under the one from The Party.
In the real world, this part of the
slogan is the very centre of our global society
and the biggest, most ignored problem.
Humans are “currency slaves”, meaning we
must work and earn money to survive. At the
same time, while we are working, laboring and
giving up our time and lives to work for the
country, we all have this idea in our head that
we live free lives. But if we were to stop paying
taxes for our so called “owned possessions”
(car, house, land, etc) just wait and see what
happens.
“Ignorance is Strength”.
This part of the quote is to encourage the
people of Oceania to accept as a fact
everything the party commands and tells
them, without using rational thinking (also
known as Thinkcrime). They are to believe
and never question. Being ignorant of the
true condition of things in Oceania is actually
beneficial because it helps the people to live
“happy” lives (not constantly being
interrogated by the Party) and thus, strong.
To workers within the party, like Winston. His
job revolves around keeping people oblivious
and ignorant about true facts and statistics.
He is essentially creating lies for the party to
keep citizens in the dark which helps the
party (and Winston's job) stay strong. The
citizens ignorance gives the party strength
because if they really knew how manipulated
and brainwashed the party was trying to
make them they would rebel and take away
the parties power.
“Even though there’s a shortage of everything and it a a great
effort to get ahold of the most basic thing, citizens are
convinced that there is an abundance, only because the party
says so (Orwell 43)”.
The strength given by ignorance is urged in our society; never question the law, authority, legal institutions,
teachers, textbooks, history, media or scientific discoveries/claims.
Any types of deviation from the norm is swiftly noticed and then fought and corrected by society with
the help of individuals around us. Us citizens are “prisoners and prison masters constantly policing ourselves and
eachother.” (Alexander Light). Even though we are not aware of it, we are all victims of careful mind alternating
teachings and indoctrination from birth until death. When we are taught right from wrong, who is to say what truly
is right, and what truly is wrong? Certainly not us, and most definitely it is someone of higher power.
So there’s no way we live in a Utopia, because “good place, no place” clearly establishes the fact that Utopia is nonexistent. We are more likely to be living in a Dystopia. I’m not saying that our world is so unbearably corrupt like 1984,
but there is an immense amount of evidence connecting our world to Oceania in 1984. It’s as though George Orwell
was warning us of the future. His predictions are true, although they show some differences, there are very large
similarities to his description of the world in his book and the world we live in (Like the telescreens the Party uses, our
cell phones and the Party slogan that applies to real life)
So because Utopia means good places are non-existent, it’s the equivalent to saying Utopia=Dystopia. Essentially what
Utopia means is that if a good place can not exist then there can only be bad.
Even if George Orwell’s book is a warning to us all, it’s not
like we are all going to unite and prevent such a world from
happening because: “Ignorance is Strength”.
So.. will we all live happily ever after?