Utopia vs dystopia

Utopia:A popular term used in speculative fiction or science fiction novels, defined as being a perfect world, paradiseEden, bliss, Heaven, ect. There are absolutely no problems such as war, disease, poverty, discrimination, inequality, etc… EVERYONE lives in harmony and completehappiness.

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.

So if Utopia can not exist, then what kind of world do we live in?

Finally! A Utopia!

DystopiaThe 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 non-existent. 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?