Universal Utopias

 Part of the reason the world of 1984 is so messed up, is because someone tried to create a utopia. We started the semester by defining utopia and dystopia, and discussing whether utopias are even possible. Most of the class agreed that no, a utopia in the way we normally picture it, is not possible, because everyone’s idea of a utopia is unique and involves the people around them. The world of 1984 is so messed up and different from our society because the original creators of the party wanted to create their utopia, which included total power and control, and it ruined the lives of everyone around them. I think we as a society tend to always look for ways to improve the world we live in, which is a good and necessary thing, because our world could definitely be improved upon, but I think sometimes we get caught up in that improval and don’t always think through how a decision that might make my life better, could hurt someone else. I have found that when I make an active effort to keep in mind the idea that my utopia is different from other people’s utopia, I make decisions differently and my mindset about the world is different. I’ve noticed that as a society, especially the younger generation, we pass a lot of judgement on other people, in effect believing that our ideas about the world are superior. That thought pattern scares me a little bit, because if we start believing that our ideals (or utopia) are better than everyone else’s, we could end up in a world like that of 1984. I know a lot of this is very general, loose observations and statements, and there is no effective way to enforce these ideas on our society, but I think one way we can prevent our world from becoming “Orwellian” is just knowing that a universal utopia doesn’t exist, as much as we want it to. We should keep striving for a utopia because it makes our world better, but if we believe it is possible, we may fall into the trap of creating our utopia, and ruining other people’s.

Comments

  1. L. MoffittMarch 12, 2021 at 7:51 AM

    I like this! It's a little paradoxical, but it works: there is no universal idea of what a perfect society is because it's a process, not a rigid definition. Makes sense.

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