Showing posts with label Orwell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Orwell. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 22

Living in a Utopia

A utopia is an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its citizens.  The term was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island society in the south Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South America. The opposite of a utopia is a dystopia, which dominates the fictional literature from the 1950s onwards, chiefly because of the impact of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). 

However, the term can also denote actual experiments in what participants regard as a vastly superior manner of living, generally in what are termed intentional communities. In common parlance it is synonymous with "impossible", "far-fetched", and "deluded".

Literary utopias focus on, amongst other things, equality, in such categories as economics, government and justice, with the method and structure of proposed implementation varying based on ideology.  

 Lyman Tower Sargent argues that the nature of a utopia is inherently contradictory because societies are not homogeneous and have desires which conflict and therefore cannot simultaneously be satisfied. SOURCE:  Wikipedia


The television series Star Trek was based upon a Utopia under the control of a ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT:   The United Federation of Planets.  And, it was this Federation that operated much like our United Nations but with a hell of a lot more power.  

People did not have to work unless they wanted to and if they did work they were paid according to their level of skill, not necessarily education but some form of formalized training in order to acquire those skills.  They were paid in credits but everything was provided for them:  housing, clothes, transportation, medical, etc.

And, no one bitched about it costing too much money or that one's taxes would be increasing...  it was just an accepted lifestyle.  However, there were some that rejected this space-age lifestyle and preferred to live "off the grid" so to speak but they were non violent and wanted to be left alone.

Star Trek was an instant success because of this ideal lifestyle and living conditions and complete acceptance without concerns or regret...

BUT, that will never happen today because most people do not want to be controlled by the government...  which is one of the main reasons why we wanted our independence from Great Britain.  We wanted to be free of government but we also wanted religious freedom as well...  and, the freedom to be able to say whatever without fear of going to jail.

Utopia's are nice concepts but they are impractical because of man's desire to be different...  no body agrees with everyone else ALL THE TIME...  and, this is exactly why Utopias will always FAIL...  except in Star Trek.

LIVE LONG AND PROSPER...