Utopia is Tyrannical
A brief survey of dystopian literature and what it really offers us in answer to our utopian desires.
Utopia translates to “no place.” Thomas Moore, who wrote a book by that title in 1516, is credited for having coined the term. He wrote about a perfect society in the New World. When the word utopia comes to mind, people often dream of a world where there is no want, no hunger, no pain, no starvation. Everyone has what they need, everything is without strife, and war is a shadow in their minds, a primordial nightmare buried deep. There is economic equality, everyone is equal, and there is no crime. Sounds perfect, right?
How would you form such a society? How could you make a perfect place where everyone gets the same things, and everyone is happy with what they get? It is impossible. We are too varied; we have different desires and wants outside of the basic needs we all have. Utopia, while sought after and attempted in many intentional communities throughout history fail. And they should if you want to have free people.
Utopianism does not lend itself to liberty, you must give up your freedom for the greater good. True utopia is not just the well-meaning hippie communities of 1970s but is well articulated in the genre called dystopian literature which, I argue, is the true representation of utopia. This includes such novels as Brave New World, 1984, Fahrenheit 451, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Hunger Games Series, The Giver, and Future Home of the Living God – to name a few. These books are not dystopian, they are truly representations of societies attempting to create utopias.
What do all dystopian novels have in common? Tyranny, control, and suppression of people through force, hedonism, or manipulation of the truth. Take Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, for example. Peace reigns in this state-controlled country where everyone, through genetic engineering, has their density decided for them from what their job will be to the caste they will be assigned to. This is similar to what is found in The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins where each state-controlled district has a specialty the citizenry produces – wood, coal, grain, warriors, etc. What’s more, in Huxley’s book the populace is given a constant supply of a soothing drug known as soma. Everything is controlled, from your feelings to your behavior and sleep. There are no real families, and much like The Giver by Lois Lowry, people do not conceive and have their own children. Everything is neat, and tidy, you people worry for not. However, despite this utopian world there are dissidents. The story follows several, but for the most part people enjoy sexual freedom, dulled emotions, peace, and having their lives determined for them. The only ones that “get away” do so by exile or suicide.
When looking at George Orwell’s classic, 1984, again you will find state-control of the people, but violence, fear, control of language, and propaganda is used instead of a drug. Unlike the England of Brave New World, the England of 1984 is in perpetual war. “War is peace!” This book centers on control through censorship and manipulation of the truth, constant state surveillance and propaganda floods the streets making it difficult to know what is true and what is not. You see this also in Fahrenheit 451, where books are banned, and firemen burn them to keep the truth out of the hands of the public. Well known terms today such ask “thoughtcrime,” “doublethink,” and “newspeak” arose from Orwell’s fictional tyrannical society – which was modeled after Nazis Germany and Stalinist Russia. Again, we have a resistant character, Winston, who longs to rebel against the dictator Big Brother and The Party. However, like in Brave New World resistance is futile. The Party tricks Winston, who thought he was meeting an unground resistance, but instead undergoes psychological reeducation (i.e., torture) at The Ministry of Love, until he loves his country and dictator once again.
Many of the novels involve societies that control reproduction and family units, resulting in special oppression of women in a few. The Giver, Brave New World, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Future Home of the Living God all feature family planning in the most warped way. In The Giver and Brave New World, there is no natural reproduction or family units, the state makes the babies in labs and, and in The Giver, the state assigns babies to state-assigned family units. In The Handmaid’s Tale and Future Home of the Living God women are enslaved by the state for reproductive purposes. An extreme reaction caused by an environmental factor that results in most of humanity becoming sterile or infertile. Fertile women lose totally autonomy, and their bodies become vessels for the sake of the continuance of the species without regard for their sacred, human selves.
Finally, we also see a common thread of entertainment or vice as control. The obvious example being The Hunger Games in which the state harvests children from each of its districts to compete to the death in an arena on live television until there is one victor. These games are said to keep the peace, to reconcile with a sinful past, and to ensure rebellion never happens again. The people of the Capitol, and a few other districts, get immense joy and pleasure out of watching these games – they are their height of entertainment. The message? These games are for your own good, they are bread and circus for some, and a cruel control for others.
Another example of vice or amusement as control would be the sexual liberation and free drug use of Huxley’s book, and the television and liquor rations of Orwell’s book. Distract the masses enough, and you can control them – they will even be willing as long as they can languor in a soporific, sexual stupor.
In all of these “dystopian” books you’re reading visions of someone’s utopia – even if it is unappealing to you. To get perfection, cooperation at the levels required for a “prefect” society – you must have absolute control and therefore, tyranny. What’s more, many elements that show up in some of these fictional societies are showing up or mainstream in Western world today:
Censorship and compelled speech
Sexual liberation
End of the nuclear family, end to the burden of childbearing and child rearing, and right to have a child by proxy
Guaranteed employment or income without employment
Hedonism, vice, and liberal access to mind-altering drugs
Safety provided by the government in the guise of peace or war or entertainment
At the beginning of this essay, I stated that utopia required individuals to have no liberties but, people give them up willingly for the sake of safety or other lies. We are willing to be yoked and have everything taken care of for us. Instead of glorifying some of these elements of utopia we should scrutinize what is offered and be wary of their promises because there is a cost and it just might be our very souls.