I don’t think utopian thinking is the answer to prevent or combat the construction of a dystopia. Like the article said, utopias are social hopes while dystopias are social fears, so how can one overtake a fear by being hopeful? It’s a bit pessimistic in thought, but if we’re being real, a utopian society is no better than a dystopian society. Any society where individual freedoms are restricted and reduced to complete uniformity, is not one that will progress peacefully. I agree with Stanley in terms of the focus needing to be on taking the right steps to prevent a dystopian future rather than just thinking about what it would be like when things get better. More action needs to be taken rather than just wishful thinking. A dystopian society is a bad place built on “The Five Faces of Oppression:” powerlessness, violence, marginalization, cultural imperialism, and exploitation, on top of one where all man cares about is glory, competition, while being shackled by distrust. The components that make up a dystopian society can be seen in utopias as well. Utopias are places that don’t exist and once the purity in them is overthrown by evil and bad, that is when they become dystopias, it is very rare when dystopias reverse into utopias. Utopias are always falling apart and ending up dystopian, so Stanley’s idea that thinking more utopian can defeat the possibility of a dystopian future, is pretty unrealistic. Freud believed that finding what makes people unhappy can solve what truly makes them happy which in a sense is like saying finding what makes a society dystopian, or chaotic is to discover what makes it utopian, or at peace; so once again one has to navigate through dystopian criteria to make a foundation for a utopia, not the latter as suggested by Stanley. I feel one must go through the bad to truly appreciate the good, so no, just thinking about how content a society could be is not enough to steer it from becoming sour. I feel like societies have to go through dystopian-like lifestyles in order to want to return to a point of good. It’s like going through a dark tunnel, before you reach the light on the other side.
