It is hard to tell if I am a utopian, dystopian, or anti- anti- utopian thinker. According to Robinson, utopians believe that “the political order could be run better”, dystopians believe “that the political order could get worse”, and anti-anti- utopians believe that the idea of anti- utopias, “the idea of utopia itself is wrong and bad, and that any attempt to try to make things better is sure to wind up making things worse, creating an intended or unintended totalitarian state, or some other such political disaster”, is wrong. The distinction between utopians and anti- anti- utopians is hard to distinguish since being a utopian is a way of being an anti- anti- utopian. In the end, I think I would have to say that I am an anti- anti- utopian thinker. While I do believe that the political order can get better, I also believe it could get worse. I don’t, however, believe that any attempt to make the political order better will end up in a totalitarian state.
If any attempt at a better political order ended in such political disaster, black people would not be considered people or have civil rights today. Black people would be unable to hold any political position because it would be illegal. Someone’s idea of what bettering political order looks like plays a large role in its betterment. Right now in the south, for instance Mississippi, there are bills being passed trying to reinstate something that has been likend to Jim Crow. If these were to become law, that would lead to a worse political order/ society. I give both examples to say that attempts at betterment can lead to a better or worse political order, it is not always one or the other. As an anti-anti-utopian thinker, I hope for the political order to get better and know it can, but I also understand that it can get a lot worse but that doesn’t mean we should give up trying to make it better.
