From a personal point of view, dystopia is an unjust society that is filled with economical, social, and political issues that negatively effects the everyday life of the people that live in that society and ultimately causes division. However, the Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines “dystopia” as “an imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives”, which I do not fully agree with because of the word “imagined”.
Everything from the perspective of civilians in any society is always reference point. What may be seen as a great, opportunity filled society by one person, may also be seen as an unjust, unfair, opportunity hindering society by another, and they are not wrong. Looking at the large society that we live in today, the United States, some will call it the best country ever and take great pride in its qualities, however if we only consider personal view of one portion of society, of course we would have an “ideal society”, but in actuality a lot of things are not considered. From a personal, realistic, modern, and ongoing experience, I can honestly say things aren’t so marvelous as they seem.
Currently, we have do issues that actually cause people to feel dehumanized and/or fearful of their lives. Covid-19 emerged to the public in late 2019 and became a global problem in early 2020. From that moment on, social, political, and economical issues started to emerge and become highlighted which lead to a mass suffering of people. Some are divided from issues about wearing a masks and getting vaccinated, some are divided about the possession of powers of those who hold public offices, and some are divided about the unjust issues that have lead to people being dehumanized and/or even losing their lives. From my reference point, the only kind of society that can be imagined is a Utopia, but if we are being honest, some groups of people have been getting the short end of the stick since the beginning of societal history for the same issues I listed in my definition. I am not saying that a society has to be perfect, but the more people become divided over issues and act out in a negative fashion (January 6, 2021 Capital attack for example) the more prevalent and obvious it becomes that we are actually witnessing in dystopia. Like I said before I never thought dystopia, from my reference point, was imagined, in fact I believe many people live in it currently.
