Comment on Anon wants to live on Super Earth

Nangijala@feddit.dk ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

• ChairmanMeow@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  Even the author of BNW wasn’t sure of the world really was a dystopia or not. A lot of people do seem to have a lot of freedom, and most seem happy (or at least, not unhappy). Sure, a lot of questionable things have been done to achieve that goal, but if 99% is happy with their life; can it really be a dystopia?

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  • JasSmith@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    A lot of Westerners look at dictatorships and authoritarian states and cannot comprehend why the citizens would accept such a fate. The answer is: food, safety, housing, and cultural and religious homogeneity. People don’t really care that much what the people in charge are doing as long as their life is good.

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    • ChairmanMeow@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      There’s also the idea that since the system “works” it shouldn’t be changed. IIRC Le Guin did some stories on a place called Omelas that explored a similar idea: there’s this utopian city, but they chuck a child down a hole to suffer there, which for some arcane reasons is deemed as necessary. Once people learn of this, they either accept it as indeed necessary or (rarely) leave.

      A utopia only works if everyone thinks of the same thing as being a utopian society, which people generally just don’t.

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      • JasSmith@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        Yes this is why democracy is messy. Everyone has a different preference for the pros and cons of policies.

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• nicolauz@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  I once had a multiple hour long discussion with someone who claimed it’s clearly a utopia… Free drugs, sex without consequences, guaranteed job,…

  Freedom is for suckers apparently.

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  • Nangijala@feddit.dk ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Maybe it was the same guy xD

    Pretty scary, though. Impressive that you had the energy and care to talk to someone like that. I think my brain would have shrunk to a peanut and turned me into a clapping monkey. You are made of stronger stuff than I, my friend.

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    • JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      I feel like that just highlights the beauty of the work itself, and how accurate a reflection it is on our society. How many of us have NEVER felt so burned out by the struggle that A Brave New World doesn’t seem like a relief? I think a person’s response to the concept has a lot to do with how they view the world, and also how the world shapes people differently.

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