Tuesday, March 6, 2012

The Future

The future is full of promise, but also uncertainty and threats. Consequently, writers and some scholars deal with both future utopias and dystopias. There seems to be more of a market for the latter these days! What kinds of problems do you foresee that are most likely to affect you personally? Conversely, what are some possibilities for a brighter future? Personally, what talents, skills, or attitudes can help you have a good future?
I found a website that lists 50 Top dystopia movies, I never watch these types of movies because the topics are weird and freaky and I prefer romance and comedy movies but to describe what dystopia really is I found a simple definition “An imaginary place or state in which the condition of life is extremely bad, as from deprivation, oppression, or terror” (Snarkerati, 2007).  If you read through the list you might recognize a name or two if this is the type of movie that you can get into, it gives me the creeps and thank goodness we will never have to know what a dystopian society will ever be like because it is just fantasy and not real.
A utopia means “a place, state, or condition ideally perfect in respect of politics, law, customs, and conditions” (Bertucci, 2012). I have been looking online to find out more information about utopia and I found out about the Shakers has anybody ever heard of them? “The definition of a utopian colony, according to Robert V. Hine, author of California's Utopian Colonies, "consists of a group of people who are attempting to establish a new social pattern based upon a vision of the ideal society and who have withdrawn themselves from the community at large to embody that vision in experimental form" (The National Park Service, 2012). When I first started looking for articles on utopia I had no idea that some groups actually existed or experiments were made to try to attempt to form a utopian society, I just assumed that a utopian society could not exist based on all the problems we have but when people pull themselves away from society and all of it foibles than they have a better chance of attempting this huge endeavor.
“These colonies can, by definition, be composed of either religious or secular members, the former stressing (in the western tradition) a community life inspired by religion while the latter may express the idealism of a utilitarian creed expedient to establishing human happiness, with a belief in the co-operative way of life” (The National Park Service, 2012).
In looking for other articles about the future I came across one called, Obama: If We Lose in 2012, Government Will Tell People ‘You’re on Your Own’ this is a really disturbing thought because the only way we will be able to fix or work on social problems is by having a President who will support those types of programs. Here is a direct quote from a speech that Obama gave in October of 2011 at a San Francisco fundraiser, ““If you get sick, you’re on your own. If you can’t afford college, you’re on your own. If you don’t like that some corporation is polluting your air or the air that your child breathes, then you’re on your own,” he said. “That’s not the America I believe in. It’s not the America you believe in” (Dwyer, 2011). I know who I am voting for but just think of what would happen say if Mitt Romney were to win? Here is a quote for Mitt Romney, “Mitt Romney that the solution to the nation’s housing crisis is “don’t try and stop the foreclosure process. Let it run its course and hit the bottom” (Dwyer, 2012). I know some of you will say this is out of context but what this means is that people who cannot afford their homes will lose them, we all know how this cycle started with loan companies lending to customer who were sub-primers and would charge them high interest and would charge point on the front and the back.
“What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction” (Zinn,2012). We chose how we want to react to information, it may be good, bad or the ugly but people who lead their lives with an optimist viewpoint are more likely to be happy. When I looked for articles about Obama leading us into a utopian society I found some very angry people out there that for one reason or another have chosen to complain about how our current President is running things. Is it so hard for people to do what is right by each other?

I wrote my last paper about consumerism and if anybody wants to read it I would be happy to share it so just let me know. “Sorry, the lifestyle that you ordered is currently out of stock," this is what the famous street artist Banksy has posted on a wall in London letting people know that consumerism is not a joke (Frans, 2011). This is a short excert from my paper, enjoy!
We all have dialed a number we have got from the internet in hopes that a real person on the other end will help us solve one problem or another, some people fear that it will be a waste of time because neither their problem or a real person will be able to answer his or her question because an automated system is the only option. One can only image that there is a website with a call center attached to a phone number that will allow a person to press one for happiness, two for health and wellness and three for the redemption center so that said person can return all the things they really did not need. How does one learn to survive the messages that we are being sent day after day that are helping society to become disconnected from one another but attached to a high tech machine, that one does not really need to live?
 What are your thoughts?

Bertucci, C. (2012, February 16). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://freshmanenglish.uconn.edu/instructors/assignment/database/Utopias.php


Frans. (2011, December 12). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.beyondberlin.com/blog/banksys-ironic-attacks-on-consumer-culture

Snarkerati. (2007, September 28). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://snarkerati.com/movie-news/the-top-50-dystopian-movies-of-all-time/

The National Park Service. (2012, February 16). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/shaker/text.htm

Zinn, H. (2012, February 16). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/1899.Howard_Zinn


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