Is there a perfect society? Could there ever be? What would we have to change to please everyone?
Utopia is DystopiaYouTube
There is always a cost. To feel happiness, one must know what it is to feel sad. To have enormous amounts of wealth, there must be others who are without. To have a successful economy, the Earth must be stripped of its bounty. To neutralize an acid, there must be an opposite base of the same strength. There are extremes all around us, although most of us fall into the middle — many people in history sacrifice their freedom, lifestyle, and happiness so others may build a foundation for theirs. Hierarchies are reinforced by political and social conditions and norms — making it almost impossible to untangle oneself from the narrative. it almost seems that society is tailored to be unfair — because it is.
One of the most heartbreaking truths I've learned is that life isn't fair. People don't play by the same rules, and that leaves a lot of people down and out while others rise to the top. There are socio-economic systems in place that ensure class division, and bipartisanship — The United States of America is a prime example of this. Purported as "The land of the Free," American commerce was built on the backs of slaves who did not benefit from their position in life — who did not have a say.
Given its own website, the terms Utopia and Dystopia, and their relative significances are explained:
"Over the last two thousand years, many philosophers envisioned societies that were governed by the perfect set of systems that would enable its citizens to live peaceful and long lives. These utopian visions significantly affected the rise of several political movements in our modern history... Authors of the mid-20th century were first to envision futuristic societies in which people lived in a repressive and controlled state that only from the outside resembled a Utopia. These dark visions of the future represent great vehicle for the investigation of concepts such as individuality, freedom, class distinctions, repression, religion and advanced technology."
Unfortunately, even the most well-intended utopia is subject to corruption and inequality. If it were so easy to create and operate a utopia, the last 5,000 years of human civilizations might have succeeded already. They haven't, and likely never will because there is no such thing as a perfect society for everyone. Armed with this knowledge, we can try to bridge the gap but in attempting to solve everyone's problems at once — we usually create new problems.
If you are a fan of young adult fiction — you'll be familiar with the growing genre of dystopian fiction Dystopian fiction is so popular because it takes an aspect of current society, and blows it up with "what if?" These types of narratives are vital — as they address key social dichotomies, and extrapolate on current agendas — revealing the sickness beneath a society so desperately claiming to be ideal. In the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, we have the lavish capital and poverty of district 12 — one could not operate as it does without the support of the other — although it is the capital who has the upper hand. The capital needs coal to survive, and only District 12 can offer that. The people in district twelve need medical advancements and food — for whom they rely on the capital for fair distribution — only we find out there it is not fair. For every child after the age of 12, they can sign up for a futuristic Food Stamps program. The catch? The must enter their name in to be killed for every pound of food. The more wealthy children do not need to participate. This sounds like a cruel, unrealistic reality at first, but when we look in the mirror — we see military drafts. The more wealthy children do not need to participate — while the others face things worse than death.
This can be explained by the theory of polarity. Although there is no consensus on good and bad, there is agreement on many shades in between.
"The Law Of Polarity contains a full spectrum of possibility ranging from the extremely light to the extremely dark and any number of points in between. By developing this understanding and learning to fully accept and surrender to whatever may show up in your life in the way of events, conditions and circumstances and learning to understand that ALL THINGS, regardless of how perceived, work together for good, you will have made incredible progress in your given ability to mold, shape, and achieve a quality of life that you consciously desire to experience."
Most things aren't mutually exclusive along the spectrum — which means two things can be true at the same time. A country can have extreme wealth AND extreme poverty. Given this, any society that functions also does not. QED.
Is there a perfect society? No. Could there ever be? No. What would we have to change to please everyone? Reality.
