In present culture, it is popular for entertainment to be grounded in dystopia. It is in our books, our movies, our television shows. As a society, we appear obsessed with imagining a dark and dreadful future. A zombie apocalypse. A post-nuclear world. Alternative realities in which evil regimes of the past won instead of being defeated. Any reason for the norms and morals of society to collapse. Even Star Trek, a franchise once synonymous with a bright future, now conveys a darker tone: of a light fighting in a dark universe rather than a universe in which the light has already won and must now fight to keep the comparatively small shadows from regaining dominion. May Roddenberry’s vision rest in peace and someday be given life again in its true form.
It may forever be the social scientist’s struggle to understand which comes first: the darkness or the obsession with darkness. Did we turn our eyes to a hopeless future because we felt we were already living in one? Or was our world bright and promising and we got bored of it, so we turned our imaginations to darkness?
To me, the former feels like surrender. The latter feels like tragedy incarnate.
Regardless of which comes first, the result is the same. Our gaze is focused on despair and hopelessness.
In my time, it is telling that in most dystopian fiction, society is the loser and the individual is the winner. In a zombie apocalypse or a post-nuclear world, society has crumbled. It is up to the individual to survive. And the heroes of such stories are quite the individuals indeed. They fight and win and, to the extent possible in their assigned hell-scape, they thrive. One would almost think society had been in their way, holding them back. With society gone, they can finally reach their full potential. Does this sound familiar? It should.
In my country today, the individual is worshiped and society is spat upon. It would seem many individuals feel that society - the rule of law, ethical norms, moral standards - has been holding them back. But holding them back from what precisely? From becoming wealthier? From safety from violence? From protection of property? From freely practicing their chosen religion? Good morning! Open your eyes! Those are precisely the things our society was formed to promote and protect.
Worship of the individual means worship of going it alone. Good luck gaining wealth when there are no established and protected avenues for earning income and keeping that income safely designated as belonging to you. Good luck earning income to begin with when there is no one with whom to trade goods and services. Good luck feeling any sense of safety when the rule of law is non-existent. Or maybe you expect the rule of law will be what you say it is at any given moment, and therefore only others will be subject to it but not you? What happens when you are not the one and only leader? Can you trust the one and only leader will keep you in the blessed circle of their new laws? Good luck freely practicing your chosen religion. Or maybe you expect the one permitted religion will be your chosen religion and to the rest be damned, literally? What happens when the religious leader decides your way of practicing isn’t in favor any more? What happens when you and your religious practices are no longer considered members of the club?
I have an idea. Let’s all grow up. Let’s all understand that society is intended to be a safety net. For. Us. All. If society isn’t fulfilling your needs, then seek to improve society so it sees and serves all people. Don’t tear it down as if it is worthless. Don’t assume what is left after you tear it down will be better. History promises you it won’t.
Instead of setting our gaze upon a future in which only the strong and ruthless survive, let us set our gaze on a future in which we work together to strengthen and expand a society that sees and serves all people. Let us truly love our neighbors rather than only preach it. And let us, in our culture, share visions and stories of a bright and promising tomorrow.
I am tired of dystopia. Humanity walks toward where we point it, and I will not point it toward its doom. Let us direct it toward its best self rather than its worst. Toward its hopes instead of its fears. The future is only as bright as the light we shine in its direction. Let us shine a light so warm and brilliant we and our children may be drawn to its glow. A light toward a future worthy not of our nightmares but of our most ardent and inspiring dreams.
Dystopian fiction may point to the future, but the spirit of that future is very much grounded in the horrors of the past. Toward times when science and technology could not or would not be utilized for saving and improving lives. Toward times when Great Leader decided who suffered and who thrived, who lived and who died. Dystopian fiction, by its nature, is a nod toward regression.
I believe there is a time in humanity’s future when we get it right. When the pendulum between progress and regression at last is held in the upswing of the former. When it is so, it will be held fast by a deep faith and understanding that going backward is self-defeating and asinine. All knowledge and values of the past, those that are good and just, can be taken with us to the future. They who seek the past for its angels return us also to its demons. Let us carry the angels with us. And let us leave the demons in the dust where they belong. Let them reside with us only in the mirrors we hold to examine ourselves and the books we read to know the outcomes of choices. Let the demons of yesterday be but items upon a shelf at which we point and say to our children and our leaders: Never again.