Sunday, December 8, 2013

The Necessity of Isolation in a Utopian Society

Reflecting upon my reading from this week, I have come to the conclusion that a utopia needs to be isolated from all outsiders.  For a utopia to be successful, it needs to be self-sustaining.  If there are outsiders, they will want to trade with the utopia.  A currency would be needed and the currency would cause inequality.  A utopia needs to have equality in every manner; if one sees something better than they have, they will be unhappy.  Outsiders will not have equality and some may have a significantly better quality of life than a Utopian, which would cause unhappiness.  Because outsiders would not have to follow the strict rules of the Utopia, their decisions have the potential to harm the utopia.  Citizens of a utopia need to have the same mindset and share a common goal.  If they interact with an outsider, their opinions could be influenced.  Utopians are raised to believe that every person is equal.  Exposure to unequal persons could make Utopians lose belief in Utopian views.  An outsider would change Utopians perspective on life and on the world.

             In recent times, most Utopian societies are failing.  One society that is not failing is the 
Amish.  The Amish are able to survive because they remain disconnected with the world.  The children can be influenced and don’t have much contact with the outside world.  As the Amish grow older, their beliefs’ become more concrete.  They are able to have some interaction with non-Amish, but they mostly only contact other Amish people.  One way that they keep from being influenced by the non-Amish is that because we are so different from them, they do not relate to our lifestyle.  The Amish are very successful with their efforts, and nearly ninety percent of Amish children decide to stay within the community.

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