Utopia is Dystopia

Dystopia and Utopia are two very familiar concepts to us now. Linguistically, they are conjured to describe polar opposites. The former being used to describe a word of absolute badness, the latter being used to describe a world of absolute comfort. However, the two go hand in hand in an ironic twist of reality: Dystopia facilitates Utopia.

The most surprising fact of dystopian literature is that the universes these stories take place in are usually utopian worlds to most residents of the story. The characters in 1984 are all brainwashed into accepting the world, the characters in Brave New World operate in a "utopian" society. Utopia itself often becomes dystopia in more than just stories however. It is believable that the world of the Amish, the world of the Shakers, and other real utopian worlds could be conceived as dystopian worlds to some people. All utopias are ultimately predicated off of idolizing certain beliefs and promoting certain societal beliefs as the most important thing in life. Rather than necessarily point to these worlds as dystopian, I am merely making the argument that utopian worlds require indoctrination of sorts and when taken to the polar opposite of our own beliefs in society take on the look of dystopias. All utopias are ultimately dystopias. The reverse is not necessarily true since dystopias can have unhappy citizens who disagree fundamentally with the state.

This argument on face value seems very extreme so I will do my best to qualify this argument. When we talk traditionally of dystopia we talk from our societal views, a view difficult to pinpoint and as a result hard to define dystopia. Objectively, dystopias do not exist, as some people are content with the miserable. However, for the purposes of definition, I will default simply to a basic argument of autonomy and happiness as the two sacrifices a society makes to become a dystopia. In the various utopian societies, free thought must be sacrificed. The idolizing of societal beliefs all work against the autonomy of free thought. We are quick to pawn this off as them accepting this and thus legitimizing their utopia but in instances like Brave New World and 1984, we are quick to condemn. If we accept the literary worlds as dystopias for their beliefs, we must also apply similar standards to the various utopian societies. From a simple autonomy perspective, they miss this.

The primary argument I find against my above construction is that people have the option to leave. However, leaving symbolizes it as a self imposed dystopia. Even if people were given the option to leave the 1984 world, that doesn't fundamentally change the nature of dystopia. People would often still remain having been brainwashed into it. Even if people accept the conditions of the dystopia and thus label it as a utopia, basic facts do not change. Utopia and Dystopia are just two sides of the same coin.