When presented with the idea of a utopia many people picture a beautiful village where every citizen is happily doing his or her part, they are glad to contribute to the common good of the town. Usually thoughts and visions of this utopia are a form of mental escape from whatever hardship or injustice the said thinker feels he is suffering. Many different works press upon changing the current societal norms. For hundreds of years people have been speculating upon a future society free from the problems of the present. It is only human nature to ponder about how life can be better. Writers go about different ways in their visions of the future, renaissance figures such as Thomas More and Machiavelli wrote of ideal societies, Martin Luther King fought for equality and his “I Have a Dream” Speech exemplified his utopia, Elizabeth Cady Stanton fought for women’s rights, and was very successful. These are simply a few of the large number of people who idealize a better future.
The term “Utopia” was coined by Thomas More in the aptly named book Utopia. Upon reading the excerpt I was not only shocked by the seemingly horrible lifestyle. Not only that but I used to be convinced that the idea of a utopia is an excellent idea, this reading changed my mind. More’s idea of a utopia is terrible, it is riddled with hypocrisy. Not only is the civilization an early ancestor to communalism, but it seems as if it is a collectively willing totalitarian state, the citizens apparently want to have every aspect of their lives controlled by the government. Initially this seems like a good idea, no more money therefore no more poverty, nobody goes hungry, and there is adequate healthcare. But after reading through the entire excerpt my feelings of never wanting to live in a society like this grew. A huge factor to this decision is the principles of how careers are chosen, either you can do what your father does, or you can leave your family and be adopted by someone who performs the job you want to make your career. I can’t be the only one who believes that this is heartless, cold and lacks all emotional consideration.
We then go into how More breaks down the social structure of Utopia. More emphasizes repeatedly that everyone in Utopia is equal, everyone is on the same level regardless of career, because according to More; the only indicator of social status is monetary wealth. Utopia had no money thus making everyone equal… except the butchers, they’re slaves. In fact this is a huge instance of More’s hypocrisy, not only do the people of Utopia hate killing animals and hunting calling it “below the dignity of free men”. I would guarantee that the people of Utopia take great pleasure in eating the meat procured from the butchers, while at the same time looking down at them.
More constantly refers to activities that are “essential” and “necessary”, Utopia is according to this reading, a society based on necessity and only necessity. It appears that any activity that is non-essential or a luxury is illegal. I for one would not want to live in a world like this. No music, no literature, no art, no sports, no games, no entertainment of any kind; these are either illegal or the society has absolutely no interest in them. More describes what the people of Utopia do while they aren’t working; they either go to the park, play one of two games (these games are made to make them better at their job), study their job better, or do more work. Did I say how horrible I think this society is yet?
With the absence of all nonessential activities I can’t help but think that all technological and scientific development would freeze, most inventions that we live with today came either with improvement from the previous iteration usually with the incentive of gaining some form of wealth or notoriety. In utopia there would be no light bulbs, why? Because candles work just as well.
I feel the utopia may release people from the daily worries of not having money or the worries of starving, but at what cost? More’s price is the capitulation of all personal freedom and liberty. I would rather live my life worrying about food and money before I even considered giving up those rights.
I separated More’s work from the works of Machiavelli, Dr. King, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton for several reasons. I felt that I needed to set the record straight on the impracticality and sheer naiveté of More’s Utopia, but also his work is distinct from that of the other writers. More creates a society from scratch, be it a bad society but nonetheless a society. He rejects every aspect of current life and seeks to create a new one. Machiavelli and such do something different they seek to improve their societies, they recognize and understand the un-attainability of any such utopia and they seek only to change different aspects of their world so that perhaps the quality of life will improve.
Machiavelli truly deserves his namesake being a characteristic trait after writing The Prince. He understands that sometimes a society can be difficult to live in. His writing is almost like a handbook for leaders to prevent dissent. He describes that the personality and character traits of a leader cannot be concrete and absolute, they must fluctuate or be fluidic depending on the situation, different conflicts and problems require different reactions. The constant goal of any Machiavellian leader is to retain power by keeping public opinion and social order high. There is often the aspect of the popular Theodore Roosevelt quote “Speak softly and carry a big stick”. He encourages leaders to often have the appearance of being “generous” and “merciful” but make sure that people understand you are capable of being cruel and ruthless. He also ponders about whether it is better to be loved or feared, saying “it is safer” to be feared, but being loved has its benefits.
Martin Luther King and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, both civil rights activists wrote about their visions of the future, and how society can improve. MLK’s “I have a dream” speech is one of the most famous speeches of all time. He speaks of the impact of what they had done; he speaks of the future, his dream. He envisions a society where people”will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” This is a very powerful statement; it is one of my favorite quotes. Elizabeth Cady Stanton elicits visions of the American Revolution, with her “Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions”, a paper with very clear parallels to the Declaration of Independence she clearly makes her point that women have been mistreated far too long and the time for it to stop is now.
People often dream about the future, and about what can change to make it better. Some people have better ideas than others; some simply want to improve one aspect of their lives to make everything better. In my personal opinion that is all we can do, the ideal of a utopia is just that, an idea. It is impossible to achieve, it can never happen. We must only try to change what we can, and perhaps the future will be better.
