Imlisanen Jamir
The dehumanising effect of scientific development is a matter of concern that has been hugely played down by society as a whole. An underestimation of forces working within ourselves with the capability to change our world for the worse has in a number of cases led to the destruction of existing orders in the course of human history. The desire for “DYSTOPIA” is the main aim of scientific developments being carried out by corporations, though this is a fact not put into the limelight. These developments have been put forward as a cover up in the name of human development and upliftment of society. What we as a social group of people fail to notice are the various sinister agendas being incorporated in the minds of these people. The imagery of evil corporations with their aim to create a new world order, where capitalism and consumerism play the central aspect in the scheme of things is not a wild jump of the imagination by paranoid communists but it is a reality that exists within the very core of our society. There have been various thinkers, writers, artists, revolutionaries and scholars who have tried to warn society of the master plan being put into motion by the power bearers of the world in order to bring about their aim of a global consumerism dependent society. But these thinkers along with their ideas have been swept under the rug and forgotten about. Meanwhile, the various companies and capitalist organisations have been extremely successful in their plans. Their success is partly due to the ignorance being installed in society by the global brainwashing that has been done through the various means of media and also the favour of capitalism. This is the main reason why there seems to almost no hope of putting an end to this terrible inhuman ideology that threatens to bring about the ultimate end of humankinds in its literary sense.
Coming back to the word “Dystopia”, the term means a world order or a form of society where everything seems perfect, atleast superficially. This term was introduced by Thomas Moore, to bring into the limelight, the degradation of our moral values in the face of globalised modernisation. This particular theme is not a new concept as far as historical movements are concerned as there have been many movements that have in the course of centuries tried to bring about certain changes in society, so as to bring it somewhere close to the true meaning of the word “UTOPIA”. No other such movement other than the industrial corporations of the present has had such a huge influence over the people than Christianity, in trying to bring about a new world order but not in the same sense as dystopia. However the enormous effect that Christianity has had over the proceedings of the human conscience is a testimony to how a movement if orchestrated properly can move the masses without them actually realising the degrading effects that they help put into motion. A dystopian society is one in particular where every aspect of society is controlled by the government. This form of society is supposed to be one where every person is considered nothing but a part of the social body. Nobody is considered as any more than a source of benefit for the society. This Dystopian school of thought promotes the idea that pre-conditioning of people from their birth in order to make them fit into their pre-destined roles in the general order of things is the sole way through which the “Perfect Society” can be achieved. It is a society which is solely based on consumerism and every section of people is nothing but a dispensable commodity. It is a society which promises to bring about an order that will ultimately result in the perfect happiness desired by every human being or a majority of humans. The convincing way, in which governments and corporations of today tactically brainwash people, help them in meeting their ends of paving the way for setting up a new social order drastically different from our own.
The fact that governments are in league with corporations in bringing their dreams to reality, makes the future bleak for freethinkers who do not want to be tied down by the conventions of society. No matter how much the big powers try to make us believe in a perfect world, we as human beings have this knowledge deep down inside us that it is never possible to have a perfect society without the free spirits among us to remind us of the things within ourselves that are imperfect. After all, what is life without imperfections? The term ‘perfect’ is a perspective based concept. A particular ideal that is perfect for one section may pose troubling questions for another section. Will it be fair to have everything in its perfect form? Ask this question to yourself and you will have more questions arising, another imperfection in terms of the question being asked on this occasion. If there are no imperfections and if we do unfortunately achieve this “Utopian Society”, imagine our lives without having to think about certain troubling questions that may arise in our minds. Will our minds be able to remain sane under such conditions of a mind numbing hypnotic state? For the people who have this inclination of questioning the set conventions of society, such a world order would lead human kind to its extinction and would ultimately led to the complete annihilation of the human mind and its limitless capabilities. And this is the reason which makes our mind the greater creation of nature. Is it not the destiny of man not to understand things perfectly? Imperfections are a part of life and the best thing that we can do is to cope with them and accept them as a part of the greater scheme of things which also includes our existence. It is a combination of human nature, curiosity, conscience and the human zeal for knowledge that makes it certain that human existence in its true sense, in a dystopian society is absolutely impossible.
Countless developments have been made in fields of modern science and technology, but are we as thinking individuals simply to believe that our world can be dictated solely by modern gadgets. Is not there something more to life than just comfort? The modern wonders of science and technology have no doubt made our lives easier: but has it made our lives any simpler. The answer would be a blunt “NO”. Is it not an irony that the most advanced technological developments are the ones in the field of human warfare? All progress should lead us to a better life, but instead most of them led us to discover new ways to kill our fellow brothers and sisters. Does this notion led to somewhere? How it that the government sanctions more money for is is weapons development than they do for health care or education? How is it that corporations are the ones in league with the government in the development of arms? Doesn’t all this led to a certain agenda that seems to dictate the policies of the governments in favour of the big capitalistic companies instead of the general people. Are we nothing but pawns in the hands of the big power holders? Why don’t we as people have the right to decide what is right and what is wrong. Doesn’t it make you wonder what we are supposed to do in this world? Are we supposed to just sit back and accept whatever the capitalistic morons have to give us? Don’t we have a certain sense of responsibility to retaliate against the stupid ideology of materialism that they are trying to instill in our minds? These are certain pressing questions that we should all be asking ourselves.
Never has the world seen such widespread hypnosis of the masses as we are seeing it today. We are made to believe that we are headed for a better world full of happiness, but happiness for whom? Us or the capitalists? We are simply made to believe the lies being given to us by the power holders. A dystopian society, in its true sense is being thrust unto us by means of sinister agendas being promoted by the policy makers of the world. It woes me to think of the future of society if such a world order was to be achieved. Never will man have the time for contemplation and lamentation. Never again will man be able to appreciate the masterful beauty of nature and be able to ponder over the mysteries of our existence. Yes, we may be superficially happy in such a society but at what cost? At the cost of our freewill, is it worth? The most magnificent gift that nature has bestowed upon us is our capacity to contemplate over questions that seem to have no real answers. We have a mind which is not confined to any norms and we are able to thing about things which are way beyond the grasp of our understanding. Should we not put this capability of ours to its full use instead of confining to the moronic ideology being proposed by the so called Modernists?
People may scoff that what I have said in this article is a wild jump of my imagination, that there is sinister agenda being carried out in order to put us into a state of mind where we unable to venture outside the confines of the established norms of society. If so, then take a look around people: what do you see? Are not there companies everywhere trying to lure into their grasp and make us hungry consumers for their products. How long do you think it will take before these products are replaced by an ideology? And is it such a wild jump of the imagination to guess that this ideology that I am writing about is none other than the one aimed at changing our perspective of this world. Would it be such an unbelievable thing if I said that this mass consumerism that we are seeing today will ultimately dominate every aspect of our society? Is it so unimaginable that our dependency on modern industrial products will in a certain point of time in our future lead us to become mindless puppets in the hands of opportunities and idealistic power bearers? And if you think that this will never happen, guess what, it is already happening. Look around you at the giant billboards with the logos of companies. Get what I am trying to say? If yes, then know this that the fate of the worlds is in each and every one of our hands. It is up to us to decide whether we choose “UTOPIA” or “DYSTOPIA”. IT’S UP TO YOU TO DECIDE!
Imlisanen Jamir
Christ College, Bangalore
