Utopias Becoming Dystopias

or…war. What if there was a perfect city?

A… utopia?

No traffic.

Clean air.

Awesome hangouts.

A place where everybody is beautiful and always young.

People of every race and religion would get along. There’d be no war, just peace and

happiness for everyone.

Perfection, right?

But wait, there’s no traffic because no one has a car… what if we want to leave?

Sure, it’s got awesome hangouts, but we’re… kind of tired of just hanging out…

What if they bulldozed all the parks to make room for the movie theater, the bowling alley,

the Cantonese-Greek Fusion Restaurant and Hibachi…

What if the powers-that-be went even further to make society perfect? What if everyone

had to wear the same perfect clothes?

What if there’s no race conflict because only one race is allowed?

And… what if there’s no conflict between people of different religions because the

government only allows one religion?

What if there’s no war because there’s only one government that controls every iota

of every person’s life?

Something is seriously wrong with this picture.

We’re beginning to think this place isn’t a utopia at all.

Maybe… something’s rotten under all the apparent perfection. There must be a word

for such a place...

Oh, yeah...dystopia.

It’s not perfect – it’s controlling and oppressive.

In the end, the line between a utopia and dystopia might be a lot finer than we think.

And suddenly we might realize that there may have been better, though more complicated,

answers to the world’s problems.

And maybe, deep inside… we might just miss the Bingo & Cross-stitch Hut.

That is …if the powers-that-be haven’t had our memories erased.