After reading Book II of Utopia, I have to say that I feel
extremely conflicted about the lifestyle of the Utopians. A lot of the society
in which these people live in seems both good and bad, at least 'bad' by our
standards today.
On the negative end of the stick, the concept of 'freedom'
in Utopia seems skewed. Every citizen is supposed to toil in farm work at some
point in their lives no matter what. No citizen can go outside their city
borders without permission (and if they do leave without permission, then
they're given severe punishment). Every citizen must abide by the same schedule
day after day. Pre-marital intercourse is met with a banning of ever getting
married. On top of all of that, there is literally no privacy at all.
However, there is a major positive to their society, one
that we could benefit from even today. The entire livelihood of the Utopians
centers around mutual nourishment. Everyone gives and everyone takes from each
other in a constant back and forth. Food in surplus is given to towns in
shortage, for example. Since there is no sense of 'ownership' in Utopia,
everyone 'owns' everything and is given what they need to survive, and they in
turn give back just as much.
I suppose that this is the one huge thing about Utopia that
makes it such a paradise to us, the concept that man can survive off of his
fellow man. It's an interesting philosophy, and it's what really makes Utopia
what it is as an example of mutual benefit at the cost of not being able to
claim ownership over anything material.
But is that kind of thing really worth it compared to how
almost everything else seems restricted? I haven't even touched their use of
slavery either.
How did you guys feel about the Utopian lifestyle? Honestly,
I was just more and more unsettled the more that I read Book II. There are just
so many little things that really makes the idea of it uncomfortable for me.
The idea of living in Utopia makes me uncomfortable as well. I found the mutual nourishment practice on my pro list too, among a few other minor things, but my list is mostly comprised of cons. I agree that the idea of freedom is skewed. The island makes everyone these robots that mirror each other. Where is the freedom in being yourself? They can't even dress differently. If I ended up in Utopia, I would turn myself around in a heartbeat.
ReplyDeleteI agree that there were a lot of things I liked about Utopia (the healthcare seems really nice) and I kind of like the no privacy concept. As a culture that is infused with privacy and the overwhelming urge to keep so much private, it seems like it could be nice to not care so much. So many people just communicate through portal divices now that face to face time almost seems odd....but again I do LOVE my me time and would hate to give it up. And of course the whole slave thing is a bit of a problem with my whole pro freedom way of life.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of ownership in Utopia bothers me a little bit. I think Jordan said in class that nowadays we work for everything we earn so it is hard to think of having everything and yet owning nothing. There is nothing in Utopia except maybe your spouse and kids that you could call your own, and even then your kids could leave depending on the type of job they want to pursue.
ReplyDeleteI found the no privacy Utopian characteristic to be unappealing on so many levels, and I know I was not alone in this. Yet I find it interesting that this is the case considering the lack of privacy that is present and only increasing in our modern society. Let's be honest, we live in a very "un-private," public world thanks to our online involvement. The great majority of us are involved with some form of social media, whether it be through social networking, email or otherwise. We advertise our lives continuously through Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, blogs, Instagram, and we create a scrapbook of our ideas for the perfect house, perfect wedding or the perfect meal through Pinterest. Anybody online, in some way has access to this information, because it is foolish to believe that it is truly completely safe, secure and . . .private. We embrace this life on the digital scale, yet we are rendered squeamish at the thought of a world that does not hold privacy on a pedestal. Interesting.
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