The Most Likely Scenario In a Dystopian Novel

There a many themes and scenarios in dystopian novels. Ranging from total government take over to extreme natural disasters to a complete lost of humanity, but I think that the most likely scenario in a dystopian novel would a total government take over. Something where an entirely new political party slips into power and the countries under its control slip into chaos. Humans are so fearful of the government as it is, that it would only take one act of terrorism or one framed act of treason against the current government to get people to believe that the current government is out to get them. Then another political group promise to restore power and does just that, except they use their own set of rules. They employ spying tactics. They take away freedoms from people, but the people are alright with it at the time because of the current state of the government. Once people have realized what has happened with the government, it is already to late. The government has such a foot hold that people can no longer take down the government.

The scariest dystopian theme would have to be a barren and chaotic earth with gangs of people roaming around it. Waking up to a post apocalyptic country with nothing but the clothes you are wearing and very few supplies would have to be the most nerve racking thing ever. You are on your own, whether you know how to survive or not, you are the prey of the gangs. You maybe have a gun or weapon to protect yourself, but that's it. You are done for and must keep moving in order to stay alive. You can rest until you die, and if you are caught by a gang, there is nothing saying they will kill you right away. You might be a slave to them, or they may just decide to kill you and take your stuff. It doesn't matter which happens, or really what happens, that is hands down the scariest dystopian theme there is.

The Road

When everything is destroyed and ravaged by the people still alive, everyone finds something to turn to be their beacon of hope. The man has his boy. His boy is his beacon and his hope that he stills has left in humanity. He tries his hardest to keep the boy alive and trained because he knows he wont last much longer. It is a sad way to live, but in a world where laws don't exist and supplies of any kind are rarer than diamonds, it is the best thing anyone can have. The boy carries this "fire" that the man has convinced him the good guys only carry. I think that the fire represents the hope that the man personally has left, and the boy's only shed of humanity that he still holds on to.

The boy is also very interesting. He, despite everything, still manages to find hope and a god to talk to. We don't know where the boy has formed the ideas of god because he was never brought up religious in the story, but it is interesting to note that the boy still believes in a divine being while his father does not. The boy is putting his faith in something that may not be true at all, but he is showing that he stills has faith for a better tomorrow. The father places his faith in the boy because he won't have to many more tomorrows, but the boy still has a very long life to live, even though he has lost most of his innocence. 

Saudi Arabia vs Handmaid's Tale

Throughout A Handmaid's Tale, we see that women have very few rights, and those that they do have are kept in check by very strict punishment. Most of the time, women are suppose to not talk, and just do whatever task they are given. They are not allowed to be out on their own. They have to constantly have something one with them, whether it is a guard or another woman. They have a very strict dress code and a very strict time schedule. All of these rules are meant to keep women in line.

This kind of situation can be compared to that of Saudi Arabia's laws for women. When compared to Saudi Arabia's laws, everything listed above is just about present in their society. In Saudi Arabia, women have very strict clothing laws, that require them to be covered almost all of the time. There women must always be escorted by another man, regardless of where they are going. A teenager was gang-raped by a group of men, but she received a more harsh punishment then the men that committed the act. The women there are intelligent, but they are constantly help to very strict rules that prohibit them from making it anywhere in the world.


http://www.theweek.co.uk/middle-east/60339/eleven-things-women-in-saudi-arabia-cant-do

Children of Men

As much as don't like little kids, its hard to imagine a world without them. Their laughter and innocence add something special to society. They are a symbol for happiness and more importantly, the future. Without little kids, there is no one to carry on the legacy of the world. Once the last person on earth dies, there is just the history that is written down. There is no way for the a human to be reborn, or come again. The age of humans is over, and earth goes back to its natural state.

If you were one of the only pregnant people left in the world, you would do anything and everything to protect the child from any harm. The child becomes a beacon of hope that people rally around, because it means that there are possibly other people in the world that can have babies. Children of Men does a good job portraying this possibly. With the secrecy surrounding the baby to begin with, and the need to get it to the human project, the baby is already a major point in the plot. The amount of people that die, either trying to take the baby, or defending is absurd, but I guess with it being the only child in the world, it is a very major deal. At the end of the movie when they are walking out of the building, the entire battle stops because even the soldiers have not seen a baby in so long. All the soldiers just move out of the way because they are so amazed. 

Life As We Knew It and the Real World

In Life As We Knew It, we see the characters go though a major life changing event, but its not just the characters that experience them. The entire world falls victim to this terrible event when the moon moves closer to the Earth. The world is thrown into chaos and left without a plan as what to do next. Luckily Miranda's mom takes charge and grabs as much stuff as she can at the store. Her mom has a "plan" as to what they should do to stay alive, but that is only if she can put it into action. She eventually gets all the kids to work together and they all get what they need to happen done.

This story is a very good example of what could very well happen in the real world if natural disasters occur. Recently, countries have started to implement disaster plans to help with the chaos and loss of direction in these situations. It is important that authority figures and emergency people know what to do. The Philippines is a good example of this. They have created a manual for the mayors, firefighters, policemen and other important people so that they could help everything go smoothly in a disaster. The Philippines "Operation Listo" has started a movement that will prepare people better for natural disasters on both a local and national scale. This is an important plan to have in place because it gives the authorities a bit more control over a situation that may cause more confusion than necessary.

http://www.preventionweb.net/english/professional/news/v.php?id=43673 

My Feed

My feed would include recommendations for the latest video game consoles and technology. It would also give me helpful information on places to eat because I am always hungry. I really hope my feed could also show me pictures for things about tigers because tigers are really awesome. The last thing it would have, would be a constant stream of the newest dance and electronic music because I love that kind of music.

Resisting the Feed pt.2

The Feed is hooked into all of your emotions. It knows what you want before you know even what you want. It provides what ever you could possibly want, the only catch is that if the feed breaks, so do you. The Feed is designed to network you in with almost anyone you want, but it leaves people almost like empty shells. Most of them don't know how to act around other people, or have a full conversation.

The Feed takes away from social interaction with other people as we see in the story. They try to chat with people, even when they don't have a feed. School is not really a thing either because the kids can just look up what ever they need to on the feed. The only reason they go to school is to learn more about using the feed. 

Now some people may say that the Feed is helpful to their lives, and I would agree with them, but only to an extent. The feed is helpful when looking something up, ordering something, or talking to old relatives, but that's where I draw the line. After those simple things, the feed starts to take over other parts of our lives that we should be in control of. I would not like a machine in my head constantly telling me what it thinks I may want or need. The Feed should never be part of daily lives.

The argument people could make against this is what about the technology we have today? Our phones and computers, the search engines and websites we visit, are being tailored to provide ads and other popups specifically targeted at things we may like. Facebook is removing posts that may not suit our opinions, and Amazon may include things in our search list that might correspond to recent searches. This is all true, but the difference between this and the feed, is that it can be turned off. Our phones and computers can be shut down, and they are not connected to our brains in anyway. As good as the Feed sounds, it should never happen.

1984's Flow of Information

Throughout 1984, we see that there is no privacy what so ever, and that the collection and monitoring of the citizens is totally unregulated. There is nothing stopping their government from watching whatever they want, and taking what ever knowledge they want. You know what that sounds a lot like? Our government right now.

Our current government has been taking information from its us, its citizens, for a long time now. Most people knew of some sort of data collection by the government, but now if has public and unnecessary. The NSA, head of all the data collection, collects data from all around the world, everyday. The branch that was suppose to be in charge of regulating the flow and collection of data by the NSA is called the FISA, and they have become just as corrupt as the rest of the government. At a time when court orders were still required, the FISA held a lot of power in how the data collected, but now with the expansion of world communications, it has lost a lot that power. The FISA used to have to order a court issue in order for the NSA to collect data, but now the NSA can collect phone calls, texts, and emails, all from one general court order.

The reason this has become a very major problem is pretty obvious. The court system put into place to regulate what can be collected from people, has failed miserably. Now you may think, what does the NSA do with all this data it collects. The answer to that is, most of the time nothing. Unless the NSA needs to track or watch you, all they have to do is find your files that they may have collected about you and all of the sudden, the NSA has become the thought police. Able to find anyone at fault because of something that was said or done in the past.

Truman Show v. 1984

In both the Truman Show and 1984, both of the main characters live very parallel lives. Truman and Winston both live in a world that is control in almost every way.

In the Truman Show, Truman is free to live his "life" however he wants to. Free to say and think what ever he wants to. He can have friends and family, and can go where ever he would like to. Winston lives an opposite life. He is restricted in almost every way. He works the job Big Brother tells him to, lives where he is told to, is advised against having friends or relationships. Winston, has to even be careful with what he thinks about. The thought police can supposedly even read your thoughts.

The biggest issues in both the Truman Show and 1984, is the ever looming presence of "big brother". In 1984, Winston is constantly being watched and monitored by the TV's and thought police. Even when he thinks he is entirely alone in an old room, or the forest, he is still very careful of what he says or does out of fear that he is being watched constantly. Truman has a similar way of being watched, but he just doesn't know it. He is left to find out on his own that he is being watched, not only Kristoff, but by hundreds of millions of people. Everything Truman does is real, but everyone, and everything around him is controlled very carefully. The people he thinks are real, but they are actually actors. Both characters  are constantly being watched, but the only real difference is that one knows he is, and one doesn't.

The Lack Of Privacy in 1984 and Today

In 1984, one of the most prominent issues that surrounds society is the lack of privacy that is citizens have. They are constantly being watched, listened in on, and tracked. There is no privacy for any of the citizens. They are not even safe from their own thoughts because the government has convinced them that they have thought police that watch what they think. They have taught the kids to turn in their own parents for saying something. Their society has gotten to the point where people are too paranoid to even think for themselves.

In today’s society, the government may not be able to track our thoughts, but they already read our emails, texts and listen in on our phone calls. Whether is the NSA, CIA, FBI, KGB, or MI5, people all over the world are being watched constantly. The NSA alone collects data and information not just in the United States, but around the entire world. According to an article by the American Al Jazeera, just this week alone, information was revealed that Americans and British spies hacked into one of the world’s largest sim card producers and took the keys that encrypted the data. What this allows the government to do is to store all kinds of information people send out, and if they need to, just decrypt the data that the need at the time. This can lead to data being pulled for a person, back from when they weren't even a problem. This is similar to 1984 because Winston gets in trouble with the thought police, and they use everything that he has done in the past to arrest him on charges formed by and present information.

Link to Article - http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/2/20/NSA-SIM-card.html

The uses of Propaganda

Propaganda has been used around the world in many different forms for a while now. Whether it is to help a party rise to power, or bring the war effort in a different view for soldiers, it can be a very powerful thing when used right. Propaganda can provide many good benefits to whatever is being shown.

One of the biggest uses of propaganda is for a war effort. America especially uses it to drive patriotism around the country. It helps to promote good feelings for the war with another country and drives the number of soldiers enlisting in the army. It starts a mass production of goods around the country, which opens more jobs and boosts the economy. It can also be to depict the kind of enemy they are fighting against and boost the hatred for the country even more.

Another major use of propaganda is for political parties. If you are trying to get elected or take power, what better way to get people to side with then your face and party slogan plastered all over the place! A political party uses their own form of propaganda to persuade people to join their cause. It helps the parties cause and what they do, and it helps to inform people of what they stand for or what they are going to try and do to help out the citizens.

My Idea of a Utopia

When people say the word utopia, a perfect and equal society, with not suffering or pain, where the government that takes care of its people in the best way possible, is the first thing that comes to mind. For me however, a utopia is a bit different. In a perfect world, pain would still exist, there would still be a class system, some people would be unhappy, but everything would still be perfect. People would be free to do as they please, feel as they please, and act as they please. They would not be forced into a certain job, or made to be with a certain person, but they would all have equal options when it comes to choosing. No world can be perfect, and that is just something that everyone will have to deal with in my society, but if I could put in things to make those lives of people who are suffering better, then the world slowly starts to become perfect. Instead of trying to force people to show no emotions at all, I would give everyone a way to deal with their thoughts and feelings.

    The government would still care for its people, providing what ever the people need, whether it would food, shelter, clothes, education or something else, it would give it to them. People would have their lives taken care of by the government. There would be no poor, no homeless or needy. If you have a problem, simply ask the government for help. There is no need for one person to suffer if they cannot support for themselves.

Marriage and child rearing would be done differently. Every person can marry whomever they choose. There would be no forced marriages and people could marry between classes. Every family could have a two children as a means of population control. If a family wishes to have more than one child, they would have to sign a document of some sort saying that they can in fact support the child, because any child after the second one will not be supported by the government until they are 18. This seems fair to me because it puts parents into a position if they are truly ready to have another child and forces them to think about everything before they go ahead and start having more children. Any child had outside of the two without a proper document being signed first, the child will be taken and given to another family who may not be able to have a child to being with.

As far as the government goes, it would still be a democracy, with an election every 5 years. The current ruling person cannot run for a second term and the person up for the running must be under 30 years old. This is to ensure that the ideas of the people constantly reflect that of the changing times. The government would not be corrupt as it now. There will be constant checks to other positions to ensure that nobody is gaining votes or their position through bribes.