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America: A Dystopia in the Making The United States of America used to be one of the most ideal places in the world. Many people in the past saw it as a great utopia; a place of perfection, especially in laws, government, and social conditions. This so-called utopia, however, is slowly turning the tides; making its way towards a dehumanizing, overcrowded, terrorized hell; a dystopia. One of the main reasons that the United States is no longer a utopia is because of the poverty that is seen everyday. Since 1973, poverty rates in America have been on the rise. Ending the gradual decline, The year of 1973 had around 22.5 million Americans in poverty. Two years ago, 2013, had 45.3 million (“About Poverty”). This data shows that the United States …show more content…
adults are obese (“Adult Obesity Facts”). An estimated one third of school aged children are overweight or obese as well (Childhood Obesity Facts”). A country that is supposed to be healthy should contain citizens that are in fine feather alike. Everyday, people are forgetting what it feels like to be healthy, and/or live a healthy lifestyle. They are losing motivation to keep their bodies in shape; the only motivation they have is to get up and drive to the nearest McDonald’s. America is headed for dystopia, and it seems as if people are becoming too lazy to try and stop it. This “Land of Opportunity” seems to be turning into a land of disrupting opportunity. Of all pregnancies in the U.S., about half are unintentional. Of these unintended pregnancies, 4 of 10 are aborted (“Abortions in America”). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that there were over 300,000 babies born to teenage girls in 2011 alone (“About Teen Pregnancy”). This data shows how Americans value, (or don’t value), the lives of their unborn children, and those of the teenages that have made a decision that will stick with them for the rest of their …show more content…
A utopian country should not have experiences of the government lying to the citizens about what they are doing. One of the most obvious situations that comes to mind when speaking of the government is the large “NSA scandal” that happened in 2013, in which documents were disclosed which contained information about the government listening in on tens of millions of American telephone conversations. The British Broadcasting Corporation reports that “Documents leaked to the Washington Post in mid-August suggested the NSA breaks US privacy laws hundreds of times every year.” (“Edward
The authors therefor saw the ‘utopian’ societies to be a trap for weak minded publics, and that once in place, such systems would be able to perpetuate indefinitely due to the efficiency at which they protect and propagate themselves. Through fear, diversion and sedation the utopia can maintain a strong grip on the people it encompasses before anyone realizes the sacrifices made. The popularity of these books does rule out the possibility of such a society coming into existence in the future, however. The state of people is not about to change, and their ignorance will continue regardless of the harshness of the wake up calls issued.
Society will never be perfect. Equality will never be sustained. A dystopian society will always have corruption of government. Corruption is present all around the world but is swept under the rug. Abridgment of human rights happens every day in our country or another. Oppression is the cause for all the sadness in our world. There will be always selfishness in dystopia. One must sink for another to rise, but “good doesn’t mean good for everyone. It means worst for someone.”
It is natural for a society to be concerned for the future generations. With the rate of obesity growing in adults and children, many begin to see it as an issue that needs to be addressed. New reports show “ childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years” (cdc.gov). Overweight and obese are not actually the same. Overweight is defined as “having excess body weight for a particular height from fat,” and obesity is defined as “having excess body fat” (cdc.gov). With obesity comes the chance for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Both can be
Rollo May, a psychologist, once said that, “in the utopian aim of removing all power and aggression from human behavior, we run the risk of removing self-assertion, self-affirmation, and even the power to be”. As a contemporary population, daily life has advanced from a comprehension; introducing utopian qualities would have domino effects on different human rights of a hindsight apparistic nation. Modern societies similar to a utopia has a larger entity that undermines the community within different aspects but nevertheless runs the risk of becoming a society with dystopian features by illusions of authoritarian rule.
Thomas Jefferson once said “Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.” Over time I have begun to believe that America is evolving into a dystopian society and it is caused greatly by the fact that the United States is a tyranny disguised as a democracy. The reason that the United States government isn’t understood to be a tyranny is because they don’t directly oppress their citizens, but through psychological control make us indirectly oppress ourselves.
Dystopian America What exactly is dystopia, and how is it relevant today? E.M. Forster’s The Machine Stops uses a dystopian society to show how one lives effortlessly, lacking knowledge of other places, in order to show that the world will never be perfect, even if it may seem so. A society whose citizens are kept ignorant and lazy, unknowing that they are being controlled, unfit to act if they did, all hidden under the guise of a perfect utopian haven, just as the one seen in The Machine Stops, could become a very real possibility. There is a rational concern about this happening in today’s world that is shared by many, and with good reason.
...ca we don’t have the “Ministry of Peace, Ministry of Love, Ministry of Truth, and Ministry of Plenty” (Orwell 8) we are slowly heading that direction. As time goes on and more technology advances, will the government be restricted? If we are heading in the path that we are on, America could be Oceana before we know it. Instead of the year 1984 George Orwell should have written 2084.
Undoubtedly, the thought of living in, or forming a utopian society has flashed through nearly every person’s mind. A few people have even tried to make this ideal dream society a reality. Unfortunately, within the pursuit of these societies the leaders become corrupt and begin to become paranoid with the fear of rebellion. Hundreds of people were murdered during the reigns of Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin in what they considered measures to maintain peace and stability within their respective “perfect” society. One must also consider the hardships that the citizens were forced to endure while living under these oppressive governments.
Bob Herbert, columnist and professor of journalism, wrote about the current condition of America in “A Fire in the Basement,” an introduction to a collection of his editorials, Promises Betrayed: Waking up from the American Dream (2005). The “fire” he is referring to, is the idea that America is falling apart from the inside out, and we aren’t even aware of it. He suggests that our current state as a world power is in decline, and it’s not the terrorists we should be worried about. Rather, he gives examples showing that this decline will be the result of the growing inequality, irrationality, and the loss of hope within our nation. He states, “It’s not that life in America was better in the 1960’s. It wasn’t. But it seemed to be moving in a better direction” (396). In other words, we’ve lost a crucial part to what made us a great nation in the first place. If we don’t recover this hope and can-do spirit soon, we may be headed for a supporting role on the world stage.
The best way to begin a revolution in health in America is to start with the youth. The United States has the largest percentile of overweight children in the world. Approximately one-quarter of all four to five year olds and one-third of ten to eleven year olds are considered overweight. The obese children will more than likely become overweight parents. A child with an obese parent is ten percent more likely to raise obese children and thus the cycle continues (McBride, 2010). The more years that go on the higher the obesity rate climbs because the children are eating more and more and becoming less and less active.
The obesity epidemic is one of the most pressing issues at this point in both American society and U.S. public policy initiatives. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention 35.9% of U.S. adults over the age of twenty are obese (CDC, 2013). The CDC further notes that 69.2% of U.S. adults twenty years of age and over are overweight (this percentage includes those who are obese). The obesity problem is not exclusive to the adults in the U.S. The CDC notes that 18.4% of adolescents between the ages of 12 and 19 are currently obese (CDC, 2013). These statistics illustrate the severity of the obesity epidemic in this country, but what can be done to address or even correct this problem? Many people have proposed solutions, but few are as radical as the proposal from Michael Bloomberg (the New York City Mayor) in 2012.
...rough dehumanizing each individual by stripping away their natural rights of life, liberty, and property, but then it is only a false utopia, because people are no longer people without those rights (Locke 5-6). So ask yourself, is a perfect society worth losing your natural rights?
We as students play an important role in this struggle, both as advocates for choice and as people deserving control of our futures and reproductive capacities. One million American teenagers become pregnant each year, and 78% of pregnancies in American women aged 18-19 are unintended. Over one third of women said that their reason for having an abortion was that having a child would interfere with attendance at school; over a quarter said they could not afford to support a child because they were a student or about to become one. Studies also show that women over 25 earned on average $12,897 if they went to high school but had not graduated versus $31,071 if they had a bachelor's degree. The reality is clear: students need choice and women need education. (http://www.choiceusa.org/facts03.html)
Society should consider the physical and emotional problems of obesity in our nation. “Obesity is defined as an excess proportion of total body fat (Mayo Clinic).” American society has become increasingly obese, “characterized by environments that promote increased food intake, unhealthy foods, and physical inactivity (cdcinfo@cdc.gov).” Our nation increasingly has become consumers of a fast food diet. It is so simple to just pick up food on the go and not deal with the hassle of cooking and cleaning up afterwards. What are nation needs to acknowledge is the health risks they will obtain if they do not acquire a healthy life style.
Poverty is an undeniable problem in America. In 2014, 14.8 percent of the United States was in poverty (“Hunger and Poverty Fact Sheet”). There are more people in the United States than it seems that do not have their basic necessities. In an