Here no doubt one has to avoidBerlant’s “cruel optimism,” which is perhaps thinking and saying that things will get better withoutdoing the work of imagining how.
This speaks a lot to the mentality that we as people and especially as Americans have that we are too far go so no matter what we do nothing will ever change.
Possibly dystopiashope to kill the societies they depict.For a while now I’ve been saying that science fiction works by a kind of double action, like theglasses people wear when watching 3D movies. One lens of science fiction’s aesthetic machineryportrays some future that might actually come to pass; it’s a kind of proleptic realism. The otherlens presents a metaphorical vision of our current moment, like a symbol in a poem. Together thetwo views combine and pop into a vision of History, extending magically into the future.By that definition, dystopias today seem mostly like the metaphorical lens of the science-fictionaldouble action. They exist to express how this moment feels, focusing on fear as a cultural dominant.A realistic portrayal of a future that might really happen isn’t really part of the project—that lens ofthe science fiction machinery is missing. The Hunger Games trilogy is a good example of this; itsdepicted future is not plausible, not even logistically possible. That’s not what it’s trying to do. Whatit does very well is to portray the feeling of the present for young people today, heightened byexaggeration to a kind of dream or nightmare. To the extent this is typical, dystopias can be thoughtof as a kind of surrealism.KIM STANLEY ROBINSON11.02.2018
I think many dystopias truly to aim to act as precautions for people to stop taking the harmful actions that could lead us to a dystopian future, but I think many Americans especially when they watch or read dystopias they separate themselves and their actions from what they're watching.
There are a lot of dystopias around these days,and this makes sense, because we have a lot of fears about the future
I think this is one of the reasons dystopias are so enticing because so many of them lean upon aspects of our current society. Despite all of our fears about the future, we continue to feed into the very things that could destroy our society
“facts”
"facts" being in quotations is interesting because it implies that they are subjective to the author, and reminds me of the saying "history is written b y the victors" those in power have decided the facts, the history, the structures that govern us today
subjection, and any growth of power
you can see how evident this is today, because in every single institution of america, there are elements of oppression. As each new technology or foundation, or insitution was created, it was an opportunity to continue drawing power and oppression often times the same groups
egalitarian
meaning social equality for all people
necessary to commodious living
i wonder if he would also agree that in turn, peace is necessary in life because i think that would go against his earlier arguments.
‘time’ is to be considered in thenature of war, as it is in the nature of weather.
i thin hes saying that war is a constant in every society which reminds me of Karl Marx conflict theory which says that as long as there are those in power and those who are oppressed, conflict will always be inevitable
’ consisteth
third-person singular simple present form of consist
instinctual life is by no means to beenvied for its freedom.
i think this also ties into the idea of free will
the superior power of nature, the feebleness of our ownbodies and the inadequacy of the regulations which adjust the mutual relationships of human beings inthe family, the state and society
I believe that there is inherently a problem with defining happiness by suffering. I think there there are also sources from which happiness come from and I believe we should study those and see how we can increase and improve on those in our lives
I was't able to highlight but the first line of the marginalization section that states "Increasingly in the Unites states racism oppression occurs in the form of marginalization rather than exploitation." (49) I don't know if i necessarily believe that the systems have changed enough since slavery that Black people aren't still being exploited in present day.
Despite the modern myth of a decline of parochial attachments and ascribed identities, in modern society group differentiation remains endemic.
This is a really interesting connection about the nature of humans being social creatures and how that persists in every society that we live in regardless of the system.