Dystopian societies have been historically seen as purely fictional ways to depict the worst case scenarios that could possibly happen to a society if events go terribly wrong; a warning as to what could happen if we are not careful. These events include, but are not limited to, a fascist nationalsitic type state being born out of paranoia, destruction of the environment, the creation of a large underclass that is only kept alive to serve the wealthy, blaming the ‘other’ for all of a society’s ills, and the list goes on. A fictional dystopian society can suffer from just one of these events or several. Rarely are all present at exactly the same time. Why do all these events I have described feel so familiar? That is because we are in the midst of living in a dystopian society.

I am 49 years old, and never in my life have I lived through such a year as 2020. This has become the year in which all of the cracks that have always been on the surface of society have finally appeared to those who had never paid attention to them before. Suddenly these cracks have been deemed important enough to now discuss and act upon, when before they were seen as issues not important enough to garner a lot of attention.

Before I go any further please understand that I will be discussing our dystopian society from the point of view of somebody who has lived in both the US and the UK. The countries are similar in some ways but very different in others. The Tories to date have been trying their best to copy the actions of the GOP in America so they may be carbon copies of one another in a few years time.

How would a competent leader of a country deal with a rampaging virus that is killing thousands of citizens a day? They would declare a national health emergency, mandate federal laws concerning social distancing and the wearing of masks, pay each citizen a monthly amount of money that can help them cover rent, food and bills, and offer absolutely free healthcare to those who are unfortunate catch the virus. Instead you have Trump ignoring all of the medical advice given to him, because in his mind he is more intelligent than actual scientists who study the effects of such diseases. While over in the UK you have Johnson behaving in much the same way, even after he caught the virus himself and was very ill from it. No compassion at all has come from either of them, and you get the sense that they probably both wish that all of those with pre-existing medical conditions should die already so that they don’t have to deal with the virus any longer. Only in a dystopian society would such actions be viewed in a positive light by a large percentage of the population. Both Trump and Johnson must know what is best since we put them in power, and we are never wrong!

Scene from the dystopian film Soylent Green.

Both Johnson and Trump are members of political parties, the Tories and Republicans(GOP), whose members have openly colluded with foreign powers in order to win elections. They were made Prime Minister and President in order to grant the wealthy even more power and money than they already have. Screw all of the people barely able to make ends meet because of the economy tanking and the virus making things even worse. In a matter of months there are going to be tent cities all over the US and UK because of the masses of people losing their homes since they can no longer afford rent or their mortgages because of losing their jobs. When you are down and out all you have to do to make yourself happy is think of all of the billionaires, such as Zuckerberg and Bezos, making record amounts of money during a pandemic. Remember making money off of the backs of the underclass is what makes both the US and UK such great places to live! Only in a dystopian society can the underclass be made to think that their underpaid jobs are actually just fine, and maybe through some hard work and luck they too will become very wealthy. If they don’t become very wealthy then it is their own fault because they didn’t work hard enough.

There has always been open racism in both the US and UK. Equality laws being put into place does not mean that people of colour were treated fairly from that moment on. Within the last few years there have been a lot of video recordings of the police, mostly in the US, openly killing black men and women. This sort of thing has always happened, it’s not a new phenomenon. The only difference right now is that these murders are being recorded by police body-cams or by bystanders who are witness them. Even though these cops know they are being recorded they go ahead and kill these black men and women anyway because historically they rarely get convicted of murder. In most cases they get paid leave and then go back to work a few months later, or even if they get fired they will easily get hired by a nearby police department. Only in a dystopian society are some people deemed expendable just because of the colour of their skin.

Another group being treated unfairly in both the US and UK are immigrants; legal, illegal, POC and Eastern European. Even though these immigrants do essential work, such as nursing and harvesting food, they are still looked down upon by large sections of a society who are told by their governments that immigrants are to blame for how shit their lives have turned out. Only in a dystopian society is the construct of this ‘other’ created. This is in order to placate the population whose unwavering support both the US and UK governments need in order to retain power. This white underclass in taught to hate the ‘other’, even though they have more in common with them that they do with white people who are wealthy.

I have touched on many of the reasons why I think we are living in a dystopian society and I can easily think of even more. Sometimes thinking really deeply about this scares the crap out of me, as it should. We are not living in normal times. Probably the best thing you can do is pay attention to all of the events going on around you. If you live in an area where there are ongoing protests against racism, and the government in general, take part in them. Also, if you are a US citizen please vote. Even though I am a US citizen in the UK I am voting by mail in the upcoming November election. If Trump is not voted out of office things are going to get even worse in the US during the next four years.

Give a damn and stay safe.