Post by robeiae on Mar 17, 2017 9:11:11 GMT -5
In a piece at First Things, K.E. Colombini argues that dystopian non-fiction is now a thing, a genre that offers remedies for repairing our current world, which is, in fact, a dystopian one:
His apparent solutions are wrapped up in the Christian angle, to be sure:
Colombini is writing from a Catholic perspective, to be sure, but that doesn't mean he can't have a valid point (or two). The breakdown of communities is brought up as a cause/consequence of many negative aspects of our current world quite frequently, religion or no religion. But what about the idea that dystopia is already here?
I think he's wrong, there. One of the chief aspects of dystopia--the opposite of a utopia--is terror, along with an absence of hope. I don't see that we've reached such a stage, at all.
Thought?
As I steep myself in this genre, a literature that has a remarkable unity in its diversity, it becomes clear that we are living in dystopia, a post-Christian world. All the major features of the imagined dystopias are coming about.
As in Logan’s Run, we are overvaluing the activity of youth and denigrating the wisdom that comes with age, killing off the elderly; as in Children of Men, we are becoming infertile (although it is more of our own doing than the Creator’s) and substituting other relationships for the parent-child bond; as in Brave New World, we are numbing ourselves with drugs and sensual pleasure; as in 1984, we are tracking and monitoring nearly everything, and punishing thoughts and ideas; as in Fahrenheit 451, we are eschewing books and reaching for video screens and mindless entertainment; as in Lord of the World, we are sacrificing religious morality and natural law for scientific utilitarianism.
As in Logan’s Run, we are overvaluing the activity of youth and denigrating the wisdom that comes with age, killing off the elderly; as in Children of Men, we are becoming infertile (although it is more of our own doing than the Creator’s) and substituting other relationships for the parent-child bond; as in Brave New World, we are numbing ourselves with drugs and sensual pleasure; as in 1984, we are tracking and monitoring nearly everything, and punishing thoughts and ideas; as in Fahrenheit 451, we are eschewing books and reaching for video screens and mindless entertainment; as in Lord of the World, we are sacrificing religious morality and natural law for scientific utilitarianism.
These local forms of community—some call them “intentional communities”—are modeled, either loosely or tightly, intentionally or not, on the work of St. Benedict, whose monasteries became focal points for Western civilization in the Middle Ages, attracting laity as well as monks. It’s not so much about walling ourselves off from the world, Dreher would argue, but providing places where we can safely regroup and refresh. Dreher sees no other option: “To continue the path we’re traveling, hoping that things will get better, is to court disaster.”
Colombini is writing from a Catholic perspective, to be sure, but that doesn't mean he can't have a valid point (or two). The breakdown of communities is brought up as a cause/consequence of many negative aspects of our current world quite frequently, religion or no religion. But what about the idea that dystopia is already here?
I think he's wrong, there. One of the chief aspects of dystopia--the opposite of a utopia--is terror, along with an absence of hope. I don't see that we've reached such a stage, at all.
Thought?
