Soaring into the air and maybe beyond

A dystopian state can be as powerful and strong as it can be fragile, collapsing from one second to the next. 

Skyscrapers soaring into the air easily demonstrate how oppressive dystopian states and their environment can be. There seems to be no way out of the system that is entirely aligned to govern people, to control their thoughts, to choke their feelings and to annihilate criticism.   

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/gavin.watson30/INTERVIEW_01_MOEBUIS.htm

But however meticulous the concept of society and governance is deliberated it can be rapidly broken up. A single person using his or her common sense, detecting paradoxes and discrepancies within the state’s doctrine is sufficient. Others who already harbour doubts can then be encouraged to rise up against a system that forces them into an artificial state of mind, an existence that bears comparison with robots corresponding to external commands. 

http://www-scf.usc.edu/~morihisa/home.html

And when this moment has come there may be nothing left than a tremendous havoc and a suffocating cloud of dust. 

 

When privacy becomes a matter of political penetration

“War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength”

George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four

This saying is not only a guiding principle in George Orwell‘s Nineteen Eighty-Four but also a ground work upon which a dystopian society’s political structure is built.

In dystopian novels, movies and the like the state is most often conducted by a totalitarian regime whose ultimate aim is to exercise permanent control over its citizens. Since it is easiest to control people by gathering every kind of information on them (with that I mean everything, even the most infinitesimal piece you would not even think of being notable), privacy is easily eradicated through stubborn penetration. And this, in turn, is established through political means such as censorship, manipulation, propaganda, surveillance and/or oppression.

Censorship and manipulation are strongly linked to each other as people are rapidly fooled by keeping information restricted. It is therefore a convenient way for the government to align its townsfolk, to make them believe only what the state considers appropriate. Contents that may cause potential threats to social stability are immediately erased while a state’s doctrine is implanted in a person’s head. That is when propaganda gets into the game. What is desired is highly promoted (via media) allowing no space for doubts. Only then can a dystopian system work. And once the order is formed, continuous surveillance (e.g. telephone bugging) and oppression guarantee its persistence.

So, which lesson can we learn from all that?

Totalitarian regimes are by all means violent dangers to a person’s liberty as freedom of thought and expression are strictly forbidden. Hopefully, we’ll never experience actions that go in such a political direction.

Though I don’t think that the ever current discussions in Germany whether the collection of personal data is essential for security matters or just another misuse of data are hazardous when it comes to individual freedom, I still believe that it can happen. I mean, just take a quick look at the media… It jerks us around all the time 😉