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  • Essay / Society's pursuit of an unattainable utopia

    A utopia is an imaginary world where everyone is respected and true equality among all humans is achieved. The allure of this perfect theory has led countless people to attempt to create such a fantasy. Even though a utopian society is impossible and does not exist, the efforts people make to achieve a better civilization are essential and admirable. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Different countries tried to develop a perfect world, but failed due to several different reasons. The failure of these social experiments highlights that it is extremely difficult for a society to function with true equality for all. Furthermore, if total balance is imposed on civilization, who imposes it? Are those in power “more equal than others” (George Orwell, Animal Farm)? What makes equality difficult to achieve is that everything in human civilization comes from desire; people always aspire for more. Therefore, absolute equality in utopia cannot satisfy those with a miserly mind. For example, if the same resources and money are given to all citizens, this does not allow an individual to earn more or less. In our world, different jobs have different salaries, such as a doctor and a farmer. Their training is not of the same level, some would not agree on equal pay. Even if people have the same job, if one works hard and the other slacks, it doesn't seem fair that they get the same pay. Dissatisfaction between human beings will create conflict and resentment. This is a natural part of human nature, and because of this, a utopian society is difficult to achieve. In the flatness of a perfect world, where everyone is treated equally, the exciting aspects of human existence will likely disappear. People will not be encouraged to develop their intelligence if they do not feel rewarded for their efforts. Furthermore, freedom of choice should be limited to the extent that a society cannot exist without all kinds of professions, some of which, like that of janitor, are less sought-after professions. If everyone in this paradise receives the same salary regardless of what job they have, many will choose not to force themselves into essential professions. If this is the case, then should a government assign people to different jobs regardless of whether they want to work in that field? This happened in China right after the Cultural Revolution in the late 1970s. Even though the government wanted to create some form of utopian society, it had to assign citizens to various professions, regardless of what the people wanted. This seems to fly in the face of reality. People still insist on trying to improve society in order to have a better quality of life, even though we all know that it is very unlikely that a perfect utopia can exist, for example in the book History of American Socialism by John Humphrey Noyes, the author depicts a world where there is no need to create laws. Instead, the government rewards good citizens in order to boost public morale. Even though the social experiment in this paradise failed later in the book, its attempt did, to some extent, have a significant impact on the ruling class in limiting exploitation and domination. This attempt to make society experiment with public ownership also provided a fundamental theoretical basis and practical knowledge for the development of socialism. Its failure, however, gives us insight.