A dystopia (from Ancient Greek: δυσ-: bad-, ill- and Ancient Greek: τόπος: place, landscape) (alternatively, cacotopia, or anti-utopia) is, in literature, an often futuristic society that has degraded into a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian. Dystopian literature has underlying cautionary tones, warning society that if we continue to live how we do, this will be the consequence. A dystopia, thus, is regarded as a sort of negative utopia and is often characterized by an authoritarian or totalitarian form of government. Dystopias usually feature different kinds of repressive social control systems, a lack or total absence of individual freedoms and expressions and constant states of warfare or violence. Dystopias often explore the concept of technology going "too far" and how humans individually and en masse use technology. A dystopian society is also often characterized by mass poverty for most of its inhabitants and a large military-like police force.
Dystopia is a modified form of utopia, which was originally coined by Thomas More in his book of that title completed in 1516.
The first known use of dystopian, as recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary, is a speech given before the British House of Commons by John Stuart Mill in 1868, in which Mill denounced the government's Irish land policy: "It is, perhaps, too complimentary to call them Utopians, they ought rather to be called dys-topians, or caco-topians. What is commonly called Utopian is something too good to be practicable; but what they appear to favour is too bad to be practicable.
More...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Blog Archive
-
▼
10
(326)
-
▼
November
(27)
- Jesus
- Eusebius of Caesarea
- Fertile Crescent
- Isaac
- F.F. Bruce
- disciple
- Shekhinah
- ONE Modern Day Prophet
- Tribe of Asher
- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
- Early Church Fathers
- Leo Tolstoy
- Lucifer
- HOPE
- "Son of God"
- Pseudepigrapha
- The Temple Mount
- Adolf Hitler, rise to power
- Samaria
- Sumer
- Jesus the man
- Apocatastasis
- Unconditional Love
- Zealot
- Johann Sebastian Bach
- N.T. Wright
- Dystopia
-
▼
November
(27)
LifeNews.com
- Philip Nitschke Wants to Euthanize Dementia Patients - 6/6/2025 - Right to Life UK
- More MPs Will Vote Against British Measure to Legalize Assisted Suicide - 6/6/2025 - Right to Life UK
- Woman Died After Husband Forced Her to Take Abortion Pill - 6/6/2025 - Steven Ertelt
- As an OGBYN I Know Abortion is Not Compassionate. It Kills a Baby - 6/6/2025 - Dr. Donna Harrison
- Three Years After Dobbs, Some States are Fighting to Protect Babies From Abortion - 6/6/2025 - Ingrid Duran
Desiring God Blog
- ‘I Am Not the Christ’: A Sermon That Shaped My Ministry - 6/8/2025 - Kevin DeYoung
- Be Still and Know: A Crisis-Ready Vision of God - 6/7/2025 - David Mathis
- The Gift of Unashamed Courage to Speak and Suffer: 2 Timothy 1:3–8, Part 3 - 6/7/2025 - John Piper
- Don’t Make Friends with Doubt - 6/6/2025 - Greg Morse
- Courageous Joy in the Fight for Truth - 6/6/2025 - John Piper
Youth for Christ International
- Videos - 4/19/2020 - international
- Videos - 4/19/2012 - admin
- Hello world! - 9/1/2022 - admin
- YFC Ukraine Refugee Stories: An Interview with Andriy Kostyshyn - 8/17/2022 - YFC E.M.E.N.A.
- Meet Kersy - 8/16/2022 - YFC Africa
related
- Follow Jesus
- Timothy Ministries News
- Dallas Willard
- Christian Resources
- Missional Church dot Org
- Between Two Worlds
- GinkWorld
- New Tribes Mission
- Prime Time Jesus
- All Things Aramaic
- Blogging the New Testament
- Campus Crusade for Christ International
- Bible.org
- Vineyard South Africa
- AnswersInGenesis
- Allelon Movement of Missional Churches
- Billy Graham
- Christian Classics Ethereal Library
- Christian answers
- Christian Worldview
- Historical Jesus Studies
- Monergism
- Christians Unite