Dreaming of Utopia in this Dystopia

A version of Utopia from last century- Robert McCall 1983
Mural, The Prologue and the Promise

A perfect society where everything and everyone is perfect. Imagine this from time to time? Some imagine this while others may imagine a different form of society that is perfect for them. This idea of a perfect society can be described as a Utopia. Utopia is essentially an idealized version of a society where laws, government, people, and environment are all "perfect." Almost all of us dream of one day reaching this perfection in our society where one does not have to worry about all this violence, corruption, destruction, fighting, hatred, etc. But will American society ever reach this point? Or will it always be a dream or myth that we will become a Utopian society? What would we even have to do to make this dream a reality? While it may seem content to imagine a Utopian society, such imaginations can only belong in books and movies.

First things first, there are many issues and problems in America that makes it far from becoming a Utopia. One of these problems being the economic inequality that exists. According to Richard Fry, a senior researcher in economics at Pew Research Center, and Rakesh Kochhar, an associate director of research at Pew Research Center, "The wealth gap between America’s high-income group and everyone else has reached record high levels since the economic recovery from the Great Recession of 2007-09...In 2013, the median wealth of the nation’s upper-income families ($639,400) was nearly seven times the median wealth of middle-income families ($96,500)..." This research shows that the annual income of Americans is unevenly distributed in regards to how much they earn. Another problem is the topic of climate change and environmental issues. With natural resources depleting fast and global warming becoming more alarming, America's environment is slowly looking like a dystopian version of a bare ridden world. According to U.S. Global Change Research Program, "A study done by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) finds that global warming during the last 15 years has progressed as fast or faster than during the latter half of the 20th century." And it shows no sign of stopping as shown in the graph below.

With inequality between people and Earth rapidly heating up, this does not seem like the "perfect" society that many people imagine. Not to mention the recent attacks on Syria carried out to stop President Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons program. All of this violence and fighting between nations is not something you would see in a Utopian society. If America truly wants to achieve this dream of being a Utopia then all of the problems listed above have to be dealt with. According to Charles Fourier, a French utopian socialist "theorized a visionary model of community that would reorganize labor and refashion basic work practice from a dehumanizing or isolating experience into a communal effort that emphasized a shared work ethic and an aesthetically and physically rewarding environment."When people imagine a Utopia, some imagine a place where there are no wars, everyone is at peace and happy with their current situation, and resources are available in abundance. Of course, some of them are more complex, but this is a basic idea of what a Utopia should look like.

Unfortunately as mentioned earlier, America is very far from being a Utopia and will most probably never become one. With rising income inequality gaps, global warming, and an ever-increasing threat of wars occurring between different nations, the idea of becoming a Utopian society will only ever exist in the imaginations of people. Unless we all learn to work together to solve these problems, there is no possibility of ever reaching the content we all dream of.