This is actually for SS, but I like to post it here for some subtle reasons.
To write a utopia magazine is an exciting but tough job. For me, the problem is what kind of Utopia that I wish to have. It seems easy to imagine a perfect society and flawless world, but when I explore the topic further, I find some difficult contradictions.
Firstly, I think about a very perfect nation, with no troubles, no diseases, no crimes and no disasters. However, I soon figure out that a nation without any flaws will not work at all. What are the police for if there is no crime? What is the government for if everyone in the society can live together peacefully and in harmony? What are science and technology innovations for if human never faces any disaster or diseases? I consider that utopia must also be realistic and suitable to the basic human nature despite its fantasy. That’s what Forum section for – to give people space to give advises and complains.
As long as people live in this world, they will always have needs. The basic problem is that every person has different needs compared to the others for every single person is created as a unique individual. The problem increases when a person tries to force his will to the others who don’t have the same opinion with the idea.
The democracy in my group’s utopia nation is based on our own experience when we created this newspaper. We derive almost all the names in the newspaper from daily life’s name and mixtures of Indonesian and Vietnamese languages. Our concept of democracy is to give people equal chance and opportunity to fulfill their potential, not to give people complete freedom, for irresponsible freedom will only lead to human rights violation. Utopia isn’t the place where we can do whatever we want. It’s a place when your rights and expressions are secured.
Leadership is indispensable in every country, including utopia, as the guide for the country. If all the people have the equal power to control the society, there will be chaos due to the people’s differences. People need to hand over the sovereignty to a group of people which are specialists in that way. Nevertheless, to be leaders don’t mean that they have rights to corrupt the government. As long as the people in the government are corrupt, the government will not work correctly.
Is Utopia ever possible? If you can only want to dream, Utopia will never come true. It starts from each individual. It’s better to change ourselves to a better way before thinking majestically about changing the world. We see this world not as what the world is, but as what we actually are. If we have poor attitude and mentality, there’s always possibility our contribution to the society bring negative impact and convert the society to be dystopia.
At the end of the day, everyone has his own image of utopia; it’s definitely subjective. That’s why utopia’s never possible as an objective reality.