EX TENEBRIS CRESCIT FLOS
THE DYSTOPIC AMERICA TEST
Descriptions of All Dystopias
September 10, 2005
ANARCHY
It's every man for himself in the America of Tomorrow. Controls on individuals
and business have broken down, and everybody uses the advancing technology for
his or her own gain. Business are cutthroat and corrupt, government is
practically non-existant, and religion has retreated into the recesses of
society. For those who have the drive and the sheer meanness to get ahead at
the expense of all others, this is a wonderful society, but pity the poor soul
who has any sort of conscience. Welcome to the cruel, chaotic future, and
consider yourself lucky if you make it to 30!
FRAGMENTATION
Society is a lot smaller. With the failure of energy sources, technology
collapsed and those who survived the resulting civil wars have retreated into
the country. Institutions of social control, such as government, large
corporations, and large religious groups have ceased to exist. Cities have
depopulated, and farms have replaced suburbs. It is an every man for himself
culture out there, where people seize and hold onto their land through force
of arms until the situation stabilizes a bit. The United States now consists
of small, loosely-organized communities which barely produce enough food for
themselves. Many starve, and with the collapse of transportation networks it
is impossible to move food surpluses from one region to another. Welcome to
the past. Only, the future will be worse than the past. In the new dark age,
you will struggle to survive and die young. Enjoy!
SOCIALIST PARADISE
Welcome to the future. After decades of corporate excess, the workers got mad
and brought down big business. Big government is now in control, and people
still work hard in factories and offices for very little money. Health care is
universal, but of the poorest quality. There is a huge social welfare system,
but the bureaucracy eats up so much money that there is little left for the
people. High taxes keep the workers poor, and welfare is so inadequate that
the unemployed are also poor. Corrupt government officials build huge palaces
with their ill-gotten gains. Religion might encourage rebellion, so it is
discouraged but grudgingly tolerated, and the schools attempt to wring it out
of the minds of children before they reach adulthood. Welcome to the future,
comrade. In this worker's paradise you will work harder and make less than you
ever did under capitalism. Have a rotten day!
HIPPIE PARADISE
It is the future, and the hippie movement is alive and well. Energy reserves
have run out and technology has collapsed, so people have gone back to the
land. Capitalism and its technology have been thoroughly discredited, and
everyone has gone out into the country to live in communes. Central
government is nearly dead, so the communes have a great deal of autonomy. Free
love reigns, and people discuss philosophy while they toil in their
fields. Wonderful, isn't it? Well, not quite. The egalitarian philosophy
has its flaws. Without effective leadership, some of the communes become
unproductive and millions of people starve. People grow pot rather than food
and they starve to death as they sit around, naked and stoned, contemplating
their navels. Anyone who tries to take charge is immediately sent out of the
commune; since all are equal, there shall be no leader. Welcome to the
America of Tomorrow, where you will be among a motley group of stoned,
half-starved hippies. Welcome to Utopia!
CORPORATOCRACY
Big business is king in the America of Tomorrow. Fusion power has made
available a limitless energy source, and corporations have made full use of
it. Waves of terrorism and invasions have frightened the public, and they
have turned to the only efficient organizations - large corporations - to
protect them. The corporations now control the country; they have dispensed
with the formality of democracy, and the country now has a CEO rather than a
President. All people are assigned to workplaces based on their skills, and
they are not allowed to quit or move without express permission from the
Company. Offices and factories provide housing, food, and health care on
site so people never need to leave the workplace. They work most of their
waking hours, seven days a week, until they get too old or sick to work. Then,
since the corporate machine no longer needs them, they are killed and their
bodies are sent to rendering plants. Religion is, of course, illegal since it
might foment rebellion. Anyone caught engaging in religious ritual is
summarily executed and sent to the rendering plants. The same fate awaits
anyone who expresses the slightest dissatisfaction with work, and union
organizers are handled especially harshly. Welcome to the future, and get to
work, you slacker, or off to the rendering plant with you.
WARLORD SOCIETY
Welcome to Somalia on a grand scale. Energy supplies have dwindled, and the
large, centralized society has collapsed. People have gone to the country,
where due to security breakdowns brought on by invasions, terrorism, and civil
war, the people have looked to warlords for safety. The United States is no
more, and the country has been carved up into numerous little fiefdoms. The
warlords don't really care about religion or social justice, although they will
suppress any religious groups that appear to threaten them. Within each
fiefdom, it is every man for himself, except that no one will dare cross the
warlord. The warlord's family and friends control everything, leaving little
or nothing left for the rest of the people. Many starve, and many more serve
in the warlords' militias, where they extort money and goods from whomever
they can in order to eke out a living. Welcome to the future, and it is
hell, unless you are a warlord. But if you are, you will die
young. Warlords are overthrown and replaced all the time.
POLICE STATE
March, march, march. You will be doing a lot of marching in the America of
the future. A highly paranoid, militarized, socialistic dictatorship awaits
you. The mechanisms of production are firmly in the hands of the state, which
is guided by a Fearless Leader, paranoid as can be and mistrustful of the
people but dependent on technology. Working behind the scenes are cadres of
evil geniuses ever busy inventing new technologies to control the
masses. Basic needs, such as health care, food, and housing, are provided for
in an efficient manner, but the quality is poor. People must live and work
where they are told; no individual initiative is tolerated. Religion is
banned; only the religion of the state is permitted. Nonconformists are
treated harshly, and a massive secret police apparatus is constantly on the
lookout. Cameras and recording devices are installed in all places, public
and private, and hordes of security officers monitor the recordings at all
hours of the day. All people are members of the military reserve, and they
are called up frequently to train, invade countries, or quell
rebellions. Welcome to a future which makes North Korea look like a walk in
the park. March!
AGRARIAN COMMUNISM
Pol Pot would be proud. His vision has been carried out on a grand scale, and
in the land of his old enemy, the United States of America! Technology was
discredited when energy ran low, and as standards of living plummeted, people
turned to a charismatic leader with a grand vision of returning to the land
and thriving in a land of milk and honey. Security problems and rebellions
caused an explosion of paranoia, and the government clamped down. Anything
which might cause disloyalty was quashed. Religion, the educational
establishment, and private business were all shut down. This leaves a country
of nothing but massive collective farms, staffed by inexperienced people who
were forcibly uprooted from their previous lives. The individual is
meaningless; only the collective matters. The inefficiency of the system
causes mass starvation, but the security apparatus of the government is so
strong that it keeps a lid on rebellion. Tens of millions die in the first
few years, and the entire country slides into abject poverty. Welcome to
the future! I hope you liked the Khmer Rouge, because you will become a slave
to its successor.
RIGHT-WING SOCIETY
If you like George W. Bush, you will love the future. Technology has
continued to advance, thanks to cheap energy from fusion power, and capitalism
is even stronger than ever; workers have fewer rights than they did in the
1890's. Isn't America great! And to top it off, religious revival has
returned the country to a strong moral footing. No longer is there any
abortion or pornography. Women are back in the home where they belong, and
those awful gays are firmly back in the closet. The Ten Commandments are
posted everywhere and God is firmly in control over the schools. Evolution is
just a distant memory in these days when everyone knows that the earth is
6,000 years old. Attendance at religious services is not technically mandated
by law, but those who do not attend are subject to severe discrimination. The
CEOs of the big companies are cutthroat capitalists who are also good
Evangelical Christians, and they don't want any evil non-Christians working
for them. Welcome to the future - Dubya's dream land. I hope your faith is
strong.
PURITAN SOCIETY
The America of Tomorrow is a dreamland (or nightmare-land) of farms and
churches. Imagine 17th-Century Massachusetts spread through the entire
country, and far more religious, and you have an idea of what is in
store. With the demise of energy sources, technology is no longer as
important as it once was and people have returned to agriculture. The social
dislocations resulted in a mass religious revival, and Christianity has taken
over government at all levels. Of course, the local level is more important
now since the lack of technology prevents the federal government from
operating efficiently. Christianity has driven out society's perceived moral
ills and has encouraged everyone to return the land and reap the bounty of the
earth. America is not unlike Massachusetts of the 1600's, except that the
right-wing religious organizations are even more powerful, and they will see
to it that no social progress is ever made again. Gays, atheists, and
non-Christians have been rounded up and "re-educated" or killed. Nobody will
ever threaten the supremacy of Christianity again! Welcome to the future,
in which society must stand still. I hope you brought your Bible. And be
sure to get a good seat at the next witch-burning.
CHRISTIAN SOCIALIST
Welcome to the future, where you will find Jesus-lovers everywhere. Jesus
told us to help the poor, right? The excesses of capitalism resulted in a
massive religious revival and a powerful surge of socialist philosophy. Imagine
that Jesus meets Karl Marx, and you will have the right idea. Churches now
control all of the businesses, and they redistribute wealth to the poorest in
society through a wide range of religious charities. The usual socialist
inefficiencies are well in evidence, and living standards are not so high, but
people feel solace in their love for Jesus. Of course, they hate anyone who
does not accept Jesus, so non-Christians, gays, evolutionists, and
pornographers are ruthlessly persecuted in the name of God's love for all
humanity. Isn't religion wonderful! Welcome to a future in which you will
be smothered by the love of Jesus. Bring your Bible - you will need it!
CHRISTIAN AGRARIAN
The future is a Christian communitarian paradise! Socialism, religious
revival, and a back-to-the land movement have returned America to a collection
of small agricultural towns, not unlike in the 1800's, except that a strong
socialist streak has taken hold. Central government is weak, but local
governments are strong and they are led by religious elders. The system is
not unlike the United Order of Enoch, as briefly practiced by the Mormons in
the mid-1800's. The community owns all property and all citizens provide
their labor in return for a share of the bounty. It is a well-organized
system in which dissent is not tolerated, and certainly any affront to the
prevailing religion is dealt with especially harshly. The community members
are just a hive of worker-bees, mindlessly toiling away with nary a subversive
thought in their heads. Isn't it wonderful! Welcome to the America of
Tomorrow - Agrarian communism with a religious twist. Get out your Bible and
your scythe, and get to work!
RELIGIOUS FASCISM
Welcome to George W. Bush's America, with an extra helping of paranoia added
for good measure. Tomorrow's society is a paranoid, religious police state in
which technology, big business, and big religion conspire to keep the public
under control. Everything in this society is big. Companies are
huge. Churches are gigantic. Massive banks of computers keep data on every
citizen. Even the police have really big guns to go with their big Bibles
which they use to club people over the head. Religious observance is
mandatory, and the only legal religion is a government-sanctioned form of
Evangelical Christianity. Anyone who visibly resists is summarily
executed. Those who submit work long hours six days a week in terrible jobs,
and every Sunday they are herded into churches where preachers tell them how
wonderful everything is. Most of them are so brainwashed that they eat it up
and think everything is wonderful. Welcome to a religious dreamland that
not even Dubya could have hoped for! I hope you like mega-churches, because
you will be going to one whether you want to or not.
AMERICAN TALEBAN
Welcome to a future in which society has fragmented into a bunch of highly
religious, ultra-paranoid, agrarian communities. Central government has
completely collapsed, and what is left is a disorganized group of local
communities run by preachers who are little better than warlords in religious
garb. Religious police roam the streets, harassing and beating anybody who
does not look perfectly Christian. Church attendance is mandatory, and the
moral police haul in anybody who skips out on services. Small business
thrives, but corruption is rampant and the most successful businesses are
inevitably run by the preacher/warlord's family and cronies. Women's rights
are severely curtailed, and nobody even talks about gays or, gasp!,
atheists. Welcome to a Bible-thumping, vice-free future. The American
Taleban will get you if you don't watch out!
RELIGIOUS STALINISM
Imagine a society with a Stalinist philosophy combined with a healthy dose of
good old-fashioned Christianity. This is your future. Religion is alive and
well, but it is now a tool of the state, utilized to keep the masses in
line. Private industry is no more; it has been replaced by massive state- and
church-run collective enterprises. People are assigned to these enterprises,
and they can never leave. Inefficient farms and factories operate whether
they are profitable or not, and corrupt officials skim off most of their
revenues, leaving everybody else in poverty. Religious leaders use their
masterful brainwashing techniques in service of the state, and succeed in
convincing most of the public that their lot in life is good. The few
dissenters are dealt with harshly, and few dare openly criticize the
government or the state church. The America of Tomorrow awaits! Stalinist
dictators team up with church leaders to create a system that cannot be
broken. Work hard, and keep your mouth shut.
THE WORST OF ALL
The future is as bleak as can be. The philosophy that has taken hold of
society is a mixture of Pol Pot's agrarian communism and Jerry Falwell's
fanatical Christianity. It doesn't get any worse than this, and you had
better believe it. The Great Dictator, Mr. Falwell Pot, has decreed that all
cities be abandoned and that everybody shall move to the countryside and farm
for the glory of God. His massive militia ensures full compliance. As in
Cambodia in the late 1970's, famine claims millions of lives. But for those
who survive, life is even worse. Religious oppression is extreme and
well-organized; the religious police in the America of Tomorrow put
Afghanistan's Taleban to shame. Preachers fill people with fear and coerce
them into following Falwell Pot's every whim. Dissent does not exist; all
people with minds of their own have been killed. This is a society of robots,
kept in check by the joint forces of militia and church, and there is no way
out. This rotten society will last a very long time. Welcome to the worst
society that the world has ever known, the People's Christian States of
America, led by the evil Falwell Pot. It doesn't get worse than this, so
consider yourself privileged to see just how bad a society can get. Enjoy!
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