Saturday, April 13, 2013

Which Dystopia Would You Prefer?

A while back, the Cracked.com show "After Hours" did an episode about "Which Apocalypse Would Be The Most Fun?"

 I helped a friend with yardwork this morning. I got a Chinese lunch and two Raging Bitches (my favorite beer) in return. Well worth it. Plus time to spend with a good friend I've known since 1995 when we served on the same ship.

While I was doing yardwork, I got to thinking about dystopian futures. It probably helped that I watched The Hunger Games last night.



We've had quite a few dystopian futures pop up in film and literature over the years. We've got Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451", Orwell's "1984", "Hunger Games", "Logan's Run", Judge's "Idiocracy", and many more. I think "Fight Club" probably counts as a dystopia, although it was set in the 90's. It also seemed to be meant as more philosophical than prophetic.

Some dystopian futures are unworkable. Some are possible. Most are terrifying.

The conclusion I came to is, if we had to "choose" a dystopian future, I think "Idiocracy" would be the kindest we could hope for. Everyone is plain stupid. On the plus side, free Gatorade.


So which dystopian future would you like to come about? My vote is for Idiocracy.

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