Would you want to live in the society described in Thomas More's Utopia? Why or why not? Does it meet your expectations of a utopia? Why or why not? Be sure to include and discuss at least 1 quote of More's to support your opinion.
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I would want to live in the society described in Thomas More's Utopia for one reason - the fact that you get criticized if you criticized other people's looks. I get made fun of often, and it would honestly be an extremely nice change if all of the teasing and hateful comments were non-existent. As Thomas More stated, "But if you start laughing at anyone who's ugly or deformed, everyone will start laughing at you. You'll have made an awful fool of yourself by implying that people are to blame for things they can't help..." This means that hate, bullying, low confidence, low self-esteem, and many other body-related mental disorders will not exist. This is not only good for me, a bullying victim, but for many people suffering from bullying throughout the world.
ReplyDeleteI would want to live in the society described in Sir Thomas More’s Utopia, for several reasons. First, there is no monetary system, so there is no stress or crimes. Many things in life would be easier without money. Also, since everyone has the same overalls, and the same amount of them, this means everyone is treated equally based on their clothing. Lastly, there is no judging people for how they look because More says, “if you start laughing at anyone who's ugly or deformed, everyone will start laughing at you. You'll have made an awful fool of yourself by implying that people are to blame for things they can't help.” If someone is making fun of someone’s appearance surely they themselves will be laughed at for making fun of them. Personally, I like this idea because it prevents people from easily being judged. Therefore, I would want to live in Thomas More’s society described as in Utopia.
ReplyDeleteI would not want to live in Thomas More’s Utopian society for many reason. One reason is because there is no individuality. Everyone does the same jobs and receives the same amount of money. Also, everybody wears the same clothing. In addition, the government has a lot of control over its people. Citizens are not given too much freedoms that we take for granted, such as choosing the profession you pursue when you grow older. There are no rewards for the work you do. Since everybody receives the same amount of resources, people can slack off in their work and still get paid the same amount of money as everybody else. Thomas More says, “Nobody owns anything but everyone is rich.” He believes that everyone should receive only the necessities of life in equal amounts. There is no enjoyment in life if nobody owns anything of their own. I would not like to live in a Utopian society because of all of these reasons.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't want to live in Sir Thomas More's Utopia because of one crucial factor: freedom. Firstly, More clearly states, "The Utopians fail to understand...how anyone can be silly enough to think himself better than other people, because of his clothes are made of finer woolen thread than theirs". This quote explains than in Utopia everyone would wear the same clothes because of the reason posed in the quote. However, I feel More fails to understand the essential freedom that has come to define our society. People can have freedom of speech, freedom to wear what they want. And by taking out the equally vital component of choice, the public will not be able to express themselves, and define who they are through their clothing. Moreover, if all people work the same jobs, what will come of career interests? What will drive great minds or those with the potential to learn more and discover new things? What will be the point of studying a field of interest if one knows he/she will not end up there anyways? Therefore, if Sir Thomas More's Utopian society truly came to life, we would lose two essential components that we have come to depend on: freedom and choice.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I would not want to live in Thomas More's idea of a utopia. Although there are some appealing aspects such as the lack of discrimination and reluctance to fight in wars, the concept of a utopia is technically impossible, because there will always be someone who is unhappy. For example, if everyone wears the same clothes like More describes, no one can be made fun of based on their clothes. But is it really worth it to lose the privilege of self expression through clothing? So while some people may agree with More on that aspect of utopia, half of the population will be against it, which already contradicts the idea of a utopia. Therefore as books such as The Giver have shown us, the utopia would eventually collapse leading to utter chaos. However, I do believe that More has the right ideas about money. He states, "And the moment money goes, you can also say goodbye to fear, tension, anxiety, overwork, and sleepless nights." Money is the root of all evil in this world, and if it was removed we would be much better off as a society. Yes, it would take time for people to learn to control themselves and only take what they needed, but in time poverty could be eliminated with the removal of money from our society.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Thomas More's idea of utopia may seem appealing to a lot of people, I personally would not like to live in a society like the one described in "Utopia". For me, the idea of utopia seems too perfect and too organized. It seems like everyone would be the same, that no one would be able to express their individuality. Also, there would be too much government control. The government would control how everything went, and nobody would be able to do what they want to do. However, there is one thing about More's society that I do like -- no one would get judged by how they look. Like Thomas More said, "A pretty face may be enough to catch a man, but it takes character and good nature to hold him.” Next, to get to a society like that, it would require a huge change in mindset for the entire society. It would be nearly impossible to change a society that much. Criminals will always be criminals, and nothing can change that. Last, I think that if one thing went wrong within the perfect society, the whole thing would come crashing down. If one person stole something, all of the ex-criminals would realize that they could steal again, and utopia would turn back into the society we have today, or worse. Maybe utopia could happen, but it sure wouldn't stay for long.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I would want to live in Thomas More's Utopia because everything is so perfect. There is no fighting, stealing, lying, cheating, or any type of crime. Although we can not be a perfect society due to humans and how they are prone to disobey and do wrong, we should strive to have a world like Utopia. Everyone is treated fair and equal is Utopia, which is a big problem in our world today. A quote that Thomas More states relates to our world and money is "Why, even poverty itself, the one problem that has always seemed to need money for its solution, would promptly disappear if money ceased to exist." In this quote, More is saying that money is the root of poverty. He's saying that money should not exist because if money does not exist, poverty will not exist. And no one wants poverty. In conclusion, I think Utopia would be a world filled with kindness and respect, where I would want to live.
ReplyDeleteI would not want to live in the society described by Thomas More's Utopia because his book describes a very equal and content society. Although this may seem like a good environment, this kind of living takes away individualism and self expression. Life would lack excitement and new experiences. It does not meet my expectation of a Utopia because it is not as well balanced and exciting as I would like. I am not content with just being content. I want a life that is full of new wonders and risks, and this society takes that away. For example, in the text it states, “Nobody owns anything but everyone is rich - for what greater wealth can there be than cheerfulness, peace of mind, and freedom from anxiety?”. This quote shows how life would be easy- but no anxiety, peace of mind; that is just comfortable living. In all, I want a society with feeling and adventure, and Thomas More's Utopia does not have either.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I would not like to live in Thomas More's Utopia. Other than the fact that a Utopia is unachievable, there are many appealing factors, but looking at it from a distance it is not all that great. Other than how boring it may feel there is no sense of fulfillment if you achieve something that nobody else has and get something that nobody else has because everybody else has already done it or has it. There is no individuality, and no way to express yourself, and I resent that. One of his quotes states, "But if you start laughing at anyone who's ugly or deformed, everyone will start laughing at you. You'll have made an awful fool of yourself by implying that people are to blame for things they can't help..." People are shaped by experiences and if one does not experience something such as verbal abuse they will not get stronger, a Utopia is full of weak people, maybe not in a physical aspect, but mentally.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Thomas More offers many good points in his book Utopia, I would not choose to live in the area he describes for many reasons. For one, the jobs, which appear very fair at first glance, are actually not the most effective way of doing things. More says that everyone will work nine hours a day, regardless of their occupation. It is not fair to those whose jobs require intense physical work to labor for nine hours straight while someone who gets to sit all day also does the same hours of work. Additionally, More says that every-so-often, people's jobs rotate. While this sort of solves the previously mentioned issue, it is not effective. How will one perfect one's trade if forced to change trades every-so-often? It is possible that one can be put into a position that one is horrible at doing. How will this benefit the community?
ReplyDeleteWhat I am most concerned about, however, is this: “Their working clothes are just loose-fitting overalls, which last for at least seven years. When they go about in public, they cover these rough garments with a sort of cloak, which is always the same colour – the natural colour of wool…" There is absolutely no individuality in Utopia! Clothes are a form of self-expression, which is important to humans. Self-expression allows one to make friends and to be oneself. Personally, as dumb as this sounds, my clothes are one of the most important things to me. I feel most myself when I am in an outfit that I really like. This would not be possible in the area described in Utopia. Clothing also holds memories. Back then, people didn't get t-shirt from concerts obviously, but nowadays that is a common occurrence. Wearing clothes that you got from a good memory can put someone into a good mood because they are thinking of the memory. Why would I want to live somewhere where I cannot be myself and carry my good memories with me in the form of clothing?
Utopia is very similar to many utopias described in books and movies, so when I think of utopias, I think of these qualities. However, despite meeting book-based expectations, Utopia does not meet my personal expectations of a utopia. I agree with the equality More presents, but I think some changes should be made. In a utopia there should be more individuality. But won't this cause conflict? you ask. No, it will not. The people will be taught that differences are not a problem at all. This is similar to More's “But if you start laughing at anyone who’s ugly or deformed everyone will start laughing at you" but it will apply to non-physical attributes, such as ideas, too. All ideas, unless dangerous, will be accepted. People may dress how they wish, as long as they are able to perform daily tasks well in the clothing. There are no rules as to how a person should look, which means that there is a variety of people aesthetics-wise. All of this will make for a more comfortable community.
Thomas More had an unique idea of a perfect society called Utopia. In Utopia, everybody would be treated equal, everybody would eat the same food together, and all people would have the same profession. I would definitely want to live in Utopia. I would rejoice in the glory of not being looked at as a minor of some sort and just an equal. Everybody would always be happy and there would be little space for sadness. As Thomas More says, "The Utopians fail to understand why anyone should be so fascinated by the dull gleam of a tiny bit of stone, when he has all the stars in the sky to look at - or how anyone can be silly enough to think himself better than other people, because his clothes are made of finer woolen thread than theirs. After all, those fine clothes were once worn by a sheep, and they never turned into anything better than a sheep." Thomas More explains that in a normal society, people would be judged just on what clothes they were. With an Utopian society there wouldn't be any discrimination. Everybody would wear the exact same thing and be equals. This fits my description of an Utopia because nobody is put higher than anybody else, and everybody is happy. I want to live in that type of society. Nobody would be put higher than others and there is no room for disappointment.
ReplyDeleteIn Thomas More's Utopia, the perfect society he illustrates is one I would like to live in. More describes in his idea of a utopia, "The result is that a man with about as much mental agility as a lump of lead or a block of wood, a man whose utter stupidity is paralleled only by his immorality, can have lots of good, intelligent people at his beck and call, just because he happens to possess a large pile of gold coins." This is how our society works, people who do not deserve credit, get it. The people who are actually important, like educators, to our society are paid less then they should, when people get paid more who are unimportant to society, like the producers of reality TV shows. Another reason More's utopia is pleasing is the fact there is no money. More writes, " And the moment money goes, you can also say good-bye to fear, tension, anxiety, overwork, and sleepless nights." This quote demonstrates that money is the center of most problems and what our world revolves around. Without money, our world would be more peaceful. Also, getting rid of money and treasures' value, would get rid of most crimes because it takes away the jealousy people have over others' belongings. Money is also a judging aspect for communities as a whole. A certain community may have leaders who are rich but the followers of that community are poor, therefore the community is considered rich because the most important people are the ones being "judged" for the whole community. Lastly, instead of punishing the people for causing crimes, find the source of why they felt the need to commit it, then fix that problem. If a person stole food, give them food, they are trying to survive and felt the need that they could only get food that way. In summation, More's Utopia meets my expectations of what a Utopia is and I would prefer to live in.
ReplyDeleteIf a Utopia was even possible to achieve I wouldn't want to live in it for many reasons. One of the main reasons is that there is no individuality in Utopia. You can not express yourself, especially in the area of clothing. The United States is far from a Utopia, but the one thing that is valuable to everyone that the U.S has is self expression.We show a part of our personality with clothing. I don't want to take that part of freedom away from us.This even applies to our ideas. If we don't have the same common goals as everyone else, then we won't be accepted and will get in trouble for having these ideas.
ReplyDeleteAlthough equality is a great benefit in living in Utopia for people who don't want to be judged on appearances, there are other areas of equality that aren't actually fair.For example, everyone gets the same amount of profit for the work they have done. True, the people who work get payed more than they do now, but the people who don't work as hard get the same amount. One of Thomas's quotes was “Nobody owns anything but everyone is rich - for what greater wealth can there be than cheerfulness, peace of mind, and freedom from anxiety?”.I can answer that: achievement. Sure cheerfulness, peace of mind, and freedom from anxiety are great, but sometimes you can only obtain these things by achievement. In a Utopia, there is no achievement. As mentioned before, there is the same reward for everything you do. You take away the sense of pride in humanity from us.
Ultimately, there seems to be many benefits if you look at the surface, but underneath it all, it is not as great as it appears to be.
I would not want to live in Thomas More's Utopia. In my opinion, that life is too simple because there is no room for technological or intellectual advancements, and those are key factors to have a successful, prosperous, and intelligent society. He says, "Can you see any fairness or gratitude in a social system which lavishes such great rewards on so-called noblemen, goldsmiths, and people like that who are either totally unproductive or merely employed in producing luxury goods or entertainment, but makes no such kind provision for farm-hands, coal-heavers, laborers, carters, or carpenters, without whom society couldn't exist at all?" (p. 111) The point that More misses is that people who make more money require more skills, and essentially more education, rather than the other jobs that only require a few routinely teaching techniques. Naturally, people who work harder earn more money, and if everyone was earning the same amount of money, what is the point in specialization? Without specialization, there wouldn’t be any advancements. In summary, I wouldn't be able to live in Thomas More's Utopia because it has too many fatal flaws and controversial aspects that are frustrating.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Thomas more's Utopia may seem to be an alluring place to reside in, I would not find Thomas More's Utopia appealing as it goes against my principles in what I would consider a Utopia. One part of his Utopia that I find repulsing is the fact that the people "go about in public, they cover these rough garments with a sort of cloak, which is always the same colour – the natural colour of wool." Although this may seem to be a righteous principle, at the same time all the citizens in this Utopia would be giving their sense of uniqueness. Clothing is often used as a form of expression in which people are able to convey the type of person they are. To hide your clothing is to hide your identity.
ReplyDeleteAnother part of Moore's Utopia that I find unappealing is the fact that he believes that people in this Utopia are required to have nine hour shifts and have alternate jobs. Having an equal amount of working time is a just principle, but what about having to alternate jobs? In modern day, specialization and the ability to pursue what you want is what has caused all the technological advancements today. If everyone were to be forced to alternate jobs, then how can there be joy? If one were to dislike a job but consistently be forced to take part in that job every week, then there would be no such thing as freedom anymore, the right that many people are able to exercise today. All the people that made a major impact on technological advancements were people that were able to pursue the profession that they aspired to become. By alternating jobs there would be few technological advancements made. Overall, Thomas More's vision of a Utopia does correctly put forth the idea of eqality, but does not consider other factors such as technological advancements, and is thus flawed.
I would not want to live in Thomas More's Utopia. A Utopia is the idea of a "perfect society" in my opinion, this can never be achieved. Thomas More's Utopia describes a society where the citizens "fail to understand why anyone should be so fascinated by the dull gleam of a tiny bit of stone, when he has all the stars in the sky to look at - or how anyone can be silly enough to think himself better than other people, because his clothes are made of finer woolen thread than theirs. After all, those fine clothes were once worn by a sheep, and and they never turned it into anything but sheep". While this might eliminate the pressure of trying to impress people with the quality of your clothes or the karats of your diamonds, it also takes away something important. A world without individuality isn't a place where i would like to live. Without anything to make us different, and extravagant and unique, we lack what makes human beings different from other animals. Our strive to be seen as individuals was one of the key points of the Renaissance Era. More's Utopia is counterproductive in this aspect. Without individuality in More's society, the inhabitants will get bored very easily, and the Utopia would ultimately fail. I wouldn't want to live in More's society and I don't think any modern day human being would either.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I would never want to live in the society described in Thomas More’s Utopia because there is no room for the individual and everything is about society as a whole. As More wrote, “…In Utopia… everyone gets a fair share, so there are never any poor men or beggars. Nobody owns anything, but everyone is rich – for what greater wealth can there be than cheerfulness, peace of mind, and freedom…” Here Thomas More states how he thinks that by taking away private property, everybody will be “equal” and therefore happy. While it would be nice to have a society without poor people, the second part of the statement outweighs this negatively. If everybody has everything that everybody else has and cannot obtain more, then why would anyone be motivated to complete work? Without a chance to excel in society, then the people would not truly care about what they are doing, and therefore not work as hard, as there is simply no reward in the end. This would end up making the society a worse place to live, as there would be absolute boredom due to the fact that everybody has already met a “ceiling” in how much they can succeed and would also slow down the speed at which work is completed and progress is made. My expectations of a utopia would be a society that is able to improve itself without trying so hard to make it a “utopia”. This is because it is impossible to have a truly perfect place, and attempting to do so will result in radical procedures being adopted like More’s ideas that are not really good for people, such as attempting to make everybody the same, have the same goals, and do the same work and deterring people from expressing themselves creatively (considering More believed that those that do work essential to society should be rewarded, like carpenters and farm-hands, while people who make luxury goods are unnecessary). My “utopia” would be a place where there is a baseline for money, at which people would be able to have the necessities of life, such as food, water, housing, etc., but people can become wealthier from there, encouraging people to want to succeed and work harder. Also, people would be able to own private property, further inspiring them to work diligently. In my “utopia”, problems would not be solved with a simple “one fits all” solution like Thomas More seemed to be describing where everybody is set to be the same, but each one would be handled independently and intelligently. For example, crime would be dealt with at its source, but only if it is reasonable to believe that it has one that can be controlled (when someone murders another, there may not always be a reason). People would have true freedom with which to follow their dreams, rather than the supposed freedom More describes in which everybody must stay the same and work for the public good alone. In what I believe is a real utopia, people are individuals working under the protection of an organized society that exists for the good of the living people, not the bricks trapped in walls that form a society stuck in one place for the good of the idea that is “society”, and I therefore would never wish to exist in Thomas More’s “utopia”.
ReplyDeleteThomas More brings up numerous points about his Utopia that I personally agree with. To commence, Thomas states, " This method [the death penalty] of dealing with thieves is both unjust and socially undesirable. As a punishment it’s too severe, and as a deterrent it’s quite ineffective. Petty larceny isn’t bad enough to deserve the death penalty, and no penalty on earth will stop people from stealing, if it’s their only way of getting food... Instead of inflicting these horrible punishments, it would be far more to the point to provide everyone with some means of livelihood, so that nobody’s under the frightful necessity of becoming first a thief and then a corpse." This is a point that I agree with and I would indeed want this in a "prefect" society. He believes that harsh punishments are cruel and unjust. We should not react to the crime itself, but focus on the problem that caused it. This is something that I believe that would solve many of the world's issues with crime. This would be one step closer to a better society. I also agree with More's statement, ". To tell you the truth…I don’t see how you can ever get any real justice or prosperity, so long as there’s private property, ... all the wealth is owned by a tiny minority – who aren’t entirely happy even so, while everyone else is simply miserable." A nation simply cannot be wealthy if only a few of the population owns that wealth. Only if the wealth is balanced between all, then a nation can be considered as prosperous. This idea can allow everyone to have an equal share of the wealth, which can indeed solve the problems that cause most, or even all of the world's crimes. Even though Thomas More brings up excellent points about a good Utopia, it does not meet my expectations. To be exact, I have no expectations of a Utopia, because I believe that there is no such thing as perfection in the universe, therefore a Utopia will never exist in my mind. Like the Ying and Yang, evil and cannot exist without good, and so is the other way around. A prefect society may disrupt this balance of the universe, where good can outweigh the evil.
ReplyDeleteI would enjoy living in Thomas More’s Utopia because of the equal opportunities and actual equality among the people. One of the main challenges that the world faces today is the lack of equality. In Thomas More’s Utopia, everyone cycles jobs so no one is too challenged or too at ease; doing this creates a balanced atmosphere. In addition, the concept of money is omitted, which is both a bold move and quite the good idea. More quotes, “Nobody owns anything but everyone is rich - for what greater wealth can there be than cheerfulness, peace of mind, and freedom from anxiety?”. Here he describes what kind of “wealth” really makes us rich people. Nowadays, there are more people who are rich and unhappy; so really, those who have the most money aren't even rich in what really matters in life, happiness. Thomas More also describes how foolish it is to value gems more than we value this Earth and life within it. Why obsess over diamonds while there are all the stars in the sky to look at? Truthfully, Thomas More’s Utopia does fulfill my idea of Paradise because of the value of nature and equality.
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ReplyDeleteOur society today is so judgmental. Does anyone really notice? Girls always have to wear those expensive Ugg shoes and boys have to have the jays. I understand we want to express ourselves but, like Sir Thomas More said, “[how can anyone] be silly enough to think himself better than other people, because his clothes are made of finer woolen thread than theirs. After all, those fine clothes were once worn by a sheep, and they never turned it into anything better than a sheep.” Truly we need to understand that clothes are just fabric. They do not control you. Also, “if you start laughing at anyone who's ugly or deformed, everyone will start laughing at you. You'll have made an awful fool of yourself by implying that people are to blame for things they can't help.” We, as a society do this when we are taught for years on end to respect everyone. Furthermore, “instead of inflicting these horrible punishments, it would be far more to the point to provide everyone with some means of livelihood, so that nobody's under the frightful necessity of becoming first a thief and then a corpse.” While there are no more beheadings, there are thieves among us and they do it for a reason but if the reason is no more there would be a lot less robbing's. Not to mention we have put such an extraordinary amount of money into gold which should never be priced above a human life. "Nor can they understand why a totally useless substance like gold should now, all over the world, be considered far more important than human beings, who gave it such value as it has, purely for their own convenience.” Would I live in Sir Thomas More utopia? In theory, I would want to live in Thomas More’s utopia, but the world could never be possible in human society.
Thomas More’s Utopia has a bit of controversy around it. I wouldn’t like to live in it, but it is mostly due to some technicalities than it is the underlying message. There are many things that others addressed about his society, such as the lack of individuality and the lack of freedom. I have to ask who the one in control of distribution, and to what ends are these things going to be met. Maybe this communal system works for a town or a few towns, but when running an entire society, it will be very difficult to distribute food equally to everyone. I remember reading a quote about job rotation, and I would love to add it in, but I cannot find it for the life of me. It went something like “everyone would have a simple job as a farmer, wanting nothing else”. In a society where everyone was a farmer, who is the one doing the innovation? Who is making the society more advanced? If everyone is a farmer and aspires to nothing more, than no one will be inventing the mechanical reaper and no one will be advancing science much. The system, while nice for a little while, would crumble under so many different pressures, from a destruction of food transporting infrastructure to another nation waging war to an internal struggle of people not wanting their things being taken from them. I also foresee some people realizing that they don’t have to work, and then not working and getting the same food and pay. For all these reasons, I would not like to live in More’s Utopia.
ReplyDeleteThomas More describes a perfect (and elusive) construction of society. I would like to live in this utopia because there would be no discrimination, economic or social unrest, crime, or any form of injustice. It meets my expectations of a utopia because the entire society lives in perfect harmony. This utopia also eliminates the complexity and drama of social circle/levels by keeping it simple. One captivating quote by Sir Thomas More is: “The Utopians fail to understand why anyone should be so fascinated by the dull gleam [shine] of a tiny bit of stone, when he has all the stars in the sky to look at….” However this society lacks self-expression and perhaps individuality. You could work your butt off and surpass the accomplishments of others, and still you would get equal recognition.I don’t believe that would be fair.
ReplyDeleteI would not want to live in Thomas More’s society because I don’t believe it will ever be possible to have a completely perfect society, without an inherent flaw. Let’s say for the sake of this response that a Utopian society is possible and there was one based on Thomas More’s philosophy it would be too much of a tradeoff for this “perfect” society. Maybe this is just me thinking from my current perspective on the world, but I could never see myself giving up my views on individualism to gain access to his society. I also wouldn’t want to have to rotate around to jobs for a set period of time, and rather fit into a job for a good long time. It is also inefficient because someone may be really good at a job but be assigned to another job so the job they’re good at isn’t as productive as it could be. My final problem with More’s idea is that he says, “And the moment money goes, you can also say goodbye to fear, tension, anxiety, overwork, and sleepless nights.” I disagree because without money, how would people carry out transactions for the essentials they need? Is a utopia just a form of socialism? From my current point of view, I would never choose to live in the Utopia, but if I was born into the Utopian society and never knew anything different, I could see having a pretty good life.
ReplyDeleteImagine a world in which people can feel free to express themselves in whichever way they choose. Sir Thomas Moore dreamt of a world where all people were excepted, regardless of their physical appearance. He stated that,"But if you start laughing at anyone who's ugly or deformed, everyone will start laughing at you. You'll have made an awful fool of yourself by implying that people are to blame for things they can't help..." Personally, I would love to live in a world in which material things are not valued. Young girls would have greater self-worth and less body image issues. Too often we compare ourselves to each other when individual achievement and improvement is much more important. In a society where everyone is the same, there would not be anded to constantly compare. This is exactly what I expect from a utopia. We need a safe place where everyone is truly equal. That is precisely why I would enjoy living in Sir Thomas Moore's Utopia.
ReplyDeleteI would not want to live in Thomas More's idea of a Utopia because it seems nobody would know how to be an individual. Yes, everyone would make the same amount of money and work the same jobs, but how would one excel in a field if they rotate jobs all the time? How will the civilatation grow or advance? Those that have made huge advancements in history have dedicated their entire life to it and have been called crazy by their ideas on many occasions. Just think of Benjamin Franklin or Albert Einstein. By stifling judgement, one would also stunt creativity. My definition of a utopia is very different. People focus on creativity and expressing themselves, so unlike More's world, It's not without judgement. In fact, people judge others on their appearance all the time. The thing is that everyone is so stable and confident with themselves that nobody even cares what anyone else thinks of them. In Utopia, More says, “[how can anyone] be silly enough to think himself better than other people, because his clothes are made of finer woolen thread than theirs. After all, those fine clothes were once worn by a sheep, and they never turned it into anything better than a sheep.” Which I totally agree with. In my perfect world, nobody thinks they're better than anyone else; although they might question the choices and ideas of others, they understand that everyone is their best self. Also, everyone is so different that people are bound to find people similar to them. People do what they love and spend their free time bettering themselves with creative projects. People would not all be payed the same amount of money. Those in the service industries such as sanitation and laboring are payed more than we do in our society, to encourage people to work those jobs that nobody would normally want to do. College is free so people can go to study whatever their passion is. General betterment of themselves and the community would be the main focus, followed by creating something great within a lifetime.
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