this post was submitted on 22 Mar 2026
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Even the author of BNW wasn't sure of the world really was a dystopia or not. A lot of people do seem to have a lot of freedom, and most seem happy (or at least, not unhappy). Sure, a lot of questionable things have been done to achieve that goal, but if 99% is happy with their life; can it really be a dystopia?
A lot of Westerners look at dictatorships and authoritarian states and cannot comprehend why the citizens would accept such a fate. The answer is: food, safety, housing, and cultural and religious homogeneity. People don't really care that much what the people in charge are doing as long as their life is good.
There's also the idea that since the system "works" it shouldn't be changed. IIRC Le Guin did some stories on a place called Omelas that explored a similar idea: there's this utopian city, but they chuck a child down a hole to suffer there, which for some arcane reasons is deemed as necessary. Once people learn of this, they either accept it as indeed necessary or (rarely) leave.
A utopia only works if everyone thinks of the same thing as being a utopian society, which people generally just don't.