Even Dr. Seuss got into the dystopian game. His book, The Lorax, offered a world where all the trees are destroyed in the name of commerce, leaving an empty wasteland. The Lorax emerges before all the forests are gone, warning everyone of the dangers of chopping the trees. He speaks for the trees because, as he says, they have no tongues.
Because of Dr. Seuss’s delightful rhymes, I thought I’d look at lessons on dystopia by looking at key quotes.
Lesson one: Its our focus on the present, on reaching the goal in front of our nose, that can inadvertently lead to severe problems, as this quote shows.
“I meant no harm. I most truly did not. But I had to grow bigger. So bigger I got.”
Lesson two: Sometimes our actions hurt others in ways we could never have expected or predicted.
“No one can sing who has smog in his throat.”
Lesson three: Those who benefit often deny or belittle the costs.
The customers are buying, the money’s multiplying, the PR people are lying and the lawyers are denying. Who cares if a few trees are dying? This is all so gratifying! How bad, how bad can this possibly be?!
Lesson four: Sometimes we do our worst when trying to impress other people, that we fail to consider the consequences.
Cause when a guy does something stupid once, well, that’s because he’s a guy, but if he does the same stupid thing twice, that’s usually to impress some girl.
Lesson five: Its in our power to prevent dystopias from developing.
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
Please visit all the other bloggers visiting the A to Z Challenge.