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I can get behind Bellamy's idea of a futuristic society...let's ignore that this supposedly should have happened 15 years ago, and there's a wealth of decent ideas involved. Sure, it's a little communistic, what with equal wealth distribution regardless of how hard you work, but at least there's no dictators or corruption! I like the idea of set ages for beginning work and retiring, especially because Bellamy allows for the chance that someone selects an occupation about which they may later change their mind; unlike some of the Utopian societies we've looked at so far, this one has everyone contributing to society, but in a way that they aren't stuck in the position they're born into, or the one their parents preferred. Leete's astonishment at Julian's remarks about working harder for the same amount of money are encouraging, since it seems everyone in the year 2000 would love nothing more than make an honest living doing something that helps other people. I can't even imagine a world where the 40-something waitress at Applebee's loves her job and doesn't seem like she's only one bad tip away from burning the place down.

I can't decide if I like the idea of everyone sharing the same amount of wealth on a personal credit card with no rollover, but I guess that prevents anyone from amassing any money and becoming "wealthy" in any way, so that everyone remains within the same social class. The handicapped are given suitable and productive tasks, which is nice, and I can't think of a good reason not to let those unable to work at all share in the wealth somehow; after all, it may seem unfair that they don't have to work, but then again, if they suffer from a physical or mental handicap so severe that there's no job for them, I think the cons may outweigh the pros in that case, and it's better than one of those Utopias where they just euthanize the non-productive.

Morris' idea of a futuristic society isn't so different in most ways, considering the same beginnings with a man who falls asleep for too long and awakes to a whole new society. Furthermore, both stories tell of a world without monetary value, class systems, or private property. Morris takes a unique stance on marriage, noting that people are not contractually bound to one another and so while they are monogamous, they are free to pursue other interests if they so choose, so long as they realize that their actions have consequences; basically, this is the equivalent of "dating," and in many ways it hardly seems different than how plenty of people live today, by choice or otherwise. Frankly with the current rate of divorce and young folks getting married in college to be romantic or spontaneous, we could do without contractual marriage, if only because folks like those make the institution hardly meaningful.

I do like that both stories seem to think that one day, somehow people will work by choice and for passion rather than because of salaries or because their degree wasn't good for anything else. If I could take just one thing from each of these stories to make a reality, it would be the notion that working is a privilege we should all want desperately to engage in, and that it is something about which we are passionate and excited. Even choosing a college degree based on personal interest, I don't have a guarantee of working a job that has anything to do with what I enjoy, and that's pretty sad.

Rules of St. Been-a-dick

Rule 9 of chapter 4 notes that we are "not to do to another what one would not have done to oneself." After that, at least like 80% of the other rules could be collapsed into a subsection of that rule. Do we really need to be told not to murder after that one? I'm not likely to murder myself, and so I'm not likely to murder you if I think that the consequence. I've also already been told to love my neighbor, who I am unlikely to murder if I've properly followed that step.

Don't forget to be afraid of God's wrath, and remember that Hell is right there for you if you're bad.

Also, don't forget to be a poor eater, love fasting, and think constantly and infinitely about the horrors of Hell that await you if you don't listen. God loves you, but you need to fear the day he returns to judge you, and know that you'll suffer in an eternal purgatory if you've done something to piss him off. When you love someone, you need to be constantly afraid of their disappointment and their subsequent wrath that will condemn you to an eternity of spiritual and physical torture that will follow you beyond the grave and never let you know peace, wishing to have never been born. At least, that's how I've always understood love, and so these rules make total sense to me.

You haven't forgotten that you're probably going to Hell, have you? Don't forget that, please.

Also, please realize that you need to hate your own will. What you think and want don't matter unless you're thinking about and wanting God's love. Try not to talk too much or to like talking at all, because most of what you say is useless bullshit and you're wasting oxygen that could be better purposed to praise God who loves you enough to have made these rules for you. And when you talk, try not to say anything funny. Funny stuff makes people laugh and laughing is a disrespectful waste of time. If you laugh, God will come to your house and tear your wife in half, because he loves you.

Hey, for a second there it looked like you forgot to be afraid of Hell. Don't do that. Cry for me.

Just do whatever people from a church tell you to do. Don't question them, because that's disrespectful, and like I said, it doesn't matter what you want. If they're older than you, they're smarter than you.

Fear Him. Do not forget to fear him. FEAR HIM BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU.

There are plenty of decent ideas in this text, because obviously it makes sense to be generous to the poor and the sick and not to murder people, but I feel like nothing from a religious text has ever told me anything I haven't figured out of my own human decency and tendencies toward civility. I'm aware that killing and hurting and stealing are wrong, because I have empathy. It makes me sad and scared that there are people out there who only want to be good because they're afraid they won't get to live forever if they're not. Be good because it, like, totally sucks to be bad, man. I don't think it's fair to say th

The author of this blog post has been prematurely condemned to Hell because he forgot to fear being condemned to Hell.

Who Else Pawned their iPad?

                College, an institution that is hardly necessary for most people in the first place, should come at a considerably cheaper price (or preferably none at all). We wouldn’t be the first nation to suggest or adopt such a policy, and the benefits would be phenomenal, since more college grads would be hanging their diplomas in their own studies rather than above their parents’ couch, aka their bed. This couch (aka bed, aka dining room) will need to be replaced rather quickly as the new grad finds himself rarely moving from it, since he’ll probably have extreme difficulty finding a job at all (let alone one in his desired field, good job on that Philosophy major) and then even more difficulty saving any of the money he makes, since it has to go right back into paying off loans and debts to the school that devastated his parents’ and his own bank accounts for four years and printed an often-meaningless piece of paper at the end.

Obviously it’s important to get a job that requires a college degree. After all, you’re going to need a job to make all of the money necessary to pay off that college degree you just got. This puts you into an interesting loop of circular reasoning where you need a job to make money to pay off loans that you needed to get an education for a job that you use to make money to pay off loans that you needed to get an education to get a job that you use to pay off loans, etc. It’s the kind of futile struggle that makes you want to hang yourself, except you can’t afford a chair or a rope; besides, you’ve got work tomorrow, and the next day, and forever.

We tend to think of college as a mandatory thing nowadays, looking down at people who choose not to pursue higher education, or simply cannot afford to. I know countless students that turn their noses up at people who attend community colleges rather than a “real” college, when more often than not they’re paying (at least) close to quadruple the tuition for an identical education. People go through years of college undecided (as I did), because their parents insisted they go, despite their not having a clue about what they want to study, often enough sleeping through class (if they attend) or playing Candy Crush on their iPad, assuming they didn't sell it for tuition money (thanks Hood!).

"But you absolutely have to go to college or you’re a total loser!" ...who isn't paying thousands of your parents’ dollars to get an education you could have gotten off Wikipedia? Only, Wikipedia doesn't print diplomas (yet), which is literally all college is necessary for, so keep spending, I guess.

If we could make college a cheaper experience, and emphasize that it is not necessary or even ideal for everyone, we could simultaneously lower the number of students pursuing degrees they aren’t interested in, lower the amount of crippling debt countless American students are living under, and generally make the experience of college into one with considerably less stress and demand. We could stop looking down at people who choose not to pursue “higher education,” because there are plenty of jobs in this country and in this world that neither require nor make use of book-smarts.

I think this video by YouTube user nigahiga sums it all up quite nicely and amusingly: