29 Things That Sound Perfectly Normal Until You Realize How Dystopian They Are, As Listed Online

Article created by: Monika Pašukonytė

While there is progress in certain areas and certain things are better now than in previous historical times, the need to look out for the downside of various processes is undeniable and possibly more urgent than ever, for the simple fact that power becomes dangerous without developing one’s responsibility accordingly.

No wonder some of the mental or real-life pictures of the contemporary world can leave us feeling… dystopian. These can include the massive amount of non-nature-friendly trash being produced and dumped all around the world, or attempts to imagine the implications of AI on our near future if we don't take the necessary precautions to play it safe.

People online stepped up, trying to raise awareness, answering one Redditor's question: "What's something that is accepted as normal, but is really dystopian when you think about it?"

More info: Reddit

• Read More: 35 Things That Sound Perfectly Normal Until You Realize How Dystopian They Are, As Listed Online

#1

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#2

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#3

Working full-time for a wage that won't support a family.

A family?? How about 1 person.

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#4

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#5

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#6

Privatized-for-profit prisons, healthcare, and education.

Corporations and foreign entities buying up all of our land and housing.

Lack of Congressional term limits and self-oversight of Congress and Scotus.

2A absolutism.

Forced sex, forced birth, forced sterilization, and the medical community treating women as if being female is a "condition" while using male bodies as the standard.

Outlawing the act of collecting rainwater, while charging for the amount of runoff attributed to your property (my city has both of these).

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#7

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#8

The existence of billionaires whilst so many people are living in poverty. Justified cause they supposedly "work harder" or "earned it".

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#9

Ads everywhere you look 24/7

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#10

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#12

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#13

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#14

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#15

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#16

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#17

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#18

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#19

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#21

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#22

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#23

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#24

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#25

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#26

Militarization of local and state law enforcement.

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#27

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#29

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Jailing people for stealing food while throwing away tons more every day. All of those "Feel good stories" about people working extra super duper hard just to barely scrape by. "Kids make business to help another disabled child buy a wheelchair" "Teacher runs out of PTO days fighting cancer so the whole school district started to donate sick days" "Man walks 15 miles for a job interview, community raises money for a bicycle." Corporations being considered people and having more rights than real human beings. Subscription for everything Homelessness in countries with enough money to keep it from happening Credit scores. Advertiser friendly language in daily life. Like people getting used to not being able to say words like "dead" on Tiktok because advertisers don't like it, so then you see a bunch of people saying words like "unalive" in real life. The cost of rent. Or mortgages. Or the wealth gap. And the way minimum wage was ignored for decades while the top 1% took higher and higher raises and bonuses while paying very little to no tax. Trickle down economics. The amount of trash we humans produce. How distanced we are from the natural world. American burial traditions. Spend thousands of dollars to preserve the body, pack it in an expensive box and bury it, sometimes in a concrete vault. To keep it from naturally decomposing? Why? Working until you’re in your late sixties when 50 billionaires control most of the wealth in an entire country. Health insurance. Reality TV. Food and housing insecurity in a world in which other people are billionaires. Running out of sick days, so you work sick. Factory farming. Utterly horrific. Normalization of debt The way big companies have conditioned us to say things we pay for are free. "You can watch it for free on netflix" "It's free if you purchase this bundle" "They keep updating the game, the next DLC is free!" Anytime you go to say something is free, try saying "it's included" short for "included in the base price" Tying healthcare to employment The complete lack of privacy we have in 2023. People can record you in public for their TikTok, and everyone will say “BUT ITS LEGAL!!” Homeless people Refugee boats and sinking Anyone anywhere being hungry Bombing civilians Having to work more than one job. Cameras everywhere.. "1984". The rhetoric and life behind social media. It's totally a landscape that determines your worth by how others feel about you. It's kinda scary the more you see its use.