Utopian Politics
The Politics of Utopia by Fredric Jameson is an idealistic tract for fascism as insidious as the Third Reich or Mussolini’s fascism, with a modern twist added of calling Jameson’s system a “utopia”. Communism is notorious for their human rights abuses. Couched in other people’s words and phrases, the system is pure fascism and would set us back before hunter-and-gather society, millenniums before modern technology. Mr. Jameson does not take into account human beings; he equates us as mere beast – we fear being hungry; there is a greater fear of loss of meaning which can lead to self-destruction. He uses psychology and sociology to validate his points, yet does not extend them far enough which will invalidate his point. (Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is validated and proven everyday by advertisers who business is to know the public mind, in order to push products – those who do not learn soon go hungry). At the top of the Pyramid of Needs is the need for self-actualization. At the bottom is the need for shelter, food, and clothing. Once we all have and are acclimated to food, shelter, and clothing, we will want to achieve self-actualization. This inspires self-determination and gumption to satisfy one’s needs in the present system of capitalism and democracy. How is this obvious need to be satiated in the new world order? Individuality is wiped away and it is not recognized by Jameson.
According to Jameson, crime, war, degraded mass culture, drugs, violence, boredom, the lust for power, the lust for distraction, the lust for nirvana, sexism, and racism – all can be diagnosed as so many results of a society unable to accommodate the productiveness of all its citizens. Education is the solution to this problem (not building more detention centers and prisons or instituting martial law). When people see their peers achieving and excelling, the other will realize he or she can do it also. And this is where individuality comes in; people can choose and follow their passion. If they are inspired and working toward their passion, they will be productive, i.e. they will be content. Of course this possibility does not exist in a fascist state or a communist nation where your identity is considered the collective whole. The oppression and wholesale slaughter of minorities is well-known of communist and fascist states. There are no freedoms in either in which change can be affected, short of complete revolution. Although Jameson derides constitutions, it is the U.S. Constitution which allowed a black man, previous consigned to the eternal role of a slave in many mind, to become President of the United States – the highest office in the land. In Jameson’s system, a slave is a slave and does not have enough education to advance out of that role. Thank goodness he does not have a serious voice in our politics.
