Utopian Occupations

I’m probably not making an unfounded assumption in saying that as college students, the main point of our education is to get a job. Not just any job, either, but a moderately competitive and well-paying job. We go to school to avoid jobs that consist of menial labor – factory jobs and craftsmanship jobs like carpentry, metal work, and working with fabrics. Ironically, these are the jobs or “crafts” that are encouraged and available for workers in a Utopian society. I think this aspect of Utopia alone illustrates the drastic differences between the perfect world proposed by Sir Thomas More and the ideals we hold today.

I found it particularly interesting that every member of Utopia was responsible for doing agricultural work at one point in his or her life. In fact, agriculture is even integrated into their schools. Children learn about agricultural theories and practices as a part of required education. All citizens must work on farms for a minimum two years of their lives before they are rotated out into cities.

This is entirely different from the way our society has progressed. Agriculture is an underappreciated industry. While every Utopian citizen has experience working on a farm, many Americans have little to no experience with farms or the agricultural world. This is particularly ironic since agriculture is responsible for one of our main staples as human beings: food. We have an Agricultural college at our school, but people who get educated in agriculture are not looking to become menial farm workers – which are the positions that More’s Utopia emphasizes.

This goes to show that More focuses solely on occupations that provide a measurable usefulness to society, and all of these occupations are not ones that our society emphasizes today. Our collective mindset is to support ourselves, and though many of us might want jobs where we contribute to the community in various ways, I’m going to assume that very few of us want to contribute to the community in something as menial and necessary as carpentry or metalwork.

It makes sense on paper, to emphasize these necessary jobs first, especially under More’s Utopian model. However, it’s very problematic to our current society. The idea of two years work on a farm followed by another “craft” such as wool-work being the extent of my occupation for the rest of my life is devastating to me, just as it is devastating to many other college students. We’re taught to chase success (usually defined by wealth) and to “follow our dreams.” I feel like ambitious people in our society fall into two categories: “lucrative” work or “meaningful” work. This is oversimplified, and probably not true for everyone, but I feel like our individualistic, capitalist society directs us one of these two ways: to make a fortune or to make a difference. And generally, we don’t think of carpentry or linen-making as either meaningful or lucrative. So while, in theory, Utopia has the premise of being the happiest and most peaceful society ever, to many Americans it reads like a living nightmare. I’m not making any declarations on which ideas are right or wrong, but I will assert that with the way I’ve been conditioned by our society, More’s Utopia is not somewhere I’d like to live.

A real, handwritten letter! - The effects of internet withdrawal

Dear Aster,
If you haven't talked to me in a while, its probably because my life got so busy that I had to give myself a self-imposed partial ban from the internet. Horrifying, I know, and also extremely difficult! There's only so much limiting of internet usage possible, especially considering I'm taking an online class. I'm at the very least trying to keep myself off Facebook and from documenting every moment of my life on my personal blog. I think I'm going through withdrawal, and I don't know what that says about my internet habits. Probably bad things.

It's 67 degrees here today in Newark, DE - though I hear it's 75 at home. I feel like you are always one-upping me with glorious weather. I'm going to a concert in 2 weeks (Brand New), and I wish you were coming! I also wish I was going with you to all those music festivals over the summer, but take awesome pictures from me and make tons of friends!

I don't know if I told you, but I ran in an election for the programming board of my school for Vice President of Advertising - surprise, I got it! That probably should have been my first piece of news, huh? Oh well. I am going to be super busy next year, but it will be worth it.

You should really come visit soon - they just built a Chipotle! If not, I guess I'll see you this summer.

Miss you!

Love,
Karen Dieso

God & Politics in the 17th Century

Reading the selection of political readings this week in our study of historical context, I was interested - but not surprised - to see the importance and prominence of Christianity in the political discourse at the time. This is in sharp contrast the political language we’re used to in modern America, where religious ideas are tread pretty lightly when discussing our political system (for the most part, with the exception of a few religious radicals). These reports and opinions were written well before the idea of a separation of Church and state really cemented itself anywhere in the world, and it is interesting to see how visibly religion mingled with the ideologies of political leaders and commentators.

In the report on Charles I trial and execution, Charles I makes a great effort to paint the picture of the sinners (his opponents, the people who are putting him on trial) versus the good and faithful Christian leader. In a speech he gives directly before his beheading, Charles I says, “…what sin you bring upon your heads, and the judgments of God upon this land, think well upon it; I say think well upon it before you go further, from one sin to a greater.” Understandably, Charles I was probably in a panic at this point, scrounging to say anything that might make his executioners hesitate. However, I think it’s really interesting that he explicitly threatens them with retribution from God himself if they go through with the execution. This goes hand-in-hand with the notion of the time that God gave kings the divine right of ruling. Charles I is using that idea to plead his case, but the rebels that are overthrowing him are unaffected by it. I think this probably indicates something of the progressing political ideas of the time, that the divine right of kings might have been falling to the wayside in lieu of a justified overthrow. Despite Charles I’s guilt-tripping of his people, they still cry “Justice, justice, justice!” when he is killed.

Political thinkers of the time are definitely still focusing on religion, though – just not necessarily in the way that the British monarchy might want them to. While some men still twisted religion to the benefit of the nobility (see: Robert Filmer), writers like Milton and Gerard Winstanley use religion to challenge and question the practices of the monarchy and nobility. John Milton asserts that “all men naturally were born free, being the image and resemblance of God Himself.” He uses this idea to protest a tyrant imposing himself upon a people, since all people have liberty. Milton believes that the people should be able to judge a leader and have the ability to “choose him or reject him, retain him or depose him.”

Winstanley uses religious principles to protest the ownership of land. According to Winstanley, the nobility are withholding “the freedom of the earth” from the poor. He states that “True religion undefiled is this, to make restitution of the earth, which hath been taken and held from the common people by the power of conquests formerly, and so set the oppressed free.” Winstanley uses religious ideas to make a case for making land available for public use, against the main interests of the nobility.